The Beast has put together a masquerade ball and we are all invited to join him tonight at the castle. As one of the many individuals in our fairy-tale world, you and I and all of our friends will compete to earn roses and attempt to figure out who is who at this masquerade. But be careful not to unmask yourself and keep your identity secret-it’s time to dance and have a grand old time at the ball!
The Grimm Masquerade is the newest entry from Skybound Games, designed by James Hudson, Tim Eisner and Ben Eisner. Art and graphic design by Mr. Cuddington. The game is played with 2-5 players and plays in 20-40 mins.
Setup and Gameplay
In The Grimm Masquerade, you are your fellow fairy-tale characters are attempting to earn the most magic roses at the Beast’s ball while gathering and giving out artifacts and trying to find your favorite one. You will also try to unmask your fellow players while at the same time trying not to be identified yourself.
The game is played in either standard or advanced modes, and recommends this standard mode we will go through for first plays and for families. The game board is placed in the center of the table and each player takes their seven evidence markers of one color and a player aid card. Each player is given a character card secretly and the rest are put face-down into a character deck. The “point the finger” board is placed below the bottom board with two action cards on either side. Artifacts are set out and each player will select one in turn order.
The game occurs over three rounds and the player who has collected the most rose tokens is the winner. Each round you get a new character as your secret identity. Each character is trying to collect three artifacts of a particular type, their Boon Artifact. You win the rose and collect the trophy is you collect it. There is also a Bane Artifact for each character, and if you are forced to collect two of them, you are immediately unmasked and the player who unmasked you gets a rose.
During a round, players will draw one artifact and then chose to keep it or give it to someone else, then do the opposite with another artifact. If you have two of the same artifact, you immediately reveal if they are your Bane, and then you are unmasked. Or you place one of your markers on the game board for whose Bane you just had to remind players you are not that character. If you have three of the same and it is your Boon, you win the round! If you discard two matching artifacts you can use an action. This allows you to get an artifact you want or get rid of others.
You can also guess the identity of another player by using the Point the Finger action. Other players can guess your identity just as you can guess theirs, so you have to be careful not to collect artifacts only that spell out your identity. This is is where the bluffing comes into play. Even unmasked you can still give artifacts to other players and try to unmask them and score roses, but you can’t win the trophy for the round. Players are unmasked with the Point the Finger action or as soon as they have two of their Bane Artifact. You can continue to play even when unmasked, drawing an artifact to your hans and giving one to a player of your choice not yet unmasked. You still gain roses this way.
There is also a two player version of the game that will give each player two characters instead of one. Certain actions are removed and the game doesn’t end until both of your characters are unmasked or you have collected three Boon artifacts for one of your characters.
Advanced aspects of the game include adding Wagers that will allow you to try and bet on who will win that round. You gain them through being unmasked or through the action card “Secrets” which will allow you to secretly select a character you think will win. There are also Treasures that will add a “wild” artifact to your tableau to allow you to discard one to take an action. The Special Ability cards are another way to give a player that is furthest behind a chance to catch up.
When only one player has their identity still secret they win that round and the round ends. The game ends after three rounds or until a player has ten roses at the end of a round.
Impressions:
What could be better
Two player. I don’t mind the two player version of this game, but it isn’t as smooth as 3-5 players. There are other games that I would play in front of this one at the two player count. Deduction isn’t my first choice for player v player.
Box. Simple thing, but this box is big for the components and the cards. I would love to see a more compact version of this for travel and for my shelves.
What I liked
Style. This game continues the developing line of amazing production from Skybound Games. I continue to be impressed with the art style and design of the games they put out. Another awesome series of art from Mr. Cuddington really makes this game shine. The icons are simple and easy to follow and the characters look amazing.
Fun deduction. I am not normally a deduction game fan but this game really shines in that area. This one gives players the chance to stay in the game even when they are “out”, still trying to get other players out as well. The down time is quick and the out is only a short time before everyone re-draws and starts again in the next round.
Variant difficulty. I love that this game is simple enough to play with young kids and non-gamers but then ramps up fast with wagers, treasures and special abilities to really change the gameplay up. This makes it a game that will be very versatile in my collection and one I expect will be a strong contender for a top spot in deduction games for me.
Overall
The Grimm Masquerade is another great entry into the fairy-tale world that Skybound Games has released out to the wild. James Hudson continues to work with some of the best designers in-house and in the community along with amazing art talent from Mr. Cuddington. Grimm Masquerade brings an awesome deduction game to the table with no true player elimination, family-friendly gameplay and minimal analysis paralysis amongst the players. It is everything I want in a family-friendly game that can still ramp up to allow experienced gamers to feel like they are getting a more “complex” game with multiple choices throughout.
The Grimm Masquerade has gotten plenty of play in our house and our family has really enjoyed the player interaction, rhythm of how easily the game flows and how this can hit our table any evening for a quick but still engaging game we all can enjoy. Gamers looking for a chance to add a new deduction game to the their collection are not going to want to miss this one. Make sure to get to your local store and get yourself a copy today!
Be the first to comment