Calling all Mystery Lovers: 13 Clues is for You

I read the whole Nancy Drew series when I was in third grade, got hooked on Agatha in high school, fell in love with Cadfael about ten years later, and now, 13 Clues has captured my heart.

Think of 13 Clues as a cross between the board game Clue and the card game Hanabi. As in Clue, you're trying to find out whodunit--the person, location and the weapon used. The twist is that the answers to those questions are found on three cards placed on a screen in front of you. You can't see the cards, but everyone else can. You're trying to solve your own personal mystery before everyone else can solve theirs.

As in Hanabi, you accomplish your task by asking questions of the other players, and often you can glean information from the questions they ask. Small cardboard magnifying glasses are handed back and forth as you go, which means that sometimes, you can ask more than one question on your turn. Interplay is fairly high, then, but you're on your own when it comes to keeping track of the information and deducing its meaning. It truly is like solving a mystery. And it's fun.

My one beef with this game is the component quality. Games with cards always have lower scores in that category, but the wear and tear on cards can often be reduced by placing them in plastic sleeves. This game, however, has flimsy cardstock screens, too, and the card-holding plastic slots are attached by a single strip of glue. We've already had to add tape to one of ours. 

BUT . . . don't let that stop you from trying 13 Clues, especially if you love mysteries--reading them, writing them, or playing them. So why the title? When you've crossed off all the cards you see at the start, you'll have 13 clues left to discover.

Nancy could do it. Cadfael, too. Can you?

# Players . . . 2-6
Ages 8-99
Game time . . . . . . . . 30 minutes

Set up . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 minutes

Luck   . . . . . . . . . 7  . . . Strategy 

*Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Visual Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Component Quality . .. . . . . 5

*Replayability . . . . . . . . . . . 9

*See "How we Rate" for a definition.