July 15, 2024: Decktective Is Effective!

Like many of you all, I play a lot of games (and not just those by a certain fine purveyor of spiffy products). One series hit my radar recently – after sitting in the closet of shame for the past few years – that we really enjoy. It's the Decktective series, by dV Games.

This is a series of mysteries that – like similar games – can only be played once. (I mean, you can play it again, but you'll know the mystery so there isn't much point unless your memory is terrible.) They're playable solo or co-op, but I strongly suspect it's more fun in a small group. As the name implies, you're trying to solve a mystery, with each card representing a clue or piece of evidence . . . which may or may not be useful.

Decktective has two innovations that make it noteworthy for us. First, you use the cards to "build" the crime scene, tucking them into the box lid to form a little 3D diorama. There are clues and deductions that can be made by examining the scene, and – with the addition of cards as the investigation proceeds – the scene can change. It's a neat visual element.

Second, on any given turn, an investigator can either play a clue card to reveal evidence to the group, or discard a clue card. The latter is useful because you can only play cards whose value is equal to the number of cards that have been discarded; in other words, if you have a 10-point clue card – which is probably pretty useful – you can't play it unless a total of nine other clues have been discarded. (The game starts with one card "discarded," so you can play those 1-point cards.)

Players aren't allowed to reveal the details on cards they discarded during the game, but in the final "solving the crime" section, they can disclose such . . . if they remember what was on the cards they discarded!

Thus, this really neat balancing act exists between trying to figure out which clues probably won't be useful, because discarding them makes it easier for everyone else to play their cards . . . but also trying to remember what was on those cards in case you're wrong. (This memory aspect and working with incomplete information is also why I imagine it works best with multiple players.)

The mysteries themselves have generally been fair. In our play-throughs, we've neither gotten 100% "success," nor not solved the basic gist of a case, or at least understood the big picture – which suits our needs just fine.

The series is also a nice diversion because there isn't too much reading; the meatiest cards have a few dozen words, at most. So gameplay is pretty quick – almost spot-on an hour, in our experience – perfect for even a busy weeknight.

Anyway, if you're a would-be sleuth looking for a fast-and-fun series, I recommend checking out Decktective and seeing if it's right for you!

-- Steven Marsh