Welcome to Part 2 in my 261 part journey through gaming! Since this is the first Friday of 2015 Let me explain how Favorite Fridays work. I have played a lot of games, and it is always hard to pick favorites but there are some games that stick out in our memories better than others; they may not be the best games, but for some reason they hold a special place in our hearts. These are the games I will be covering on Fridays. I will begin each review by giving the game’s vitals (designer, release date, accolades, etc) followed by explaining how I was introduced to the game, detailing how the game plays, my initial perceptions of the game and how I see the game now, before finally detailing the games current score according to my rubric.

Favorite Fridays: Scotland Yard
Released: 1983
Designers: Manfred Burggraf, Dorothy Garrels, Wolf Hoermann, Fritz Ifland, Michael Schacht, Werner Scheerer, Werner Schlegel
Accolades: 1983 Spiel Des Jahres Winner
Plays: 3-6
EPT: 45 minutes

Many children grow up playing traditional Milton Bradley/Parker Brothers games such as Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, and Sorry. I was never one of those children. The first game I recall playing was Scotland Yard. Surly I played other games before hand, they just didn’t stand out to me in the same way. I am not sure how my parents were introduced to the game but when family game nights were all the rage my parents took the opportunity to introduce my friends, siblings and I to this fantastic game.

In Scotland Yard one player takes on the role of Mister X; a criminal on the run from the police in London. The remaining players take on the roles of the detectives on the hunt for the criminal. Play takes place on a game board that is modeled to reflect a map of London with locations connected by lines of varied colors; each color representing a mode of travel. The players begin with a limited number of tokens matching the forms of travel and must discard a proper token when moving their pawns about the board; when discarding these tokens they go to Mister X’s token pile to be used by him. Mister X, along with getting the player’s spent tokens, has some special movement tokens that can be used for any mode of travel, thus keeping his movement hidden, as well as a couple tokens that allow him to move twice. The game ends when the detectives capture Mister X by moving their pawn onto the same space as the criminal or when Mister X has successfully evaded the police for 22 rounds.

The game gets tricky because the detectives play with their pawns revealed on the board while Mister X does not. His pawn is removed from for the board for all but five predetermined rounds. When the player controlling Mr. X moves they document their movement on a sheet of paper by writing down the number of the location they moved to and covering the written number with the token indicating the mode of travel used to get to that location giving the detectives a small clue as to where they could possibly be. Players must use these clues partnered with the locations they know Mr. X visited in their attempt to capture the crook.

When I first played Scotland Yard I was instantly infatuated with the game; as a child I saw the game as an unbeatable puzzle. My parents and my older brother would constantly do better than me but as it was a semi-cooperative game I was able to quickly learn from them and get better myself. I love playing as Mr. X, as do most people, but when working with my fellow detectives it is equally exciting to play as the police. The game boasts a great replay value due to the random start locations partnered with player choice. The game is thus almost entirely skill based with little room for luck to play a factor. This is appealing to me as I love the challenge of skill vs skill games; though it can grow frustrating if you always play with individuals of higher skill than yourself.

Sadly the game is now absent from my collection (My parents still have a copy and I believe my brother has a copy but I have yet to obtain my own; this shall be remedied soon I hope). But many other similar games have risen to takes its place in many people’s minds; games such as Letters from Whitechapel and The Fury of Dracula. Both are fantastic games and excellent in their own right; but there is something about nostalgia that is hard to beat; and that is why Scotland Yard still holds a place on my list of favorite games!

The Way I rate games; Scotland Yard has received a 7.5 out of 10
Visuals – 1.5 // 2
Skill/Luck – .75 // 1
Pacing – 1.5 // 2
Theme/Immersion – 1.5 // 2
Mechanics – .75 // 1
Fun Factor 1.5 // 2

Visit again Monday as I take a look at the mechanic of Hand Management! until then you can find us on social media!
Twitter @Gam3rsR3mors3
Facbook /TheGamersRemorse