Mysterium board game

Pipistrelle

I hope this meets the criteria for this forum. It's not tarot as such but is very closely related.

I've recently played this game and really enjoyed it. It's set in a haunted house. One player plays as the ghost and the rest are psychics, taking part in a seance to try to uncover who killed the ghost (and where and with what). There is some background info given for the psychics - one is a tarot reader, one uses I Ching etc) but these don't have any bearing on the game - they just add flavour.

The fun part of the game is how the ghost communicates with the psychics. They have a big pack of 'vision' cards which they must choose from (from a pool of 7) to try to direct each psychic towards a certain suspect, then location, then murder weapon. These vision cards are lovely - big borderless cards with original artwork showing strange dream-like images. The ghost is not allowed to speak so must communicate with these images alone. There are psychic cards for suspects, locations and weapons with a lot of detail on them so it's a case of trying to find something in the vision cards that evokes one of the psychic cards - it's a lot harder than it sounds because of the randomness of the vision cards.

At the end, the ghost sends all psychics a 'shared vision' - 3 cards that points them to the correct grouping of suspect, location and weapon. The whole game is co-op so it's a nice game for families (less chance of arguments!) My 7-year-old enjoys it.

I find you can look for direct, visual links between the vision cards or more abstract thematic links and metaphors so it uses the same sort of 'card reading' skills as tarot.
 

SixDegrees

It's a great game. People who have played Dixit will see some overlaps in gameplay, but Mysterium is far richer in theme (and, as you note, it's cooperative!).
 

tapestry

I'm a board gamer as well as being interested in tarot, and one of our games is indeed Mysterium....it's a great game and, like you said, it almost makes you feel like you're reading tarot cards!

As a matter of fact, we're playing it tonight for our Saturday game night! The cards in that game are strikingly beautiful and that's also another part of the enjoyment of playing it is the beauty of the cards.......

*tapestry* :)
 

Pipistrelle

Glad you both agree! Yes, the theme is very rich and integrated well with the gameplay - I love pretending I'm a psychic medium trying to solve a murder. And the whole game is very beautifully put together in components and artwork etc.
 

gregory

Do you sell it ? (I have a lot of pentacles, as I recall :D)
 

Pipistrelle

Do you sell it ? (I have a lot of pentacles, as I recall :D)
Nooo, just played it. It's available on Amazon and lots of other places too I should think.
 

gregory

Nooo, just played it. (And they're Pointacles. And I'm not sure if the new site knows what they are! I'll have to check.)
Oops so they are. And I do NOT want to lose them !!!!