Mr. Jack

[Brel]

MR. JACK

# of Players: 2 - 2 
Playing Time: 30 Minutes 

The night covers the gloomy alleys with darkness and only a few corners are still illuminated by the gaslights. Eight investigators have gathered to catch the cunning Jack the Ripper. But Jack is in fact cleverly impersonating one of them.

In Mr. Jack, one of the players must help the investigators. By moving each character into light or shadow, the detective player makes successive deductions to uncover which investigator is in fact Jack, then he/she must try to catch the infamous ripper.

The opponent, playing Jack, must do his best to delay the investigation. He can even try to use the darkness to secretly flee the district!

A thrilling game for two players!

Winner of the 2007 International Gamers Award

[Brel]

What people are saying about the game:

"Mr. Jack is a brilliant design. The 8 unique character abilities, the fact that both players use them all to good effect, the "terrain", the subtle control of light and board position, and the possibility of bluffing all add up to a solid, but friendly game that works for casual gamers as well as veterans. The second edition fixes all of the minor board issues as well as the color visibility issues with the Alibi Cards (although there are still nibs on the edges in different locations). The board and components are great quality."
~ Jim Cote

"10/10 - this is my favorite 2 player game and perhaps my favorite game currently! Bravo, Bruno and Ludo!"
~ Jim Grosch

"(No, that isn't a mistake - six stars out of five).
When it comes down to it, the question is: am I having fun? Yes! Winning or loosing (which I am on this side of the stick most often) the game is fun. Not only that, but my wife loves it. She talks about games we have played days after we have played them. All-in-all this was one of the best purchases I have made."
~ Bob Flaherty

For more info, checkout BGG.

[Brel]

I love this game. I bring it every Thursday night to my gaming group, and though I don't play it every week, it's a great way to spend that half-hour when you and one other gamer are waiting for another game to end so that you can get in on a multi-player game.

In short, Mr. Jack is an identity-deduction game. You're probably thinking, "But wait! Isn't that what Clue and its umpteen-million revisions are?" Well, if Clue is the honor student of all identity-deduction games, Mr. Jack is the cool kid who saunters up and gives Clue a wedgie.

Mr. Jack is a two-player game where one person assumes the role of "good" and the other the role of "evil" -- a.k.a. "Jack the Ripper." Despite a theme centered around a man who went around brutally butchering women of ill repute, the style and mood of the game is surprisingly light-hearted. Do not, however, assume that a light-hearted style means light strategy; Mr. Jack is a very strategic game that frequently requires players to think several moves in advance.

I won't spend a lot of time going over the rules here, but in short, there are eight investigators on the board. One of them is actually Mr. Jack, but only the evil player knows who it is. The game is broken into eight rounds, and in each round, exactly four of the investigators move (based on a card draw -- about the only randomness in the game outside of the initial card draw for Jack's identity). In Round 1, the good player moves one investigator, the evil player moves two investigators, and then the good player moves the final investigator. Round 2 is played similarly, except that the turn order is evil-good-good-evil. Round 3 is back to good-evil-evil-good, and so on.

At the end of every round, the evil player must announce whether or not Mr. Jack is "visible" or "invisible." Mr. Jack is visible if:
* He is next to another investigator
* He is next to a street lamp
* He is in the path of Mr. Watson's (one of the investigators) lantern

The game has a nice mechanic whereby the investigator tokens can be flipped to their opposite sides whenever they are "cleared." The opposite sides have a black-and-white image of the investigator. So if, for instance, the evil player announces that Mr. Jack is invisible, all visible investigators can be cleared and flipped to their opposite site. This gives both players an easy, at-a-glance view of who is and isn't still in the running for being the evil Mr. Jack.

A smart move for the evil player is to make it so that Mr. Jack's visible/invisible status reflects that of the largest number of uncleared investgators. Example: If no investigators have yet been cleared, and five of them are currently visible and two are invisible, the evil player will want to make a move that makes Mr. Jack visible -- otherwise, the good player will clear five suspects instead of just two.

Conversely, a good strategy for the good player is to split the visible/invisible status of the uncleared investigators as evenly as possible. Example: If no investigators have yet been cleared and four are currently visible while three are invisible, the good player may wish to make a move so that the eighth investigator is now invisible. Why? The good player is trying to clear as many investigators as possibly (thereby narrowing down the number of suspects who could be Mr. Jack). Since the good player doesn't yet know which group Mr. Jack is in -- visible or invisible -- an even split between the groups allows the good player to clear the same number of suspects whichever group Mr. Jack ends up in.

There are a total of eight rounds in the game. If, by the end of the eighth round, Jack has not been caught, the evil player wins the game.

Hm... I seem to recall saying that I wasn't going to spend a lot of time explaining how the game works, yet here I am six paragraphs later... Let's just leave it "Those are the basic rules, but there are some additional mechanics that enhance the fun and strategy."

The game components are nice and -- as mentioned above -- fairly light-hearted. There are only a handful of cards used in the game, and they are made of a nice, thick cardboard. Not something I'd want to play, say, Ticket to Ride with, but very durable and well-suited for use in this particular game. One thing I didn't mention in the rules explanation above was that each investigator has a unique special power which may (or actually must in most instances) be used when he or she is moved. While memorizing eight powers might seem daunting at first, the cards have nice visual icons that really help explain the powers; in most games I've played, new players remember each investigators power without prompting by the second time that investigator is used (if not before). This is a testament both to how neatly and consisely the card icons work as well as how intuitive the game itself is.

In short, if you like two-player, strategic games, Mr. Jack might be for you.

By jda1974

Source: boardgamegeek.com

[Brel]

I'm currently looking forward in getting this game for my 2-player game binge that usually happens in various restaurants and cafes all over the metro. 

[ChineezPnoy]

So dis is d game that viscoos was looking for months now 

Ey Brel, I'm gona research this game a lil bit further,
in d meantime PM me d price of ur supplier for this game.

I'm aiming to make a decision b4 ur ordering deadline.

Much obliged bud.

[viscoos]

Oh noes lol
ill be ordering this on Feb... hahaha
i think ive read every session report and review in the geek

[Brel]

I got interested in this game before then forgot about it until Viscoos inquired about it recently.  The only thing that worries me in getting this game is others say there's some similarity to Dungeon Twister... because the people I'll be playing this with do not really like DT too much.  The part that made me decide that I want to try Mr. Jack is the said "Cluedo" factor and the game's portability.    Being able to finally play Scotland Yard also made me want to look for a meatier deduction game.  Mr. Jack feels like it's what I am looking for.  We'll see... 

[ChineezPnoy]

Meet the designer in d flesh...

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/169613?size=large

[Adrian (the other one)]

What are the box dimensions?  Something like san juan? or Dungeon Twister?

Interesting.  This might go into my consideration list.

[Gerald]

The box is about as big as the box of Wasabi!, more or less. 

I'll be sure to bring this game with me on the 24th.  I'm contemplating attending the gaming meet on the 15th sa Fort, pero bka iilan lang ang makakapunta.  If I do go, I'll bring it there din.

[Brel]

I don't know how big is the Wasabi! box as I don't have my copy yet.  I'm free to play sa H&L Universe at Bonifacio High Street if anybody is going this Friday night (January 16). 

The box is about as big as the box of Wasabi!, more or less. 

I'll be sure to bring this game with me on the 24th.  I'm contemplating attending the gaming meet on the 15th sa Fort, pero bka iilan lang ang makakapunta.  If I do go, I'll bring it there din.

[ChineezPnoy]

Checkout this link for the discounted expansion to this game.

Here's d actual address just in case.
http://www.funagain.com/control/rc/~p=spring09sale/~VIEW_SIZE=10/~VIEW_INDEX=15

[Brel]

Sadly I haven't played this one yet.  Any feedback on the gameplay?  Thinking whether to get this or wait for the upcoming portable pocket version.

[Talismanic (Mark)]

This game is alright. The gameplay as "Mr. Jack" consists of trying to outwit your opponent by making it difficult to eliminate suspects while at the same time maneuvering towards an exit. On the other hand the detective must try to eliminate as many suspects as he can, until he can safely say or guess that a specific individual is jack.

Its a very easy game to learn and tends to be a light game. This makes it a great filler or "waiting for adrian" or gateway game. I would rather play Jambo though in terms of 2 player games. 

[Brel]

"waiting for adrian"

LOL! 

I would rather play Jambo though in terms of 2 player games. 

Jambo is the ultimate card game that actually made me want to look for and play other 2-player games.  After that, Lost Cities if I want to introduce a newbie to the hobby (a nice game when dating or when playing outside... hehe).  Third comes Blue Moon... if I miss a good CCG-like game challenge. 

Thanks for the tip Mark!