Scotland Yard

Customer Reviews

A classic! Review by Phil

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a simple fun and super easy to learn game, the concept is straight forward, police are trying to catch a thief, mister X. one person plays him, the rest play the cops. and the officers work together (or not ! haha) and catch mister X...or he slips through and wins himself!.

a game i used to play at 12 years of age. and somehow it is still a blast at 32?

great game. highly recomended (Posted on 4/7/11)

There is a reason why this is a classic that still highly regarded Review by Murray

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Among other classic games, like Life, Clue or Monopoly, Scotland Yard stands above and beyond as being one of the few that is still highly regarded by core boardgamers. The reason behind this is because of the amount of balance, strategy and fun to be had in the game.

Unlike roll and move games, you must manage your movement tickets carefully to ensure that you will be able to get to where you need to be, especially at the end of the game, which is often the most vital part of the game.

In Scotland Yard, one player is Mr. X and the other characters play detectives who are trying to find Mr. X. The detectives move their character token on the board while Mr. X keeps track of his movement on his personal board. Every detective starts with a certain number of bus, subway, and taxi tickets that allows them to move throughout London in different ways. The subway, for example, allows them to move quickly over a vast distance, but only to specific points.

As the tickets are used, they are given to Mr. X, who in turn can use them to move around. He writes the number of the place he's currently at on his personal board and covers the slot on the board with a ticket so that the Detectives know how he got there, but just not where.

On specific rounds, Mr. X will taunt the detectives by revealing his location. This is noted by a special token. If the detectives manage to occupy the same location as Mr. X at any point in the game, they win. If Mr. X manages to allude the detectives for a certain number of rounds, he will win.

This is a game of play and counter-play filled with sneaky tactics and grueling decisions. However, as the game can only play over a set number of turns, games tend to play fairly quickly and people can rotate in the roles and enjoy another round.

Scotland Yard, being a classic, has already been proven to have a bit of timelessness. It is always a worthwhile investment of time and cash and I highly recommend this wonderfull all-ages game. (Posted on 12/4/09)

The fast and infuriating Review by Jasmine

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Being a big fan of Fury of Dracula, I was interested in this game, which is a predecessor of sorts. As a game that you can enjoy in less than hour, it seemed to be a good alternative to the much longer playing vampire hunting game.

Playing Scotland Yard requires a good number of games before it can be fully appreciated. For the first little bit, you will find that the game is a bit one-sided right off the bat. Once you get a better grasp of the mechanics, however, the game becomes a bit more equal and bearable.

However, this means that newer players will have a much harder time understanding and playing the game. It is for this reason that it is recommended that Mr. X be played by an experience player, who might teach and aid the newer players on how they should be thinking and playing.

As a semi co-op game, it is important that no one player plays boss and dictate exactly what other players should do. At the same time, communication must be had and players may even collude secretly in laying down a trap for Mr. X, which is pretty fun.

Since the game plays so quickly, with less than 30 turns, it is easy to play several games in one sitting, with different players taking turns being Mr. X. Overall, it is a fun game for almost anyone willing to try it out several times. (Posted on 11/6/09)