Scotland Yard is a strategy and teamwork board game where a team of players, as police/detective, cooperate to track down a player controlling a criminal (Mr X) around a board representing the streets of London. Mr X moves secretly through London and the only clues are his transport tickets and he may pop up on the map at certain times! You will need to trap him before he escapes and he wins the game.
This game comes with a large playing board, travel log with paper insert, 6 playing pieces, 29 start cards, 130 transportation tickets, 3 double-move tickets, 5 detective ticket boards, paper visor for Mr X, 2 rings for the police and instructions. This is suitable for children aged eight and above and it is for two to six players.
There are two versions to play the game: Beginners or Normal. If this is your first time playing, you might want to try the Beginners version to get a better understanding of the game. Instead of 24 rounds, there are only 13 rounds to play.
Ideally, it is best to play with at least three players or more. You can play with two players where one will be Mr X and the other players will get to control two detectives and two Police.
Setting up this game requires a big table to accommodate the large playing board plus the tickets! Mr X will get the visor, travel log, 5 black tickets and 2 double move tickets. If there are 5 detectives, Mr X can use 3 double move tickets. Mr C chose to be Mr X and he decided to wear sunglasses to avoid divulging secrets! But I do think it is not that necessary as sunglasses will get reflection when holding something close! Ha! Ha! He didn’t know!
The rest of the players will get one coloured playing piece and the corresponding ticket board plus the tickets stated on the ticket board. The game does sound complicated and difficult but once you start playing the game, it all makes sense.
We all had fun trying to guessing where Mr X was and trying to anticipate his next moves. It is fun to play with family and friends as the detectives can discuss and work as a team. For more information about the game, please go to https://www.ravensburger.com/uk/products/games/family-games/scotland-yard-26646/index.html. It is available to buy from good retailers and Amazon.
Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however all thoughts and opinions remain our own. We have included an Amazon affiliate link to the product. If you click on this and buy, we may earn a small commission but at no additional cost to you.