Mystery is a genre of game that I didn’t really know I enjoyed until I started playing more games with that theme. I’m sure most of us played Clue growing up, and I know a lot of people who still enjoy that classic game today. Mystery board games have come a very long way since then.
In this article I’m going to talk a bit about what I think makes a game a mystery game and then provide a list of the best mystery games we’ve played, and then call out a few that come strongly recommended by our friends and fans.
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What exactly is a “Mystery Game”?
The topic of mystery games comes from one of our awesome Tabletop Bellhop Patreon patrons, Brian Kurtz, who wrote to ask:
“You have had a lot of columns and podcasts that deal with certain types of games (gateway games, co-op games, games you can travel with, games with certain mechanics, etc.). But I’m not recalling you specifically grouping games thematically, and my question is about that.
We all played Clue when we were younger. What are some mystery-themed games that are actually good?”
Before diving into a list of great mystery games I want to take a moment to talk a bit about what I think makes for a mystery-themed game. Board Game Geek doesn’t have a Mystery category on its own, but they do have a Murder/Mystery one. According to BGG “Murder/Mystery games often involve an unsolved murder or murders. A requirement of these games is usually for players to investigate these crimes, and determine the criminal details and/or perpetrator(s).”
While this definition does fit a narrow range of games, I personally don’t think every mystery game has to be about a murder. For example, Outfoxed is a mystery game for kids, that my own kids used to love, that’s all about figuring out which fox stole a pie. This made me wonder if there’s a better category for the type of games I think of when I think Mystery. This led me to deduction games.
Board Game Geek does have a Deduction Category: “Deduction games are those that require players to form conclusions based on available premises. These games are quite varied, including several different types of logical reasoning. Cat & Mouse games like Scotland Yard are a type of Deduction game in which players use a set of observations and truthful feedback to narrow down possibilities and catch a constantly moving opponent at the right position. Elimination games like Clue expect players to arrive at the right conclusion after narrowing down possibilities from a large list. Signaling games like Werewolf allow for a set of observations and player-driven feedback (which may not be truthful) to arrive at the right conclusion out of 2-3 main choices. Finally, this Category includes Induction games like Zendo, in which players must derive a general rule out of near infinite possibilities”
This definition continues to talk about social deduction games as well, but I’m going to overlook that part for this article as those are a very different beast.
Personally I think the deduction definition better encompasses what I think of when I think of mystery-themed games and seems to better match Bryan’s question as it specifically calls out Clue as one of the games of that type. The entire concept of using logical reasoning to narrow down choices really hits home with me.
Taking my head out of the board game box, I think the main dictionary definition of mystery as a word, as
“something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain”, also helps to clarify what I would consider a mystery game. To me a mystery game is a game where the main goal is to use logic and reason to understand something that starts off incomprehensible or at least obscured.
I think that works for me. What about you? How would you define a mystery game? I would love to know, after you’ve checked out the game recommendations below, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the page with how you would define mystery-themed games, or better yet, start a conversation over on The Tabletop Bellhop Discord Server.
When we first discussed this topic, way back on Episode 161 of the Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast – Whodunit? I felt that I didn’t really have a lot of experience with this particular board game theme, but by the end of the show after Sean and I shared some of our favourite games I realized I’ve played a lot more games in this genre than I thought.
Since that episode, I’ve played many more games that I think fit the theme of mystery and I feel I’ve grown to appreciate the genre more and more.
Escape room in a box and puzzle based games have grown from a style of games I knew nothing about to one of my favourite genres of games to play with my family. I love having all of us sitting at a table trying to solve something together. I’ve also found myself enjoying more and more games with deductive elements, and have accepted the fact that I do indeed enjoy the theme of mystery in my tabletop games.
With that, let’s move on to some of my favourite mystery-themed games…
What are the best mystery games?
The following list is in no particular order:
Hidden Games Crime Scene Case No 1 The Maplebrooke Case – Back when we originally got this mystery game question from Bryan, this was the first game that popped into my mind.
This mystery game from Hidden Games is one of many ‘open case’ style games where you are presented with all of the evidence from a crime case and have to use that to solve the case.
We’ve played many of these style of games and The Maplebrooke Case (or The New Haven Case for the US version) is one of the most enjoyable we’ve played.
I encourage you to check out our The Maplebrooke Case Review for more info on what made this particular mystery game stand out.
The Shackleton Series from Escape Mail – This different take on evidence based puzzle games comes from Escape Mail from right here in Canada. They provide interactive puzzle adventures delivered right to your home.
The folks behind Escape Mail started off as an escape room company and then pivoted to print on demand escape-room in an envelope products during the pandemic.
We reviewed Season One Episode One of Family Secrets back when they were just getting started and were impressed by the variety of puzzles and level of immersion in their games.
Since then, they have only gotten better. They now offer much improved production quality and more involved and longer puzzles. Their latest offering, The Shackleton Series, is a huge leap above what we saw in Family Secrets, and is based on the historical story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and the crew of The Endurance who were lost in the Antarctic for over a year and discovered with zero casualties.
Escape Mail has also been kind enough to give us a discount code to share with our followers. You can use code BELLHOP to save 10% off on any of their single games or subscriptions when you buy direct via their website.
Scooby-Doo Escape from the Haunted Mansion – I wanted to include this game to highlight the fact that mystery games aren’t just for adults.
I mean, what better represents the mystery genre than Scooby-Doo? If you think back to the classic cartoon, every episode and story is about solving the mystery to unmask the villain, which makes it a perfect theme for a puzzle game.
Escape from the Haunted Mansion uses the Coded Chronicles system, a clever adventure-game framework that involves having different characters interact with objects, characters, and map tiles. Each interaction generates a number that you look up in a character book and read out to see what happens. It’s a truly brilliant system.
Read our Scooby-Doo! Escape from the Haunted Mansion Review to learn why we think this is the best game in the entire Coded Chronicles Series.
Though I do also strongly recommend The Goonies Escape With One-Eyed Willy’s Rich Stuff, another Coded Chronicles Game, especially for any other Gen X gamers out there.
Chronicles of Crime The Millennium Series 1400 – We had the pleasure of getting to preview this mystery game from Lucky Duck when it was being Kickstarted, and we were all very impressed, especially by the level of immersion the app integration adds to this series of games.
The Chronicles of Crime series makes brilliant use of QR codes on cards to lead you through a series of mysteries. The game tracks everything you do and adapts accordingly. It remembers who you talked to, what you talked about, and when.
I’m specifically calling out the 1400 version because I really enjoyed the Medieval setting and the small amount of fantasy elements added to the game. If you’re curious, you can read more about that in our Chronicles of Crime 1400 Review.
If Medieval doesn’t do it for you, the original Chronicles of Crime features a modern setting, there’s also a Chronicles of Crime Noir Expansion or you can solve mysteries in the future with Chronicles of Crime 2400.
Mysterium – In this very unique game there has been a murder. One player is a ghost with a bad memory who is trying to help the other players, who are playing psychic mediums, to solve that murder.
The game uses Dixit-style cards with whimsical abstract artwork and these are the only tools the ghost has to give clues to the other players. Over seven rounds the players need to determine the suspect, location and weapon used in the murder.
I find it fascinating to watch different groups play Mysterium, as each group comes up with their own conventions for how to best pass on information.
What sets this game apart from those I’ve already mentioned is that there’s no set solution here. Set up is random so each game plays differently and the game is basically infinitely replayable.
Tragedy Looper – This is the strangest and hardest to describe game on this list. Tragedy Looper is a one vs. many game where one player is trying to make sure some kind of tragedy happens, while the other players are working together to stop it.
This is also a time travel game, where the group plays through a single day up until the tragedy happens and then you reset everything, giving the group a chance to do things differently and hopefully prevent the tragedy during the next loop. If the group isn’t able to do that within a set number of loops the adversarial player wins.
Tragedy Looper is one of the most unique games in my collection. It has a bit of a learning curve, but that’s worth getting past just for the unique experience that is this game. While there are a set number of scenarios in the game box, the gameplay here means they are all very replayable.
The links and image I included here are for the original Z-Man Games version of Tragedy Looper which you can still find. Wizkids also brought the game back in 2023 with a new edition: Tragedy Looper: New Tragedies, but I haven’t played that new edition yet so I can’t speak to any differences it might have.
Android – I don’t usually like to recommend games that are long out of print on lists like this but I felt I needed to include Android from Fantasy Flight as it’s one of the most cool mystery games I’ve ever played (and I did verify that you can still find copies at places like Noble Knight).
In this board game you are basically playing through a Philip K. Dick story. Each player is an investigator, trying to solve a murder in a Blade Runner/Cyberpunk style setting while also dealing with their own personal demons.
Solving the murder involves deduction, puzzle solving, and a very unique mechanic where the actual murderer is determined part way through the game. Android is a long, kind of wonky game, with a lot going on but it’s also very thematic and epic in its scale.
The fact that there is no set scenario means every game is different, and it’s also a bit of a point salad as well, so figuring out who the murderer is isn’t even key to winning.
This game is worth seeking out if you enjoy the Cyberpunk genre.
Doomensions Pop-Up Mystery Manor – Another one of the coolest mystery games we’ve ever played is Doomensions from The Mysterious Package Company.
The most notable thing about this game is the fact that it includes a cardboard pop-up dollhouse. This abandoned manor, that you actually physically explore during play, is over two feet tall. This unique prop is paired with a journal that is stuffed full of puzzles and artifacts, some of which are quite intricate. To solve the game you work your way through the five chapters of the journal, with each chapter taking one evening of play.
You have got to see this game, it’s just so physically impressive. You can go sneak a peek at our Doomensions Mystery Manor Unboxing video on YouTube.
When we first got this one I was really worried it was just going to be a neat gimmick, but the puzzles were engaging and a lot of fun. The physicality here just can’t be beat.
Recently Mysterious Package Company released another pop-up style game called Dead Man’s Tale. They sent us a copy, which we haven’t had a chance to check out yet, but from just taking a peek in the box I will say it looks every bit as impressive as Doomensions.
Mysterious Package Company has also given us a discount code to share. When shopping on their site, you can use the special code BELLHOP to save 10%.
Postmortem The Ghost in the Machine – It’s not often I list more than one game from a single publisher on the same game recommendations list but in this case I just had to call out one other game from The Mysterious Package Company, especially as it was such a different experience from Doomensions.
The Ghost in the Machine is a mash up of which-way style novella and evidence based mystery game. The story is presented in first person perspective as if you are the private-eye hired to investigate deaths at a cotton mill in Victorian London.
It presents an engaging experience that’s more like playing through an interactive Sherlock Holmes style story than playing a game. Of all the games I’ve included on this list, this is the one most suitable for solo play.
I feel like I should also include a warning: this story includes some dark topics like rat baiting, child labor, and detailed descriptions of bodies and autopsies. It’s immersive and a bit grim. Some of the content was a bit too much for our teenaged kids.
Again, you can use the code BELLHOP to save 10% off on this and other games from The Mysterious Package Company.
La Famiglia – This one comes from Puzzling Pursuits, a company with a growing selection of mystery games that lean heavily into puzzle solving.
You can read about their first game in our Blackbrim 1876 Review. Blackbrim 1876 was solid and we enjoyed it, but it was their second series of games, the La Famiglia Series, that really won us over.
What I enjoy most about their games is that the puzzles are broken up into sections and multiple different players can work on each section at once. This worked out great for our family as we split the work and then compared notes and worked together whenever anyone got stuck.
You can read more about that experience in my spoiler free review of La Famiglia.
Vantage – One of the most ambitious games I’ve ever played is Vantage from Stonemaier Games. This entire game is basically one big mystery for you to explore, with that mystery being an alien planet.
This game is all about exploration and investigation. It works a bit like the Coded Chronicles series, in that you chose how to interact with your environment and then get results from a selection of which-way style books (or an app if you prefer).
Vantage is an open world sandbox with so much to discover. What I can’t answer for you is if there’s a specific mystery to solve or what that solution may be. What I do know is that the experience is filled with wonder and mystery and for that I think it deserves to be on this list.
Other Highly Recommended Mystery Games
While we have played a lot more mystery themed games since Sean and I first discussed this topic on the Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast, we most definitely have not tried all or even most of them. I felt the list would be incomplete if I didn’t include a few honourable mentions. So here are a few games we haven’t had the pleasure of playing yet ourselves but that have been strongly recommended by others.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective – The Thames Murders & Other Cases– In addition to being at the top of many best mystery game lists, this one has also been strongly recommended to me, time and again, by local gamer and longtime Bellhop supporter, Jeff Szusz.
Board Game Geek also backs up this recommendation as it is currently ranked number three among Murder/Mystery games.
There is an entire line of games in the Consulting Detective series, I picked this one to highlight as it’s the best rated of the bunch.
Paranormal Detectives – This game reminds me of Mysterium which I mentioned above, as it features one player playing a ghost who is trying to communicate with the other players to solve a crime.
Here though, instead of just using cards the ghost player has a variety of tools like tarot cards, word puzzles, touching the detectives, a Ouija style board, and more. There’s a total of nine different interactions that the ghost can use.
This game is also on the lighter side and is considered more of a deduction party game.
Detective a Modern Crime Board Game – This game is listed on pretty much every mystery game list out there, often taking the highest spot.
Seeing the number of awards it was nominated for solidifies its place on this list. As you can guess from the name, this game is about using modern resources to solve modern day crimes. Players will work together to solve cases using online elements like the Antares database.
Since the original game first released, a number of spin offs have come out, like L.A. Crimes, Dune: House Secrets and even a comic book themed version with Batman: Everybody Lies (I will admit I am quite curious about a Dune-themed mystery game).
Detective: City of Angels – This one from Van Ryder Games takes a traditional investigation game and tosses in a twist, a hidden traitor.
Set in the dark and violent world of 1940s L.A., players will do whatever it takes to successfully close a case while using an innovative Adaptive Response Card System that recreates the feel of a real interrogation.
Working against the group is The Chisel, whose goal is to stall and misdirect the detectives.
There you have some of our favourite mystery-themed games. Despite playing more and more games in this genre every year, I know there are a lot out there that we haven’t had a chance to explore yet.
Help us out! Let us know your favourite mystery game. Which games do you love where the main goal is to use logic and reason to understand something that starts off unknown?
Comment below, send us an email, or say something over on the Tabletop Bellhop Discord server.
