- Ages 10+
- 1-4 players
- Simultaneous deduction game with solo variant
- Multiple cases to solve and play again
- Unique solution check using our key mechanism
- Medium Level
Get ready for the ultimate whodunit! In The Key: Royal Star Casino Burglary, investigators will need every clue up their sleeve to solve this trickiest of crimes.
The Royal Star Casino has been shocked by a series of burglaries that have shaken the gambling world. Somehow three perpetrators accessed the sensitive data, but how? Players will start their investigations by combining all the clues about vault numbers, perpetrators, time of the crimes, and the codes entered. In the game cards for this case, the torn edges of currency straps must be examined, elevator movements must be put in the right order, and code tiles must be correctly put together. Witness statements about the activities on the evening of the crime add extra suspense until the correct number code appears that will put the burglars behind bars.
Note: It’s not always the speediest investigator who wins, but the most careful and efficient one!
RO –
Fun family deduction game, the whole family had a blast. Gather clues, eliminate the wrong ones and deduct (first) who robbed the safe. Not sure there’s a lot of replayability for the same players, but time will tell, loving it so far.
Ross –
Good quality board and cards. Interesting concept to have a series of overlapping logic puzzles for a game.The main downside is that it is not at all obvious how to play. Even after you read the whole booklet, you’re still a little bit in the dark. It does not have the elegant simplicity of “just deal out the clue cards and move around asking questions” like Clue does. It isn’t easy to learn-by-doing-and-watching, the way you can learn a lot of card games or world-building games.Most of my family simply refused to try it, and left me to play-test it in single player mode. For people with good memories, the replayability is limited. As such, I think the “learning time to playing time” ratio is a big strike against the game.
theresa –
My teenage kids and I have played two games so far (the blue key and the yellow key). The first game took us about an hour to figure out. The concept is simple, but each of us got stuck with recognizing how to navigate the various clues. Once we understood the gameplay, including how to solve some of the puzzles involved, we played again, and the first player to solve it correctly only needed 15 minutes with the rest of us close behind. The winner is actually not necessarily the fastest investigator, but the one who needs the least amount of clues (each having a point value) to solve the crime. It’s helpful to notice the symbols on the clue cards in order to have a variety of information without collecting too many cards.There are nine key colors that are different game variants. It would also be possible to replay some of the same ones as the clues are really similar (and overlapping) in every game, so I know that we wouldn’t remember the solutions with enough time in between. We really enjoyed this and will seek out other HABA Key games!
Bradley Nelson –
This is a fun game, but I recommend playing the (easier) original game first. I like the competitive nature of drawing clues and see who can figure it out both fastest and with the fewest number of clues. But unlike the original game, this one was much more confusing to learn. The rules were not very well written. We had to look up videos of how to play this. But if you can get through the learning curve, you’ll enjoy it.
Slippery Jim –
This is an excellent deduction game for clever older kids and adults who want to be legitimately challenged.If you/your kids haven’t played any of HABA’s The Key series games yet, unless you’re extremely confident in everyone’s logic and deduction skills, I would very much recommend starting with one or more of the initial three “Start” level offerings. They’re a lot of fun, still not what I’d consider overly simplistic, and a better entry point to gauge whether you want something more rigorous.My precocious 5-year-old daughter, for instance, really had a blast playing the Starter games in a cooperative variant where she got to do most of the reasoning, but could get a little help/nudge here and there. She couldn’t get enough of them, and was really excited to try this new one. But it really strained the bounds of what she could wrap her tiny mind around, unfortunately, to the point where she just hasn’t enjoyed it nearly as much so far.This is not an indictment of the game — it’s a delightful evolution of the formula to be a little trickier, to force you to keep an extra variable in your head, to be able to solve more difficult puzzles.It’s got some good new lab cards, with the standout being a fun mini polyomino(i.e. tetris) mini game you solve to figure out which safe combination the card references.I’ll note that some mistakes on four lab cards were caught before this printing shipped, and a little pack of replacement cards with instructions on which cards to replace is included. I really appreciated that, since there were mistakes on at least some cards in a previous The Key game, which really is a downer in a deduction game (though we were ultimately able to move past the issues, and correct the cards ourselves)Again, when you/your kids are ready to try something a little trickier than the Start level The Key games, this is a great next step. Like the other HABA The Key games, it’s really well done.
Shawn Vezzani –
This seems like a really fun game, but is alot to take in. Alot to keep track of, and not easy to show others how to play. Instructions were not very clear, and alot of pieces to keep track of. The game it’s self is made of good material, strong, and eye catching design.
Emee –
HABA The Key – Royal Star Casino Burglary Investigative Crime GameAnother winner from HABA. We are consistently impressed by the quality of this company’s toys and games. They endure due to the durability of the materials and the fun and challenges they produce. The Key – Royal Star Casino Burglary Investigative Crime Game – is a whodunnit/detective game, where you need to use deductive reasoning, organizational skills and your ability to eliminate irrelevant clues, to figure out which of the three characters broke into each safe at what time, and which code they used to crack the safe. There are nine wooden keys in different colors, and the variant of the game that you will play is tied to the key color that is selected. There are an almost endless number of clues on cards that are chosen randomly, as long as they have a color block that matches the key color. The result is an ever changing way in which you approach your sleuthing. In essence, no matter how many players there are (1-4), each player works individually and at their own pace to solve the case. The competitive element is not simply solving the mystery, but also doing it in the shortest time with the fewest clues. However, being the fastest will not ensure that your solution is necessarily correct.The game is designed for people ages 10+. In our family, the ten year old, who has a strong analytical ability and is very detail oriented, is the strongest player and he has helped us senior citizens with lots of useful suggestions and explanations. Playing this type of game is a great way to exercise our brains! As suggested in the rule book, we play until we all complete the 20-30 minute round. We have also played with teams, where slightly younger children assist their grandparents. Whether you play a solo game or with a small group, the game is consistently fun and engaging. Given the quality of the materials and the complexity of the game, it is definitely worth the cost. If you do decide to purchase this product, you might want to check out the manufacturer’s site on occasion. As more variants are played, a few small card errors have turned up. Our set came with four cards that needed to be exchanged for four that came in the set. It’s good to know that the company is so invested in its products.
JulieAnn C. –
This is a fun little mystery game that involves figuring out the solution by matching colors faster than the other players. The pieces are well made and sturdy.In a way, I find it ingenious the way the game was created. They’ve made it in such a way that it can be played multiple times with different solutions (as many solutions as you have colored keys). With a simple color matching concept, the game tries to seem as complicated as possible. So far it has been fun, but I do get a little bored with the color matching idea. Overall though, it’s a fun game to have to play with visitors from time to time..
L. J. Werbick –
This game is a little different than many other ‘Investigate crime’ games because it can be replayed many times by the same person/group.The basis of the puzzle is matching color options, and even when you get more used to the process we have not found it boring (so far). We’ve played a few games with 3 people and I have solo played the game twice.The instructions were very clear and the game construction is good.I think this would be a good game for a family and or a group looking for a lightweight puzzle game.
S9uatL!f@ –
This game set is somewhat complex for the rules and setup. The concept is very interesting and my family had fun with it after we figured out the rules. However, we could not get a reasonable result at the end of the game. The code we obtained cannot match anything listed on the board. We repeated the same game 3 times and reviewed all the logic and clues and still got the same “wrong” code. There is some design flaws of the game.