Murder She Wrote was a Little Old Lady Investigator, solving weekly muders that “just so happen” to occour in the vicinity of her¹ television show that was popular in the late 80s and early 90s. The show follows Jessica Fletcher, a popular mysetry novel writer, who is constantly involved in the muder investigation of the week.

Either a muder occours in her vicinity, in which case she becomes one of the suspects. Or one of her friends (or extended family members) is the prime suspect of the murder. Thus Jessica must detemine who the real murderer is and clear her/the suspects name, using her knowledge as a muder/mystery writer. To make each show unique, but similar, the following situations may or may not happen²:

• She is either helped or hindered by the police.
• The real murderer assists and/or hinders Jessica’s investigations. Turning on her when she discovers who the murderer is.
• A kind, young man in his late 20’s does not believe that Jessica can solve the muder. The youth becomes Jessica’s companion/guide and is shown the finer arts of muder investigation.
• The real murderer (or his/her assistant(s)) places Jessica under survaliance (either by following her and/or bugging her house, car, and/or phone).
• The real murderer skips town in a yacht (and is usually caught by the police a day or two later).
• The police do not want to do a full investigation, as one or more of the police investigators is corrupt and has been bought out by the murderer.

In the end, Jessica determines who the real murder and everybody else’s name is cleared.

During the shows prime, the “Murder She Write Board Game” was created and published by Warren. The game falls under the category of the who at the table did it style of board games.

The Murder She Wrote Board Game, as played by (in order from left to right); Fred (the ghost of Mathew's dead lizard), my imaginary accountant, the spirit my once operationable Linux Server, and Me (the photographer).

The Murder Shw Wrote Board Game is best summarised as an explore the map type board game (like Cludo) where one of the players (henceforth called the “muderer”) runs about mudering the (aledgably) innocent townsfolk. Everyone else (henceforth known as the “Jessicas”) must check the dead/alive-nes of each and every townsperson, and use their detective skills (AKA their deduction skills and memory) to determine who the “murderer” is before he/she skips town on a boat.

Well, I’ve typed a lot, now it’s time for the ‘review’ iteself

Complexity – 4/10³

A great way to determine if a game is too complex, is to play it while under the influence of alcahol. I tried just that with the friends who gave the game to me and after 15 minutes everyone was confused as to what is going on, and the “murderer” gave herself away. This is definatly a game to play sober, probably while sipping tea and chatting about the weather (and such the like).

Play Time – 6/10

Suprisingly enough, the Murder She Wrote Board Game is the only board game that I own without an estimated playing time written on the box. I have not played the game enough times to get a good estimation on how long the game goes for. If I had to guess I’ll say that the average game with 4 players would last 45 minutes and a 6 player game would last five quarters of an hour.

Setup Time – 7/10

Although the game is easy to setup, it does require some people shuffling. Everyone is required to leave the room and then enter the room one player at a time. The “murderer” must kill one of the local townsfolk, while the “Jessicas” stare at the board for ten seconds.

Design – 7.5/10

The design of the board game was probably the most redeaming feature ofthe board game itself. The path is not too long, nor short. The inside sections (where the “murderer” preforms his/her killing spree in, and the “Jessicas” can check the dead/alive-ness of the building’s resident) are decently spaced, so it usually takes 1 or 2 turns⁴ to move between buildings.

The artwork on the board is also interesting, as with the style of 1980’s family board games

Unfortunatly points have to be taken away for the long distance between the “Escape” spaces (where the “murderer”, having killed everyone can escape in a yacht) and the “Accuse” spaces (where the “Jessicas” must be on to accuse one of the players of being the “murderer”). Which casts great suspission on one of the players when he is trying to land on a square that is a long distance away from the square everyone else should (at the final stage of the game) be trying to reach.

Uniqueness – 2/10

Sadly this game is not very unique, having no real decernable feature that I have not seen in other who at the table did it board games. This conformatity to the who at the table did it board game genre is the second reason as to why this review is so sparse.

The only thing about the game that is slightly unique is how the “muderer” murders the townsfolk (and I’m not going to tell you, you have to find and play the game to find out :p ).

Enjoyment – 5/10

I must say that I enjoyed the game more then Cludo. This doesn’t say much, as my memories of Cludo involve missing cards, blatent cheating and loud agruments over said cheating.

Overall – 5/10

The Murder She Wrote Board Game is one of your average 1980’s board games. It is not a game that I would play constantly, but it is a game that would be played on occasion when we are after something different from the modern and/or challanging games of my board games collection.

1. I had a strange time researching Murder She Wrote. The TV Tropes Murder She Wrote Wild Mad Guess Entry had the most insightful theories as to why Cabot Cove is constantly plagued with murders.
2. I have only seen ~25 episodes of Murder She Wrote. After the first 12 episodes I realised that the episode’s plot involves one or two of the six main situations mentioned in this blog post.
3.As the game does not market itself as a thinkers game, the more complicated the game is, the worse off it is for casual games.
4.Or, in the worst case; constantly rolling seven ones travelling from the hotel to the tennis club.