Foul Play: The Manor House Murder

• Player Count: 2-5
• Play Time: 20-30 Minutes
• Age: 8+
• Genre: Murder Mystery
• Play Style: Family
• Key Mechanic: Deduction

Welcome to Edwardian England. The Lord of the Manor is dead! The servants are our lead suspects and it’s up to you to unearth the evidence, seek out the suspects, and catch the culprit in order to scupper the other sleuths and win this game of murder!

There’s more than one way to catch a killer though. So what’s it gonna be? Good Cop or Bad Cop? These two game versions come with their own set of rules and tactics to crack the case and finger your suspect, but will you use fair play or FOUL PLAY?

Detectives (players) have to deduce information from the Evidence Locker and Crime Scene to solve the murder. The game has Two Playing Variants: Good Cop (Catch A Killer) – set-up by placing the Evidence cards face down according to colour and shuffle each pile. The remaining cards form the Evidence Locker. Add one card from each Evidence pile into the Evidence Locker and discard the rest. Shuffle the Evidence Locker and 9 cards into a 3×3 grid (The Crime Scene) in the centre of the playing area. Deal 5 cards face down to each player. Then place the remaining Evidence Locker, face down, to one side of the Crime Scene. Bad Cop (Frame a suspect) All cards are in play – so shuffle the full deck and then follow the same set up as Good Cop, deal 7 cards to each player and you’re ready to go. Detectives play the game by discarding or playing cards on their turn, choosing between fair and foul play cards. The winner is the Detective who determines who the murderer is and has the killer in their hand when making an accusation.

Foul Play – is published by a company that specialise in Murder Mystery events as a way to negotiate the lockdowns put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an easy to learn, set up and play, card deduction game for the whole family with the playing age being 8 and up (First Edition boxes advise 14+ though this has been corrected on later editions).  The artwork is great fun and has a comical, noir feel to it adding some great atmosphere. The different set up options provide good replayability and adds depth to a well designed, family game. Quick to play, you won’t want to stop at just one game. If you have a demonstration area ensure that ‘Foul Play’ is always to hand for families or as a perfect filler game alternative.

More info on BGG here.