Mysterium

A horrible crime was committed on the grounds of Warwick Manor, thirty years ago. Now, the mansion is haunted by the ghost of the murdered servant, and it's up to a group of psychic investigators to get to the bottom of the mystery. Mysterium is a cooperative game of deduction and teamwork for two to seven players. Over the course of the game, one player takes on the role of the ghost and over the course of a few scant hours, tries to lead the psychics to the correct culprit. Every member of the team will receive numerous visions, but what is the ghost trying to tell you exactly? Can the psychics determine the weapon, location and killer, or will a violent criminal pull off the perfect murder?

On a bleak night in December of 1894, tragedy struck the Count of Warwick’s manor in the highlands of Scotland. In the aftermath of a glittering party, a man-servant was found dead, and although the police declared his death accidental, rumors of foul play ran wild. Thirty years later, this unsolved mystery returns to light as a group of notable psychics converges on the Scottish manor in hopes of making contact with a restless ghost and bringing that spirit the peace it has so long been denied…

Mysterium is a cooperative, deduction game that challenges two to seven players to solve a murder that occurred thirty years ago. One player takes on the role of a restless ghost, tasked with communicating the true culprit of the murder to the assembled psychics. The other players all play as psychics, receiving visions and interpreting them to the best of their abilities in order to narrow down the list of suspects. Yet time is in no one’s favor tonight—if the players take too long to discover the truth, the bridge between the worlds is closed, and the ghost must wait another year to reach its eternal rest!

Hints and Visions

Before a game of Mysterium begins, a set number of potential culprits, murder locations, and deadly objects are randomly drawn and displayed in front of the psychics. One set of these cards corresponds to real events, but the ghost is in severe shock from his untimely demise, and he has only vague memories of his own death. Time is running out, and the psychics must follow their intuitions to simultaneously narrow down their list of suspects.

After the cards are displayed in front of the psychics, the ghost player assigns each psychic a single character, location, and object behind his or her screen. The ghost must help the psychics narrow the list of suspects by leading them to correctly interpret a series of visions.

Of course, there are countless difficulties in communicating with the afterlife, most notably that such interactions are often vague and imprecise. During each round of Mysterium, the ghost must lead each psychic towards the correct answer by granting him or her one or more vision card(s). For instance, as the ghost, you may want a certain player to choose the Governess character. The Governess card features a ball of red wool, so you browse your hand of vision cards and select a card with a ball and a strand of red wool. You combine this card with two more cards—one which shows cords and ropes and another that shows a woman with a hat—to enhance the vision.

After the ghost player has given a number of vision cards to a psychic, he or she draws back up to seven vision cards, then gives one or more vision card(s) to the next psychic. Once all psychics have received their visions, they have two minutes to interpret their cards and place their intuition tokens on the cards they believe the ghost led them towards. After you place your intuition token, the ghost can manifest long enough to tell you whether your intuition was correct or not. If you correctly placed your intuition token on the card you were assigned behind the ghost’s screen, you may advance to the next stage—from character, to location, to object. If your intuition was wrong, however, you remain at your current stage, losing precious time, and you must attempt to correctly discern the truth in the next round!

The Culprit Revealed

If all of the psychics are clever enough to correctly interpret their visions and identify their matched characters, locations, and objects before time runs out, one final test still awaits them as they gather their findings to determine the true culprit in the second phase of the game.

First, each psychic lines up his or her combination of cards to help the ghost recall the identity of the culprit. Then, the psychics experience a shared vision as the ghost attempts to lead them towards the true murderer. The ghost must choose three vision cards that all point towards the same set—one vision will correspond to the culprit, one to the location of the killing, and one to the murder weapon.

Once the ghost has selected the cards of the shared vision, the psychics can look at them based on their level of clairvoyance. Psychics with a low level on the clairvoyancy track will only see one vision card before they must vote on who the true murderer is. Intermediate level psychics will see two vision cards before they vote, and the most accomplished psychics will be able to see all three cards of the shared vision before they cast their vote.

If the ghost has chosen apt visions and the psychics have used their skill and intuition well, the majority of the psychics will cast their vote for the correct culprit, solving the case, laying the lost spirit to rest, and winning the game! But if the majority of the psychics vote for anyone other than the true criminal, the ghost must wander alone for another year, and all players lose the game!

Enter the Mystery

The tormented spirit cannot rest until you and your fellow psychics solve the mystery. Will you play as the ghost and lead the other players to the truth? Will you reach out to the other side of death and learn the secrets of a decades-old murder? Gaze into your crystal ball and reveal the secrets of Mysterium!