Scotland Yard Board Game Review

Reviewed by Brian Grehan

As a great fan of board games, especially games where detection is involved, I was very excited to be given the Scotland Yard board game from Ravensburger to review. I am also a great fan of a certain detective from Baker Street so as this game is set in London it’s a double hit for me.

On opening the box there is:

1x playing board
1x logbook
6 x playing pieces
20 x cards
125 x tickets
Mr X hat

There are 2 ways to play Scotland Yard a beginner version and a more complicated way. Both entail tracking down Mr X through the streets of London. For 3 to 6 players the game starts out with one of the players as Mr X. Their aim is to make their way across London without being caught. The detectives follow Mr X with the aim of capturing him before the game ends.

In the beginner version there are 13 rounds played. Mr X moves first in each round followed by the detectives in any order. The villain travels by either taxi bus or underground followed by the detectives. They can work as a team to track down Mr X.

To win the detectives must arrive at the same station as Mr X or the villain cannot move to any station as they are all blocked by detectives. Mr X can win if they make it across London for 13 rounds of play without being caught by the detectives.

The more complicated version is similar to the beginner version but with 22 rounds of play. The game is enthralling and I love both ways of play. I wonder if they plan to bring out more games based in cities around the world. Like my home city of Dublin that would be perfect but I love London so it’s a big hit with me.

This fantastic board is suitable for players aged 8+ and game play takes about 45 minutes.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: 19.99

Available to buy from Amazon here.