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Mystery of the Abbey box art

Base game

Mystery of the Abbey

Replay index

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Published
1995
Players
3–6
Play time
60–90 min
Reach
Niche
Evaluations
0
Themes:
DeductionMedievalMurder / MysteryReligious
Mechanics:
DeductionDice rollingHand managementRoll & writeSet collection

How it plays

No rules summary yet for this game.

Main mechanics explained

  • Deduction: You piece together hidden information from clues.
  • Dice rolling: Dice create swing and force you to adapt.
  • Hand management: Timing which card to spend is the core puzzle.
  • Roll & write: Everyone marks their own sheet from shared results.
Full publisher description

Mystery of the Abbey is a whodunit deduction game in the spirit of Clue. A monk has been murdered in a medieval French Abbey. Players maneuver their way through the Abbey examining clues and questioning each other to find out who is the culprit. Monks are of three orders, three titles, fat/thin, bald/hooded, and bearded/clean shaven. One monk card is hidden, and the rest of the cards are distributed. Turns consist of moving up to two spaces, and then asking a question of any other monks who are present there. (For instance, how many fat monks do you have in your hand of cards? .) Players may either take a vow of silence or answer truthfully; they then in turn get to ask the accuser a question if they answered the accuser's question. Mass occurs every four turns: all players go back to the Sanctuary, an event card is read, and they then pass an ever growing number of cards to their left neighbor. Various rooms have special events or cards associated with them, e.g. in a Cell you get to pick a card from a neighbor, in the Cryptorum you get to pick up a card to take an extra turn later. Unlike Clue, you don't automatically win by making a correct Accusation: you get 4 points for getting it right, but you also get 2 points for each correct Declaration of a single trait, and lose points for incorrect declarations and accusations. So, e.g. a person could correctly Declare the culprit but lose the game. Unique Events cards add randomness to each play, and the game begs for House rules to limit the questions.

What players say

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