It had been years since I'd last had the chance to play it, but not long ago I dusted off my copy of Scotland Yard and gave it a go.This is one of those games I have fond memories of from when I was younger, one of the first games I ever played that was not from Parker Brothers, Hasbro, or some such. Unlike many games from back then, which I seem to find underwhelming when I try them again as an adult, I always seem to enjoy this one when it comes back around. Why I still manage to go years between games, I'm not sure, but it's a fun one.
If you've never played it, Scotland Yard pits one player as "Mr. X" against all the other players, who cooperatively try to capture him. X moves around the board in secret, tracking every step on paper, and only revealing his true location every five turns. Armed only with these intermittent reveals, and the knowledge of what mode of transportation X is using to travel each turn, the detectives must tighten a net around him and move any one of their number to the same space as X.
The game honestly rests just on the edge of what might be too tedious, if you let it. The detectives can talk with each other about the best moves to make, and if they spend too much time overanalyzing everything, I could imagine it easily letting all the fun out of the proceedings. Fortunately, it seems to always stop just short of that when I play, as it did on this occasion.
One thing I seem to remember about the game, no matter how long I go between playing it, is that I think it's optimal for three or five players. The box says three to six, but there's definitely a sweet spot for "number of detectives facing off against Mr. X." With three players, the two detectives each move two pawns, which brings it in sync with the five player experience. With four players (three detectives), I seem to remember there not being enough detectives to build a net that X can't easily slip through. And with six players (five detectives), my memory is that X hasn't got a chance of winning. Four detective pawns on the board seems to me to be that perfect balance where either side has a chance for victory.
On this occasion, I was with the detectives. And this time, X eluded us, although we came oh-so-close to capturing him at about the halfway point, and remained right on his tail until we ran out of our own travel tokens, ending the game. Even in defeat, it was a lot of fun. And I hope I don't go another several years before playing it again.
3 comments:
This one is a TRUE classic. Very good game, and still very fun to play.
BTW, we've always played with five detectives on the board, no matter how many players are involved. (Some end up playing more detectives than others in some cases.) And yes, it makes it pretty hard on Mr. X.
We've also very often played it two-handed: one player is Mr. X, the other handles all five detectives. This one's pretty fun: Mr. X doesn't have the advantage of hearing the conversations between detectives -- it's all happening in the head of the one opponent. :)
FKL
I've only played this maybe two or three times in my life, but I've had a blast each time.
There is a game that came out recently about Dracula that is very similar in mechanics to Scotland Yard. Dracula moves secretly from location to location and Mina Harker, Van Helsing, etc. attempt to find him. It adds combat and traps and other things, but after playing through it, I really wished I were just playing Scotland Yard again.
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