5 Minute Chase

Michael: “English, Fitz or Percy? If we're gonna pull this off, we need to take one of them out.”
Abruzzi: “And you want us to tell you which one?”
Michael: “I just want you to help me get to them. I'll take it from there.”
Sucre: “You're crazy, you know that?”
Michael: “All I need is 5 minutes.”

Prison Break, Season One, Episode 5: English, Fitz or Percy written by Paul Scheuring and Zack Estrin, FOX

Game: 5 Minute Chase

Designer: David Neale & Antony Proietti

Publisher: Board & Dice

Artist: Paweł Niziołek

Runtime: 10 seconds - 5 minutes

Player Count: 2 - 4

[caption id="attachment_2783" align="alignnone" width="2048"] A pretty arty display of the game, good entit?[/caption]

5 Minute Chase is a tile-placement party game for two or more players. I’m just going to let that sink in for a second, but you read that right, Board & Dice have taken what is possibly the second most boring boardgame mechanic (behind roll and move obviously); tile placement and not only have they made it exciting, they’ve created a great party game for two.

This is a super simple game of chase, of cat and mouse, of cops and robbers. One player is on the run, the other has to chase them down all with simple, yet challenging, asymmetry. As a runner, you’ll shuffle all your tiles, create two stacks and you are ready to play. The chaser collects all their tokens and starts staring menacingly at the would–be runner and maybe does a little smack talking.

 

The aim for each player is simple, the runner must get from the prison to the hideaway without getting caught and along their route to freedom must collect a map, a key and of course the loot they hid before they went to sing-sing. Once you’ve collected, and by this, I mean used at least one of each of these tiles in your escape, you can place your hideaway tile and finally take a sigh of relief and sit down.

[caption id="attachment_2779" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Those police roadblocks will cause you so much trouble[/caption]

There are but a couple of rules governing the placement of tiles that can be summed up here easily (in the rulebook, not so much),:

1. Roads and tiles must align.


2. When placing a tile, it can only touch one other tile.


3. When escaping along a road with a police roadblock, the roadblock must join up to a wood.

See, simple.

 

The chaser has a very different task. Each tile has a number of witnesses facing in different directions. What the chaser must do is very quickly count and work out which group of witnesses saw the runners go in the direction of the next tile, and place on that tile the corresponding token.

Should the chaser ever be able to place a token on the “current” tile, they have caught the runner. However, neither this nor the placement of the getaway ensures victory. In 5 Minute Chase, there is the necessity for a “check” before final scoring takes place, where all players review the route and tokens to make sure that all is correct. Although this isn’t strictly ‘in game’ it still has an air of anticipation, since so many choices and selections are made rapidly during the chase this evaluative step comes with a results-envelope-opening sense of trepidation…just a much more fun sense of this.

[caption id="attachment_2777" align="alignnone" width="1920"] This is where you are trying to get to. Good luck, and Gods Speed[/caption]

First the runner’s route is assessed to make sure they connected all the roads correctly and included a key, map and loot tile. For the Chaser the process is a little different, the tiles themselves are flipped - where the edge connecting to the next tile remains touching and on the reverse of the tile the correct token symbols are shown - it really is quite an efficient way of doing it.

Now, it could very easily, and in my opinion, be correctly argued that the chaser has the much easier task, the rudimentary pattern recognition is a much quicker mental process, whereas the runner has to first recognise, assess and then orientate tiles to match what is down but also plan what is coming. However, where the runner's task does get easier with multiple plays the chaser’s doesn’t. In many instances the runner ‘always’ has a choice, often they may not be ideal choices but the runner can move the chase along, the chaser doesn’t get this option; they are always behind and the mercy of what the runner is putting down for them. In this regard there is actually very little one player can do to influence their opponent, each player is acting in response to time itself rather than one another.

Much like a child’s playground game of tig, the sole objective of the chaser is much simpler, whereas the runners must invent their escape on the fly. This pattern shifts somewhat in a 3 or 4 player game. I’ll admit, I was dubious as to how this game would work at the higher player count but I was pleasantly surprised. The runner gets a huge bonus here, communication, a moment, albeit a brief one, for consideration. Although the chaser also gains help in a 4 player game, the help gained isn’t quite enough to offset the runners, when this happens everyone knuckles down that little bit more.

It's all those do-gooder witnesses that cause the bother if they would only all just look away

Also, much like a game of tig, there can be a rising degree of frustration with this game, simply because some people will be naturally better at it, or one role within it, than others. 5 Minute Chase create a very level playing field for the game state, where neither player can bring inherited experience to bear. Again, like a game of tig, some people are just faster, more nimble and in this game that converts to some people being faster at recognising patterns, of being more mentally agile and can more deftly rotate and align the tiles to their need. My software engineer friend Mario is an expert runner whom I rarely manage to catch and I’m pretty flipping good at chasing people (obviously I mean in the game, I’m not like a bounty hunter or anything). For some, this frustration twinned with how lightning fast the game is could lead some players to...I don’t want to say sulk, but; well, sulk.

 

The game comes with a bunch of silver and gold star tokens, which you’re meant to use to work out who won and add up at the end of a game. To be honest, I’m not too sure how you win them or count them because for me 5 Minute Chase isn’t about collecting points, it’s about the sheer, unbridled joy of playing, of having that nervous-fun energy. It’s called 5 Minute Chase, but actually, I’ve found I don’t want to play this game for 5 minutes straight just because I fear I’d be a nervous wreck afterwards. A round can last literally seconds - seriously, I’ve caught someone within 3 tiles before, but even a full route with loot, key, map and all still comes in around the minute and a half mark at best.

 

Finally starting to get somewhere...I think

If you hold with the definition of a game being the abstract simulation of an event, then one could argue that 5 Minute Chase is “The Perfect Game”. It splendidly captures the excitement, anxiety and rush of a chase. Playing this game you’ll find yourself trembling with anticipation, you’ll feel your pulse rushing as you frantically search for the right tile. You’ll get that feeling of being hunted, of the chaser being hot on your heels, the exultation when you spot all the right witnesses almost instantaneously and have the right token ready in your hand and for these moments 5 Minute Chase is not only a stand-up, it’s a standout game too.

This game does what a party game should, it gives you a shot of cardboard fun. You’re not going to be overladen with difficult weighty decisions, you won’t agonise over how you engineer your escape, it is a straightforward, fun, family-friendly game of cops and robbers. It’s a small box, with a small price tag (£13.55 currently on a pre-order special) and although you won’t get hours and hours of play out of it you will get a lot of laughs.

Review: Mysterium

Game Name:	Mysterium	Published Year:	2015
Game Publisher:	Libellud	Player Scale:	2 – 7
Game Designer:	Oleksandr Nevskiy & Oleg Sidorenko	Run Time:	60 mins

A wealthy individual has recently purchased a fabulous mansion, but they never looked into why their new, luxurious home was far, far cheaper than it had any reason to be.  Until that is; they spent their first night under that roof, where they came face to face with the ghost of the previous owner.  Who was, of course, murdered.  Not wanting to lose out on the bargain real estate, psychics, mediums and all manner of communicators-to-the-other-side are hired to help the ghost find peace and leave.  That’s where you come in, except one of you, no, one of you will be playing as the ghost in this asymmetric co-op game of abstract deduction.

 

[caption id="attachment_1496" align="alignnone" width="3159"] The core game and the first expansion Hidden Signs - for extra spookiness[/caption]

 

The ghost player will not be able to talk for the duration of the game, it is their task to try and lead the other players; the psychics, to identifying the murderer, the murder location and, of course, the murder weapon.

So far this is spooky-Cluedo, right?  Wrong!  Oh, so very wrong; for a start, this is a good game.  No: this is a great game.

Being murdered has left the ghost with a memory like Swiss cheese (Oh, boy), which means the ghost has a number of suspects it could be, - the true killer will be identified in the final stage of the game.  Each suspect, location and weapon series is assigned to one of the playing psychics which the ghost keeps track of from behind their specifically designed screen.  Essentially, each player is following their own mini-mystery as part of a greater narrative.

 

[caption id="attachment_1501" align="alignnone" width="4032"] The brilliant player shield for the ghost, for them to keep track of all the stories they are telling.[/caption]

 



The game will last seven turns (that you keep track of on a brilliantly fractured clock) in each these the psychics will receive visions/dreams from the ghost that will in some way or other denote or indicate what they are truly looking for and this is where the Gigimeter will go nuts with spectral activity.

The dream cards, oh the glorious – slightly disturbing - dream cards.  You’ll get at least one of these from the ghost each turn, and from it, you must uncover the clue.  These are very surreal images depicting…well, dreams, they range from ostriches walking out of a picture frame to a lamp post with a cold!  The ghost could be hoping you’ll go with all the colours and so you’ll choose the Baker with her decorated cakes, or perhaps the black and white feathers are representative of the typical dusting brush the Maid would use.  If that wasn’t difficult enough, you only have until the sand timer runs out to place your pawn on the suspect AND you should really try and help your fellow psychics out.  You can even piggyback on the successes and failures of the other psychics by adding your voting chit to their choice, if they are right and you think so too, you’ll improve your score on the Clairvoyance Track (more on this later).

 

[caption id="attachment_1498" align="alignnone" width="4032"] Some of these Dream cards wouldn't look out of place hanging on a wall[/caption]

 

When your time is up, you all hold hands (optional), and begin humming and chanting (optional) to summon the ghost, to whom you will ask a question along the lines of: “Am I right?” to this the still mute ghost will dramatically knock on the table (one for ‘no’, and two for ‘yes’) and you’ll either rejoice feeling smug that you are on the same page as the ghost player or you’ll be utterly confused and will marvel at how anyone could see any different connection.

This is a very easy game to get into and play, suitable for a very wide range of ages and skill levels – when I play I tend to not use the sand timer, opting for more discussion and fuller cooperative gameplay, which makes playing with younger children especially entertaining (that being said if you if you want to hear a funny boardgame story, ask me about the time I got my sisters to play Mysterium).  This game does draw you in, each player is crafting a story, albeit the ghost’s story, but they are creating it piece by piece in their own way.  The asymmetry in Mysterium is brilliant, and very unusual for a co-op, as the ghost you are playing a completely different way, facing your own choices and frustrations.

[gallery ids="1503,1499,1500" type="rectangular"]

Each choice in this game feels important, as every incorrect “deduction” is an hour of in-game time lost, and for the ghost, this means that every too cryptic or too tenuous dream card that is given, stalls the other player’s progress.  Social interaction is something this game does incredibly well, psychics will discuss their reasoning and understandings with each other, debating over this location or that, all of which is needed for the ghost to understand just how the players are reading the cards.  Discussion and debate are very actively encouraged in Mysterium, and at the same time, the game deals with the common “problem” that arises in co-op games of quarterbacking.  This is managed by the voting chits system – these allow players to show their support or disagreement with a player’s choice with a simple tick or cross.  When you agree a player has made the right choice and it is revealed that they have you are rewarded with Clairvoyance points (the measure of how good a psychic you are), if that player was wrong and you thought they were, again, you are rewarded.  Yet, at no point do you ever lose these Clairvoyance points – every agreement/disagreement discussion and conversation leads the group closer to a great goal.



With a very large deck of dream cards, and many, many possible combinations of who/where/how cards there is plenty of replayability in this game.  The only thing that really hampers this otherwise very high scoring area of the game, is the players.  As the game is based upon deduction and communication players that know each other very very may “get too good at this game”, and certain dream cards and become indicative of specific things between a group of people.

Mysterium is a brilliant modern gateway game, it is a fantastic social game and wouldn’t be out of place as an after dinner party game yet it equally works well when played by people who have only recently met.  The game creates a powerful and driving narrative to spur players on, and in the final in-game hour's things can and do get pretty tense, but overall this really is a very supportive, cooperative game arguably more so than other co-op games such as Pandemic or Sub Terra.  And, on top of all of that, it looks and feels glorious.

Even more so when you turn out the lights and play by candle light



The Good

Second-to-none player interaction

Quick and easy to pick-up and play rules

Glorious art and components

Engrossing player interaction

Wonderful asymmetric cooperative gameplay

 

The Bad

Colour blind and visually impaired players are likely to struggle

Although the art is gorgeous, it is all very dark and shaded

Ghosts, murder and death may not be appropriate themes for all players

Spending the whole game in silence (the ghost player) might not be for everyone

 

Not convinced that this a great game, well you don’t just take my word for it: Andy Lewis from Polyhedron Collider gives his thoughts here, and Michael Heron from Meeple Like Us gives his views here

Over at Meeple Like Us Mysterium score like this in the (also check out the full accessibility tear down which is well worth a read

Colour Blindness	D-
Visual Impairment	E
Emotiveness	C
Fluid Intelligence	D
Memory	D+
Physical	B-
Socioeconomic	A-
Communication	C