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63 About this deal
For a start, all of the question cards could be quite easily distributed before dinner to allow players to invent clever false answers in good time. As our group played, it became clear that some of the cards are very subjective in their wording (“Does mixing drinks get you drunk faster? The informative, witty, conversational, argumentative board game based on James O’Brien’s Mystery Hour. The Mystery Hour Board Game won’t change the world but for fans of trivia or those simply looking for a casual family game that will teach you interesting things and ignite discussion, this game certainly deserves a round of applause. As a now established fan of O’Brien’s show, I had been aware of the Mystery Hour Board Game for a while.
Our group of three were keen not to let these early setbacks dampen our expectations of the game, and we were subsequently pleased with the quick set up and speedy explanation of the rules. If nothing else, this would serve as the closest thing to James O’Brien himself giving you a robust dressing down live on air for ringing in with an uninformed answer which cannot be substantiated and which you refuse accept as incorrect.With only three, we found ourselves embroiled in heated discussion fairly frequently, so you imagine what the game would be like during the festive season, with a room full of family members who only see each other semi regularly, all at each other’s throats over the wording of an answer. Questions can come from the world of science, literature, language or be as bonkers as “Why do pigeons have manky feet? The host, as judge of the worthiness of correct answers, can lose friends quickly if they choose to be overly strict or overly lenient.
The game has long been coveted as a weekly prize for best answer and proof of credentials- the radio trivia equivalent to the Countdown teapot, but thankfully much more readily available. The objective of the Mystery Hour board game is to convince other players with a plausible false answer whilst answering other players questions correctly. Having said this, the more we played, the more we settled on the idea of James O’Brien’s Mystery Hour having all of the ingredients for a fiery Christmas Day family gaming experience. Contents include 250 questions with correct and false answers (players can devise their own answers for extra points). The host can also score two points from each player who chooses their invented answer as the correct answer.Every week, James O’Brien enlists the help of LBC listeners to solve the questions you’ve always wondered the answer to. One point is scored if a player gets the correct answer, having heard both the correct and false answers (a 50:50 chance). Mystery Hour is no longer only available one hour a week - play with your friends and family whenever you want! Each player is encouraged to look through the cards they have been dealt, familiarise themselves with the text on each card and think up their own false answers (if they wish) before the game begins.
This flip of a coin approach to trivia hardly emulates the sixty minutes of intellectual stimulation that fans of O’Brien’s Mystery Hour have come to know and love. Three points are scored if a player answers the question posed correctly without hearing the correct and false answers first as prompts. While this may sound a bit petty, space is a serious consideration for avid board game enthusiasts and families who need to justify a game’s place on their shelf.
Additionally the selection of games available, cards against muggles was a very hard game to find and I did not see it on many sites. This makes committing to answers for 3 points not as high stakes as it seems - a big payoff, but little to lose by sticking your head above the parapet. On the plus side, the game is very educational, albeit dealing in quite obscure but interesting tit bits of knowledge. Mystery Hour is no longer only available one hour a week – play with your friends and family whenever you want.
There may even be some joy to be had for Mystery Hour anoraks in coming up with their own questions and answers, perhaps even using podcasts of past Mystery Hour episodes to prolong the experience. The objective of the game is to convince other players with a plausible false answer whilst answering other players questions correctly. Our group did spot one glaring omission in the rules though: there is no penalty attached to incorrectly guessing an answer before the correct and false answers are revealed. I tried to invent one answer “on the hoof” - I was successful, luring one of the other players into choosing it as the correct answer, making sure I stumbled through the “correct answer” text to make it seem like I was making it up on the spot. Every week, James O’Brien enlists the help of LBC listeners to solve the questions you’ve always wondered the answer to on ‘Mystery Hour’.If you’re a pedant, surely a yes or no should be enough to get points here, as it doesn’t ask you to justify anything). Replayability is always a consideration before deciding to invest time and money in any board game and I can hear the inevitable cries re how much worth the game will have once all the cards have been revealed.
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