Game 47: Deception - Murder in Hong Kong

 I continue to feel like I'm cheating on my posts recently, because we keep adding new games to our shelves.  I'm not trying to inflate the numbers; it's just that 4 of us have summer birthdays, and so this is the time that we attain new games, and then, of course, we want to play them right away.  I think after this post we'd better play a couple of old games in a row or something!  This game, Deception - Murder in Hong Kong, was Caleb's gift to Jacob for his Golden Birthday yesterday.  Four of us played tonight, and all of us really liked it.  It's like a combination of Clue, Bang, Avalon, and Mysterium.  But even though it seems to me to combine elements of those games, it doesn't feel derivative in any way.
The goal of this game is to determine who the murderer is, what the weapon is, and what the clue is - unless, of course, you are the murderer, in which case the goal of this game is to not be found out!  Each player is dealt a character card at the beginning of the game.  No matter how many people are playing, you always have one murderer and one forensic scientist.  With only 4 players, the other two are investigators.  (With more than four players there could be other roles, such as accomplice, witness, etc.)
 Each person is also dealt 8 cards, 4 weapon cards and 4 clue cards.  At the beginning of the game the forensic scientist has all players close their eyes, then has the murderer open his eyes and indicate two of the cards in front of him (one weapon and one clue).  The forensic scientist, who is trying to help the investigators determine who the murderer is, places bullet tokens on scene cards to try to clearly point the finger of blame as best possible.
 It can be tricky, because many cards (weapon and clue) are similar, so it can be hard to discern.  Also, the murderer may chose very similar or very disparate cards in front of him - either way making it hard for the forensic scientist to make his indications point clearly in one direction.  No matter what your role, this game takes some cleverness and creativity.  We also like it because a story develops as you talk it out while trying to make an accusation (or trying to deflect suspicion from yourself).  This is definitely a good addition to our shelves.

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