H is for (the) Haunting of Indigo House

by Deadbolt Mystery Society

There is some question of whether this counts as a board game. For example, it is NOT on boardgamegeek. Deadbolt Mystery Society provides a subscription-based monthly mystery box. I'm making a judgement call and going with, yes, it is a board game, mostly because I want to compare it to other mystery-solving games like Exit and Unlock.

Players: 1-4?

Time: 90-120 minutes

Ages: 15+?

Theme: Murder Mystery

Mechanics: Co-Op, Puzzle Solving, Deduction

If you find one of these boxes in your possession:

1. Unload all materials

2. Read through all materials (you may want to take notes)

3. Have a QR reader handy, because some materials have QR codes that lead to interviews, witness testimony, "vendor" websites with more information or photos, etc.

4. Use what you've learned to begin ruling out the numbered suspects.

5. If you get stuck, check the hints on the website or discuss with the DBS Facebook Community. (We found the website hints to be sufficient)

6. When you're down to one, submit your results online and it will tell you if you are correct!

Overall, we liked it. Why?

• The story was interesting
• The puzzles weren't extremely hard. There were a couple that stumped us, but a teeny hint put us on the right track. And the hints were way better than Exit.
• The whole thing took 90 minutes.

Negatives (No huge ones):

• Not going to lie, I thought some of the stock photos were unbelievable (Suspect A and Suspect B look like sisters rather than mother and daughter).
  
• The submission at the end was a little weird. It asks for the name of the killer and the room the planning took place in. But both the suspects and the rooms were numbered. So we had to try several combos of name/number | name/name | number/number before we got it to accept our answer
• They're a little pricy at $25+shipping for a scenario that you can only play once. But the way I see it, a date night out would cost as much, if not more... *shrugs*

Overall Rating: 7/10 - It was interesting enough that we would be willing to play another one to see if it holds up.