Once Upon a Crime: The Murder Mystery Card Game (Foul Play) - Tour & Review

 

FOUL PLAY

The Murder Mystery Card Game

Once Upon A Crime

 A game for 2 – 5 players | Age 8 +

£8.95 + p&p

 

www.foulplaygame.co.uk

Facebook : @afterdarkmystery | Twitter : @afterdarkmurder | Instagram : @afterdarkmurder

Facebook : @foulplaygamers | Twitter : @foulplaygamers | Instagram : @foulplaygamers

Email : info@afterdarkmurder.co.uk

 

The Game

Carabosse the Bad Fairy is dead, and her Big Book of Villainy has been stolen...

In a shocking revelation, the magic mirror has revealed that all the suspects are goodies, but who had a motive to go bad? You’ll need to swap, steal and search for the evidence in order to scupper the other detectives and sleuth your way to your happily ever after!

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?

 The Game is Afoot! Playing as detective, you’ll need to find the three evidence cards that point to a specific suspect in order to catch a killer in this crazy criminal caper. Will you uncover them in the crime scene? Could the other detectives be willing to collaborate and share their findings? Or will you resort to more tricky tactics, and plunder the proof you need to solve this crime?

My Review

Foul Play is a unique, fun card game that lets players solve a murder mystery involving fairytale characters. From Sinbad to The Big Bad Wolf, any one of them could be a suspect. It's up to you to figure out whodunit before the other players do. And with two different ways to play, there's endless amounts of fun to be had. 
My husband and I were excited to try out this game when we received it for review. We're big nerds who love hosting game nights, so having a new game to play is always something we're up for. We decided to start off easy to get the hang of the game. We played with the "Good Cop" rules and found the game pretty easy to get into and follow along with. And, of course, I won. So we played Good Cop again, and again, I won. So for round three, we played Bad Cop, and sadly, my husband won. haha. As a very competitive person, I don't like to lose, but it is what it is. 
I do think this game will appeal to players of all ages over the age of 8, although younger players (ages 6-7) who have an understanding of the game may enjoy it too. There are a variety of characters (aka suspects), and lots of clues to put together your "crime scene" while playing. Every time will be different, which makes it a game you can play again and again without fear of repetition. And I do think this is a game that could also be even more exciting if an expansion pack was available. More characters to suspect. More clues to put together. That sort of thing. And if you have a group of players (rather than just 2 like I did), it would make the game even more competitive and exciting. 
5 stars from me!

 

History of Foul Play

What’s a Murder Mystery Events Company to do?

With a pandemic sweeping the nation and no sign of being able to perform their confounding criminal cabarets or incredible interactive investigations any time soon, they needed to come up with a plan, another way to provide mystery to the masses (and provide income to keep themselves afloat)!

Well, lockdown does strange things to people, especially actors who can't go out and perform. So one fateful evening, Ben & Lee Cooper-Muir decided to come up with a whole new way to murder people. Keeping their cards close to their chests they plotted and schemed until Foul Play : The Murder Mystery Card Game was born. So, what to do next? This is where After Dark enters the picture. After all, Ben and Lee were two of the operators of the infamous murder mystery company. Maybe they could collaborate to bring the game to the masses. When Lockdown restrictions were eased a top-secret meeting was held with the other criminal masterminds behind After Dark, Helen Burrows, Sophie Webster & Tom Fisher and a pact was made. The game would be launched and licensed under the After Dark banner.  In true After Dark style, the team burst into action and then began the beta testing, design updates, promotional planning, character changes, proofing, proofing and more proofing until finally all the kinks were ironed out, mysteries solved, and FOUL PLAY : Manor House Murder came to life!

The team didn’t stop there though! Due to the popularity of the first game, a second version ‘Once Upon A Crime’ was put on the table, designed, and then launched on Kickstarter. Fully funded in under 48 hours the team at After Dark had another success on their hands and players had another murder in theirs! Once Upon A Crime hits the stores on 1^st July 2021 and Manor House Murder is available to buy too.

We hope you enjoy playing it, and although we all hope to be back performing soon, WATCH THIS SPACE! Now we know we can create and produce games we've got a lot more fun things planned for the future!