Letters from Whitechapel - Tips & Strategies

When we play Letters from Whitechapel, we send the closest detective to the murder to quickly figure out what direction Jack is moving (follows all routes). If the Jack player is smart, he/she usually leaves a few false trails, and the first cop’s job is to figure out which trail is the “real” trail as quickly as possible. This can also give you some idea how far Jack could be down his “real” trail if you count the moves.

This strategy does remove a cop from the “real” chase, but we find the division of labor works out well. usually, more than one player ends up being first cop, so the job doesn’t fall on one person the whole game (which could get boring). Try it out, and see if it works for your team of detectives.

Happy Gaming!

For newbies playing Jack, a good tip is to make a couple quick routes from the kill and backtrack over your path. The police won’t know which one you backtracked over, and it makes narrowing down the location of your hideout just a little harder. Be careful not to end up too close to an officer and risk detection (I like to taunt them).

Currently, the Police pawns can move up to 2 crossings. After all Police pawns have moved they choose which action to take. Often however a Police pawn is so far out of position due to whatever circumstance that they are effectively useless. Try this alternative: On a Police pawns’ movement they can choose to move 0-3 crossings. If they choose to move the full three (3) crossings they completely forgo any actions for this turn. This adds a layer of choice, strategy, tactics, and overall tension that we’ve found to be even more appealing.

After playing a few times, I have noticed that there is definitely a sweet-spot for player count. Most specifically, if the game is played with more than 3 players, someone is always left out or starts falling asleep or makes excessive bathroom breaks. This is mainly because one or more players will be forced to only control one officer pawn and if that pawn is off in no man’s land due to Jack’s choice of crime scene; the game has close to zero entertainment value for many consecutive turns.

My advice is to try the game for the first time with 3 players as all 3 players will be actively engaged and Jack will have a good opportunity to hear some table talk and not just “fly blind.” To me, the game plays best with 3, but is also an excellent 2-player deduction game, if a little silent at times.

I have found that if you are Jack you need to leave the scene of the crime quickly. Use your alley jumps and carriages to move away quickly. Then use the rest of your moves to take the roundabout way back to your hideout. If you take a direct route, by the 2nd or 3rd night the cops will have a general idea of where you are headed. So make that first night a maze through the streets of London. Then on the next nights you can work faster. A kill and direct route home can lead to disaster in the following nights as the police will be on to you. If you hang around the scene too long the police will realize deduce where you are quickly and then the chase is on.