This is a fun Milton Bradley game for 2 - 6 players. I'll be honest, I think it's supposed to be designed for younger children, but a group of late-twenties adults had a blast with it a couple weeks ago. In Scotland Yard, 5 players (or less) take on the role of Detectives and try to catch the criminal, "Mr. X", in Central London. One player plays Mr. X, the rest play detectives. Sound good so far? Check out what comes in the game...
Inside the box:
Okay, the pen I added to the box. Otherwise, you get a simple map of Central London, 5 colored cardboard "badges", 5 "detective" pawns (they match the badges), one pad of paper, one "Mr. X" blue cover for the pad of paper, a small rulebook, a stack of station tokens, and a metric ton of "ticket" tokens.
Looking closer at the board, you can see that there are routes and stations that are yellow, green or pink. To move a pawn from one station to the next costs you a ticket of the matching color. Generally, Taxis can go everywhere, but they are very short routes. Bus routes can go a bit farther, but they do not go everywhere. Underground routes go the farthest, but they are severely limited as to where they can go.
Detectives have a limited number of tickets. They get a bunch of taxi tickets, a few less of the bus tickets, and only a few underground tickets. When they're gone, they're gone. If a detective runs out of tickets they are stranded and out of the game. If a detective has some tickets, but is stuck on a station that doesn't use that kind of tickets, they are stranded and out of the game.
Now, when a detective uses a ticket, it goes to Mr. X. Mr. X does not run out of tickets, and has two special tickets: The black ticket (2), and the 2x ticket (2). The black ticket can be used for any station, as well as the black route river ferries. The 2x ticket allows Mr. X to make two moves on one turn. Once a black or 2x ticket is used, it is gone.
So how does Mr. X work? Well, the player controlling Mr. X does not put the pawn on the board. Mr. X writes down his moves on the pad of paper, and then covers the move with a ticket of the type he used. This allows Mr. X to be sneaky, and the detectives have to think about where he might have gone based on the ticket he uses.
On the 3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th, and last moves, Mr. X must place his pawn on the board. So the detective spend the first three moves setting up a position, and then on the third move, they have to start paying attention to what Mr. X might be doing.
Scotland Yard is a great game in that the 5 detectives really have to work together to catch the Mr. X player. It is not so hard that younger children can't grasp it, but it is deep enough for older players to enjoy it. The bad news is that my 1985 Milton Bradley edition is out of print. The good news is that it has been reprinted with some updated artwork. And of course, Board Game Geek always has people selling various versions, anywhere from $7 to $50. You can also buy the newest reprint from Funagain games for around $35. Honestly, I'd say this is a game that is definitely worth $35.
FUN: 4. This is a good game, and virtually infinitely replayable.
THEME: 4. It's a good theme, and the game is built around it.
QUALITY: 3. It was a mass-produced MB game. They used appropriate materials,
but some of the cardstock is a little cheap.
ART: 2. The only "art" to speak of is the board, and it is a map.
INTERACTIVITY: 4. It isn't that you affect the other players with your move, but
you have to coordinate your moves together.
COMPLEXITY: 2. No surprises here. Straightforward game.
LUCK: 1. The only "luck" is your starting positions, and that is really just randomized
through tile drawing, and not true luck.
I'd recommend this game to anyone, but especially for folks who want a game the whole family can enjoy.
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