Skillmatics Board Game - Catch The Crook, Family Friendly Thrilling Mystery Game for Game Nights, Strategy, Clues, Crime, Cold Cases, Gifts for Kids, Boys, Girls Ages 10 and Up, 2-5 Players

This is a fun mystery game which reminds me a little of Cluedo in how you play. The game comes with all the pieces you need to play, clue cards, suspect cards, dice, action cards and a sheets of papers for writing down your deductions for working out who the suspects of a particular case are. There's even some pencils included so you can start playing this right away along with easy to understand instuctions and the solutions to the cases in an envelope too.Playing the game doesn't take long to set up but understanding exactly what you are doing took us a little time as the instructions just started saying you can write about the two suspects whose cards you've been dealt with right away and we were a bit confused, however once we got our heads around the fact you need to do more than just this and start playing some of the clue cards after rolling the dice, it got interesting and easy to play.There are twenty cases to play and you choose a different case to play each time, having to work out from the clues you are given who the culprit is behind whatever crime they've commited. The illustrations of the suspects really helps this and I love the way they all look, however due to there being only twenty cases, I can't help but feel that if you keep playing this game over and over you will go through all 20 cases really quickly and then might remember the suspects that were guilty of the cases when you want to play again. It says on the box you can replay constantly, but if you remember the case solution then it's not really fun to replay them, and it doesn't have the same random replayability that cluedo has. However it's still a very good and fun game to play for a first time round, a good mix of Cluedo and Guess Who, and if you can forget who was guilty in what case, then it does have a fun replayability to it too. :)

Are there any new ideas out there? 'Catch the Crook' is a new idea, but shares DNA with some classic games like Cluedo, Guess Who, and 221b Baker Street. The idea is to solve one of twenty predetermined crimes by following the clues. You gather these on a dice throw and pick up a clue card. You will learn something new, something about the personality of the criminal. You then look at the character cards to disregard someone or become more suspicious. There are some clever ideas here as you can use the character traits or even the illustrations for answers.It can take a little while to understand how to play the game, but a slow start soon speeds up. All the pieces are well made and the illustrations make it feel more for older gamers, this makes sense as you want to be sly about what you are doing if you like to win. For the quality on offer £17 is a good price, it comes with twenty mysteries which does mean that it has limited replay value should someone play all the cases.

The age rating is 10+, which I'd say is about right. Although with a little adult help anyone can play. There are 20 cases to solve, and each case takes somewhere between 30-60 minutes, maybe even longer depending how fast you play.It's a really fun game and my family has very much enjoyed playing it. I wish the culprit names were all behind doors, like an advent calendar, to stop you seeing the names from the other games. Other than that, awesome!

This has been a fun game to learn and play which we have really enjoyed. The only downside is that there are only 20 scenarios to play through and once you have then the game is done.All of the gameplay parts feel well made/printed and the graphics are quite eye catching so we will enjoy our full 20 games and then pass it on for other to discover too!

This game arrived in a really eye catching box that hints to the crime solving game inside.The box contains cards for all the characters, clue cards, pencils and "score" pads, dice and instructions.Each clue card tells you which cases it's relevant to, so you don't need to use all of these for each game.Play relies on your deciphering both written and visual clues, whilst the dice direct the gameplay and your choices.The artwork on the character cards is great, visually stunning and full of detail.The game has 20 mysteries to solve, so there is a finite amount of gameplay. How quickly you work through every case will depend on how quickly you play/how much you enjoy playing.At £16.99, at time of review, I still think it's great value - it's less than £1 for each mystery after all and a great way of reducing screen time for the whole family!

Item being reviewed: Skillmatics Board Game - Catch The Crook, Family Friendly Thrilling Mystery Game for Game Nights, Strategy, Clues, Crime, Cold Cases, Gifts for Kids, Boys, Girls Ages 10 and Up, 2-5 Players.Price at time of order / review: £16.99.We thought this was a fun and silly game. It really would be best with at least a minimum of three players. I was happy there was more than one play-through available. This is the sort of thing you can play, have fun with, then leave on the shelf for years because you'll forget the details and be able to play it all over again. It's really similar to some rather famous games out there. If you like those, you should like this one too. Construction of the pieces is ok, as long as they're handled gently. This is not for rough-housing with.

This is a great way to make a dinner party even more interesting or to spend time as a family. The cases are pitched at a good level. Not to difficult for the younger members whilst also challenging everyone to think critically and look for clues. We have lots of skillmatics games and find they are always great quality, engaging and suited for all ages.

This is a quality board game, not disimilar to Cluedo. There are 20 pre-set scenarios for which you need to "catch the crook". It is a game of strategy and is probably best enjoyed by family and friends groups aged 10 and over.Once you have played the 20 scenarios it is probably not really replayable UNLESS you have a very poor memory - you could pass it on though!Recommended