Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage from Hachette Games. This deduction game will have you solving a series of mysteries using a set of clues.

Many of us grew up playing the classic mystery game of Clue (aka Cluedo), and since then the craving for a good mystery to solve hasn’t gone away, even if some of the games of our childhood have. Thankfully, these days there’s no shortage of such games, and things have evolved a lot since Clue. Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage is just one recent contribution to this still thriving genre; in it, 1-6 crimebusters will take on the role of Detective Claire Harper in an attempt to solve the three cases included in the box. Playtime is at least 90 minutes per case.

Each case in Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage uses an associated deck of numbered cards, a solution envelope, and a couple of documents to be consulted during the game.

At the start of the game, players will read an introduction to the case and will be given access to some of the cards in the deck to get them started. The numbers on the cards will let players know which ones they have access to at any point in the game, based on the documents and other cards they have drawn. Some cards will need to be unlocked by finding certain symbols first. Cards might be associated with a suspect, witness, location, or potential evidence.

As players read the information, their goal is to solve the case by answering five or six questions associated with the case, using the information they have deduced. The fewer cards you need to look at in order to solve the crime, the better your score will be. Once players reach a checkpoint, they can record any answers they think they have found, and then continue to play.

Each deck contains over 50 cards—the exact number depends on the case—and after the deck runs out, players must record any final answers and open the solution envelope. They will score points based on the number of correct answers recorded, and for