3–6 players and 45 mins.
Detectives mill around, wondering how he managed to escape their grasp. They were so close, but the trail has gone cold. One detective loiters at a bus stop, another at the entrance to a tube station. Then, suddenly, the alert comes in:
“Mr X spotted at Embankment, all officers required, relocate immediately…”
And the chase is back on.
How do you win?
The detectives win if any member of their team lands on the same numbered tile as Mr X. If you are Mr X, you must evade capture for 24 turns or until the game reaches a point where all detectives are unable to move.
How do you play?
One person plays as the mysterious Mr X, a criminal mastermind on the run. The rest of the players are detectives racing across London in order to catch him. The city map is overlaid with numbered tiles, all connected by coloured links representing various forms of transport, such as a taxi (white), bus (blue) and underground (red). Players have tickets to use for each transport type, for example, a bus ticket will get you from the bus stop at your location to the next numbered tile on the blue route.
During a turn, the elusive Mr X will travel one stop in secret from his starting location, before writing the number of his destination in his Travel Log and covering it with the type of transport ticket used. The detectives have access to the finished log, giving them a chronological list of Mr X’s transport choices. Play then moves clockwise, as each detective decides where to move by spending an appropriate ticket.
It is worth noting that the police transport budget is critically underfunded and detectives are also incapable of using any form of transport that doesn’t involve wheels and an engine. When an officer dips into their limited stash of bus, taxi and underground tickets, the used tickets are passed on to Mr X, ready for him to use.
Therefore, the detectives risk becoming stuck at a location if they run out of tickets for the type of transport that serves their current tile; a bus ticket will do you no good if a taxi ride is the only way you can leave your location. In general, underground tickets allow travellers to cover the furthest distance in one turn, but officers have less of them to use compared with bus and taxi tickets.
The key milestones of the investigation are five set points on Mr X’s travel log, where he must reveal his current location. This gives valuable information for the police to work with – hopefully, thanks to good planning and/or luck, they are in the vicinity and have the right transport tickets to get them there in time to catch their prey! If they arrive too late, they will attempt to deduce Mr X’s escape route on the basis of the transport methods shown on his Travel Log and his last known location.
Why play it?
Scotland Yard involves a tense rivalry, with the detectives trying to plan ahead and act on limited information to outwit Mr X. Meanwhile, our suspect is attempting to cover his tracks and give as little away as possible in order to keep the law at arm’s reach.
Although the detectives have the advantage in terms of numbers, there are a few other mechanics to assist Mr X. For example, he is free to observe all the detectives’ movements and listen in on their plans (unless they come up with some unspoken or coded methods of communication first!). As a detective, it can be easy to forget that your target is witness to your conversations, with your thoughts giving him new ideas on how to escape!
In addition to Mr X’s unlimited supply of travel tickets, kindly provided by the detectives, he also has special tokens at his disposal, such as ‘double move’ tokens. Mr X can also spend a ‘mystery movement’ token, which allows him to keep his transport method secret from the police and can be used for any type of transport, including a handy river boat that is not available to the police (budget cuts strike again!). These special tickets are typically used by Mr X to muddy the waters right after he has revealed his location, allowing him to quickly escape as the police close in.
During a typical game, there are several moments when the police can feel like they don’t have a clue where the suspect is; meanwhile, from Mr X’s perspective, the detectives are far too close for comfort and capture seems imminent. To survive for long enough to win the game, Mr X will have to double back on himself or gamble by visiting tiles adjacent to detectives, hoping their paths won’t cross. Anything to avoid the dreaded dead ends on the map!
Verdict?
A co-op game that still involves tense competition. Older games can sometimes fall flat compared with more recent releases, but Scotland Yard certainly delivers with its simple yet engaging gameplay.
Cards on the Table 