Visitor in Blackwood Grove Cooperative Mystery and Deduction Game Ages 8 3 to 6 Players Games

I backed this on Kickstarter for two copies. I think it’s a great game that encourages creative expression and out of the box thinking. My daughter first played it at age 6 and needed some coaching and support but loved it. Our family plays games pretty regularly and had no trouble with the rule book, though it dies require an adult go through things for a few minutes beforehand to make sure concepts and game goals can be explained clearly. I tried to rate this game on amazon after I’d first played it on Kickstarter but the system would not allow for that because there was no record of my purchase w Amazon. I was recently looking for a birthday present for a friend if my daughter ( 7yo), and was delighted it was still in stock at amazon. Bought it and am finally posting reactions now that amazon has me on record as having bought it. Read more

We played this one night from a friend and I loved it! I love it so much. However, there is a flaw or two in the instructions, and the game play can be difficult because of it. However I still love it! And it is all up to interpretation. So there is that. Now there are very few rules, BUT you can change the rules so there are a few cards that have a underlined word and that can easily be switched out to be what you want it to be. So to change things up. But the cards themselves a few things (one in particular) we have no clue what it is and took out of game play. So I feel like there could be some improvement on the game and the designs. But over all I LOVE it. I have gotten so many people to play with me know too. It is a little confusing at first but once you have it games really could only last 5 minutes. So it is a nice quick fun game to have. I am very happy with it. I bought it myself after playing. Some very goo d laughs. The other thing we like to do is if someone proves it right explain their rule, and if someone else gets it right but their rule matches and the first didn't we go with that winner. Because one of the flaws is they could easily get the clue without actually knowing it. So we jazzed that up. Very good game!!! Read more

I really want to like this game, and I think it has potential to be fun in the right setting. But it has some drawbacks. Pros - The objective is creative, and once you get the hang of it, it leaves room for the person playing the visitor to have some fun with creating a rule. The instructions give examples of rules to use. But with the amount of item cards it gives you, you can come up with some fun ideas. It allows for the players to be split into teams. Additionally, the teams do still have to operate secretly, as the visitor doesn't want to give away too many hints at the rule so that the agents figure it out. And the agents don't want to be too brazen about discussing theories that allow the child to figure it out. Cons - The box says game play takes 5-15 minutes, you will probably be spending more like at least double that for a game. We've played several times. And even after getting the hang of the rules, games tend to take some time to get going. There sometimes feels like there's too much clutter going on when trying to keep track of the child's and agents' cards, the agents' chips, and the cards around the board. People would be asking for clarification on which cards were accepted and which ones weren't. Also, a flaw that can take the fun out of the game for some is that you can technically win without knowing the visitor's rule. The instructions state that the child or agent can place four cards by the shield and guess which ones would go through the force field by moving those cards closer to the shield. However, they don't have to guess the rule before they do so, nor do they have to confirm what the rule was. So, if you have a partial idea of what it might be, you can make a guess and possibly end the game without knowing it for sure. I suppose you could tweak the instructions so the person guessing has to verbally say what they think the rule is, but it seems like a important part to leave out of the game play. We've only played a few times but it hasn't found it's way into the rotation due to people not really getting on board. But it might click at some point. Read more

it's fun and I had two friends also buy this after playing Read more

I like deduction games. I really liked this one. One player think up a rule to sort the picture cards into 2 groups, other players try to roughly deduce the rule. The rule may be (almost) any. Sounds cool! You are not bound by any limitations. But IMO the strength is also a weakness. The gameplay may be exciting and push the limits of imagination if the rule is non-trivial. But if the rule is not good thought out (too easy, too hard, too debatable) the game fall flat. And I cannot blame people in this case. The freedom just paralyzes and usually you come up with smth like "is blue/can be held in hand". Read more

I loved this game! Read more

Fun is very limited based on subjectivity of the person playing the "Visitor". Read more

This is a cute little game, but it feels a little unpolished. We have found several situations where interpretation of the cards matters enough to throw a wrench into things. Interpretation is part of the game, but if you think it’s a toy car, and someone else thinks it’s a full-size car, there will be pass rule problems. We have decided to keep a list of “house rule adjustments” that help with the game; communicating somehow “this is a toy car” for example. I don’t regret the purchase, just be prepared to polish the given rules and tweak them to your group’s needs. Read more