Add your own Tips, Strategies, & House Rules! Vote for tips that you think are useful.
Tips & Strategies (14)
Tips & Strategies (14)
Add your own Tip, Strategy, or House Rule
You must be logged in to add a comment.
- 04BattleTech
- 01Arkham Horror
- 01Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror
- 01Arkham Horror: The Lurker at the Threshold
- 01Arkham Horror: Miskatonic Horror
- 01Arkham Horror: Kingsport Horror
- 00Spirit Island: Branch And Claw
- 00Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
- 00Twilight Imperium (4th Ed.)
- 00Thunderstone Quest
- (updated once every hour)
- Check out our users' favorite games!
- (152) 7 Wonders
- (149) Dominion
- (144) Pandemic
- (135) The Settlers of Catan
- (120) Carcassonne
- (115) Ticket to Ride
- (97) Small World
- (96) Munchkin
- (92) Arkham Horror
- (91) Forbidden Island
- (# of user reviews, updated every 12 hours)
- 25 Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
- (# of hearts given, updated every hour)
- 5 The Voyages of Marco Polo
- 5 BattleTech
- 3 The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
- 1 Terra Prime
- 1 Survive: Escape from Atlantis!
- 1 Dungeon Lords
- 1 The Hobbit: On the Doorstep – Saga Expansion
- 1 Port Royal
- 1 Thebes
- 1 Great Western Trail
- (# of times played, updated every 12 hours)
- see all new games >
-
Hasty Baker
19-Aug-24, GoChuckle -
Mythic Quests: The Card Game
7-Nov-22, BoardGaming.com -
Mythic Dungeon Crawler – A Solo Card Game
27-Sep-22, BoardGaming.com -
Lost Ruins of Arnak
28-Dec-21, Czech Games Edition -
13 Monsters
4-Dec-20, Twisted Stranger B.V. -
Forgotten Waters
4-Dec-20, Plaid Hat Games -
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Core Set
18-Nov-20, Paizo Publishing -
Unlocking Insanity
5-Oct-20, Petersen Games -
Planet Apocalypse
5-Oct-20, Petersen Games -
Marvel United
1-Oct-20, CMON, Spin Master Ltd. -
Draconis Invasion: Wrath
23-Sep-20, -
2 Minute Dino Deal
5-Aug-20, Petersen Games -
Mythic Challenge: The Card Game
2-Aug-20, BoardGaming.com -
Viscounts of the West Kingdom
27-Mar-20, Garphill Games -
Glamazons
14-Feb-20, Prettiest Princess - see all new games >
- see all upcoming games >
-
Gravity Warfare
2018 Q4, Smart Iguana Games -
BANG! The Dice Game – Undead or Alive
2019, dV Giochi -
Hasty Baker
2019, GoChuckle -
Penguinramids
2019 Q4, dV Giochi -
Origami: Legends
2019 Q4, dV Giochi -
Decktective: Bloody-red roses
2019 Q4, dV Giochi -
BANG! The Duel: Renegades
2019 Q4, dV Giochi -
Buy It Or Don’t
2019 Q4, Binks Games -
Four Levels
2019 Q4, Four Level Productions -
Unlocking Insanity
2020, Petersen Games -
High Noon
2020 Q4, High Noon Inc. -
Quantified
2021, Quality Beast -
High Frontier 4 All (4th ed)
2021 Q2, Ion Game Design, Sierra Madre Games -
Legends of Sleepy Hollow
2021 Q2, Dice Hate Me Games -
Game of Energy
2021 Q2, Ninex Games - see all upcoming games >
Recent News
- New Game Adds – What Do You Want?
9-Feb-22|13 comments - Winter Gaming and Gift Giving
17-Dec-21|11 comments - Games Added – Dec 4
4-Dec-20|8 comments - The holiday shopping season is upon us!
30-Nov-20|5 comments - Technology, table top games and the coming holidays
19-Nov-20|8 comments - Support Mythic Kingdoms – Get BG Rewards
11-Aug-20|10 comments - Tournament of the Mythic Kingdoms: Illustrated Playing Cards
1-Jul-20|15 comments - How have games been helping you, your family and friends?
10-Apr-20|12 comments - Games Added (March 27)
27-Mar-20|7 comments - What are you playing during your Stay-At-Home?
27-Mar-20|13 comments
From my experience, winning as Mr. Jack tends to happen more often by having the game run the full number of rounds, as opposed to escaping.
Your goal as Mr. Jack should be to minimize the number of people the investigator can eliminate each turn. Early plays that I’ve seen tend to have the investigator cut in half the number of remaining suspects each round, eventually outing your identity.
My plays as Jack have me paying less attention to getting away, and more to forcing everyone on each turn into the light, or into shadow (I find the light to be preferable). Especially early, I try to bunch up as many people as possible, making it hard for the investigator to learn multiple people are not Jack. If one person is standing in the light, I’ll aim to pull another person next to them. This way, generally only one of them can be determined, not both.
I tend to worry less about moving police cordons and manholes, and more with moving lamps, Watson, and Goodley.
As you get closer to the final rounds, you’ll want to start separating the characters from each other, making it tougher for an accusation.
If there is a chance to escape, certainly take it, but my experience says you’ll be better off focusing on waiting for daylight.
When I play with my young daugther I add the rule that Jack cannot escape the city until he has been discovered so she can concentrate on the deduction portion of the game. It’s then more a cat and mouse type of game and it still fun to play
If you are looking for a Mr. Jack fix, or just want to see what the game is about, you can visit:
http://mrjack.hurricangames.com/games_1.php?sid=KSTSGJGHFIHIHQIINOQSPOTPSJEOKOEP&cat=gf
This website requires you to register, but it is completely free. It gets decent traffic, although you may need to wait a little while after creating a game to get going. Or, even better, have a buddy join you and get going right away.
You can choose the flavor of the game you would like to play. The expansions are included, so if you wanted to play test those before purchasing, that option is available as well. In my experience the game runs rather smoothly. The games will sit for some time as well, so if you and a friend want to play a move when you have a chance during the course of the day, that is an available option as well.
The biggest thing you’re doing in this game is putting characters in the light, or in the dark. When it’s your round to pick the 2nd and 3rd characters, think ahead as to which one you are leaving your opponent. Even if you plan it out to split the characters such that you have half in the light and half out of the light, there are many characters that can put multiple others in/out of the light. Obviously moving him next to an “in the dark” character will make him be seen, but in addition:
Watson can shine his lantern in a direction, potentially lighting up multiple characters.
John Smith can move a lamp, either putting characters in the dark or in the light.
Sir William Gull can switch places with anybody, and if he does this with Watson, he can move Watson’s lantern as well
Sergeant Goodley can blow his whistle and move up to three other characters. That’s up to three characters that can change from in the light/dark to in the dark/light!
When Jack is leaving a character in the dark that is within range of escaping, especially when that card is going to be picked next round and Jack gets to pick first that round, strongly consider putting that character in the light to prevent a possible quick-win for Jack.
My first game, I lost in the second round because round 1 Jack left Miss Stealthy as the only person in the dark. He then had first pick of characters on round 2 and had her leave the map and win. The only way I could have prevented that win was to move another character to be adjacent to her, putting all 8 characters in the light. Since this was my first game, I thought the best move would be to get another character in the dark to eliminate more suspects. I wouldn’t have gained any more guaranteed information, but I could have had a suspicion and kept the game going.
The game have enough round and time to not try to hit a homerun.
The best strategy for the inspector is to cut by half the total of character that are visible or not visible each round. Jack’s gonna make a mistake…. Also at the beginning of game it’s a good option to take a character card using Sherlock ability.
For Jack the best strategy is to keep the status of his character the same as the larger group and to place more character near the sewer and exit in order to foul the inspector. Also the use of Sir William Gull that can switch 2 character is always welcome to escape the city
My daughter prefers to play as Jack, but becomes frustrated because of the difficulty of it so we’ve adopted a house rule to help her out.
HOUSE RULE: when it’s Jack’s turn he has the option of using any of the characters in play (with the exception of himself) instead of just the current characters who’s cards are up.
I wouldn’t recommend doing this with a more “mature” player as it can make it too easy for Jack to escape, but it’s worth doing with younger or first time players.
The “Mr. Jack Extension” expansion adds a new rule for placement of the 8 characters, which makes the game a little more interesting:
After Mr. Jack selects his alibi card and determines who the killer will be, deal four of the character cards to the table randomly.
The detective selects one of the characters and places his pawn on any unoccupied, light gray board space. Then Jack selects two of the characters and places their pawns in any unoccupied, light gray board spaces. Next, the detective places the pawn of the fourth character.
Deal the other four cards to the table. Place pawn in opposite order, with Jack placing one, the detective placing two, and Jack placing the final pawn in an unoccupied, light gray space.
Keep in mind that Jack, even if there are no witnesses, may not leave the board on the first turn.
The rules are unclear on whether the character cards should be kept in consistent 4-person groups throughout the game (ie: if you draw Holmes, Watson, Stealthy, and Bert on the first round, you will always have those characters on every odd round of the game.)
To make the more dynamic, we like to reshuffle the character deck every two turns, after each character has been played. It may hinder long-term planning in some ways, but it offers more immediate excitement through a variety of character combinations.
In our games we felt that it is a little to easy for the inspector. So we decided not to turn the character markers after the end of the round. So the inspector has to remember all the suspects in his head. But beware: Mr. Jack has the same problem.
If you play the role of Mr. Jack and draw Miss Stealthy, move quickly toward one of the corners. Stop three or four spaces short of the exit to minimize your opponent’s suspicion. Her ability to move four spaces AND through structures makes Miss Stealthy tough to catch. She has escaped arrest more than any of the seven other characters through 25+ plays.
There will be rounds, particularly late in a game, where one or more characters available to play can’t help the investigator or Mr. Jack. I call these characters “lame ducks”. Miss Stealthy, for example, may have been eliminated as a suspect. She cannot switch places with another character, move lamps, cordons, or sewer covers. I would try and force my opponent to move one of the lame ducks, and avoid doing so myself. Always move characters whose guilt or innocence is still unknown. This strategy works whether playing Jack or the investigator.
When playing Mr. Jack, wins by escaping are much less common, (especially against an experienced player). It is easier to keep characters in the light than in the dark, even in the end, try to keep suspects grouped with other characters to avoid discovery.
When you are playing as Mr. jack, be careful who you choose, if Jack is a weak character, Watson for instance, you choosing him over a strong character, Holmes for instance, will be very suspicious.