Mystery of the Abbey 

They lose points when making an incorrect revelation or accusation. The revelations and accusations are recorded throughout the game; the corresponding victory points attributed and totaled at the end of the game, once the culprit has been caught.

There are two opposing start strategies: Either try to have fewest cards and go for the library, where yo uonly may get one card per game, but they are really powerful OR go hunt for the last cards in the Parlor plus pick cards from your opponents through the Confessionals. It's good to keep a crypt card quite soon, as you both easier can defend your own cell or steal a card frojm an opponent by visiting their cell.

A game turn consists of the following:
1. Move Mass Bell (first player in turn only) - If you are the first player of the turn, move the bell one spot on the topmost Mass card. If the bell is already on 4, move it off the card, immediately call the Mass, and apply the Mass card’s effects.
2. Move Pawn - Move your pawn one or two steps in any direction on the board. Each room of the Abbey is delineated by a color change on the floor and counts as one step, regardless of the room’s size. The move is mandatory and a 2-step move cannot be used to immediately come back to the same room.
3. Encounter - If your pawn ends its move in a room already occupied by another player’s pawn, you must ask that player a question.
4. Action - Proceed with any actions relevant to the room your pawn now occupies.

As all Days of Wonder game, this is a game with really beautiful components. This is nothing for the deduction game purists, but more a deduction game which is more fun than Cluedo and require more clever and interesting questions. I can really recommend this game, even with non-gamers.

Finally I got the chance to play the print-and-cut game version of “Murder at the Abbey”. All of us managed quite well to put questions, which didn’t reveal too much to the other players, but sometimes it didn’t give even yourself any new information. The vow of silence was only used a couple of times at the end of the game and the were bad at using the scriptorium, which might have helped us a lot and it was only Anders who get the chance to use the scriptorium. Finally I succeeded to reveal that brother Ubertin was the murderer. Although it’s a chaotic deduction game, I found it to work really well and I’m looking forward for the re-edition of Bruno Faidutti’s game. It’s said to be good even with more players, without getting too long. This play took about 1 hour.

Rating:  Carl=7, Peter=7, Anders=6, Christina=6