That reminds me, I played Mr Jack with Wallybee the other night. Mr Jack is a deduction game themed around catching Jack the Ripper. You have a map representing the streets of Whitechapel, and eight characters, each with a special ability. One of the characters is secretly Jack the Ripper. One player is the detective, the other is the villain. Each round (there are eight rounds), the players will move two of the characters each (note that the detective player may well wind up moving the culprit). At the end of the round, the villain tells the detective whether Jack can be seen. (Characters next to other characters or lit lampposts can be seen.) Through a process of elimination, the detective tries to whittle down the suspects, and then use one of the characters to catch the suspect.

Jack can win in three ways: remain undetected, escape Whitechapel (four exits, two of which are open at any time), or have the detective 'catch' the wrong suspect. The play mechanism is refreshing and there's a lot of replay value. It's currently a favourite for two players.

So Wallybee and I played it the other night. I'm playing Jack (a.k.a. William Gull, the Queen's physician), she's trying to separate the Gull from the chickens. Coming into round 4, there are four remaining suspects, all of whom can be seen (by each other), as they're clustered in two pairs. We turn up the four characters we'll be moving this turn, only one of which is still a suspect - my own Mr Gull. I get to pick first, and I take him, and swap him with another suspect (so they're all still clustered in two pairs, and there they shall stay). Wallybee won't be able to whittle the numbers down any further this turn!

And she doesn't. She just grabs Inspector Lestrade and bounces him through the sewer system to land on Gull! J'accuse!

"How did you work that one out? You still had four suspects."
"You were protecting Gull. It had to be him."
"I was protecting all of them, hhe was the only suspect I could move this turn. I was always going to pick him."
"And you moved him only three spaces from an exit."
"...Alright, it's a fair cop."

She's getting good at this. I'll need to lift my game. (If ever we play again. Right now she's enjoying being able to tell people "Oh yes, I won that one last time we played.")

billytea, I've seen that game in my comic book store and been intrigued. It sort of sounds like a souped-up version of Mafia. Fun!

billytea, I've seen that game in my comic book store and been intrigued. It sort of sounds like a souped-up version of Mafia. Fun!

Is Mafia the online version of Werewolf? If so, there are similarities, but Mr Jack is more of a battle of wits than poker faces. (Or, if you're Lady Gaga, love-glue-gunnin's at ten paces. I think I've finally worked that song out, and why she seems to think diving into some guy's crotch constitutes the pinnacle of bluffing technique. Clearly she's not disguising her intentions, but given her description of her armoury, I figure she's trying to disguise that she's a pre-op tranny or something.)

Where was I? Oh yes, Mr Jack primarily involves deduction with a side order of induction, while I think Werewolf is more purely bluff-driven. And Mr Jack only works with two players, so different social experience. But yes, both in the "figgerin' stuff out" camp. One might even say in the "Catching ne'er-do-wells" camp. Oh, speaking of which, has anyone here ever played Fury of Dracula? I find that it intrigues me more and more of late.

Is Mafia the online version of Werewolf?

No, it's the same game by a different name.

And Mr Jack only works with two players, so different social experience.

Oh! Huh, interesting. I'm not sure I understand how the game works, then. If you're not Jack, the other person is Jack.

Oh! Huh, interesting. I'm not sure I understand how the game works, then. If you're not Jack, the other person is Jack.

There are two players, but there are eight characters, any of whom might be Jack. The staple of game play sees the detective trying to separate all the suspects into roughly even numbers of Seen and Unseen (thus speeding up the process of elimination), while Jack wants as many characters as possible in the same state as Jack.

I think one player is the detective and other player knows who Jack is.

Because I've read Alan Moore's "From Hell" I'd always be going after Gull.

Wait, so neither player knows who Jack is?

Wait, so neither player knows who Jack is?

No, Jack knows who Jack is. (You draw a card randomly at game start.) Jack sees himself as the embodiment of perfection, and thus desires that as many other characters as possible should achieve the same state as Jack.

Now I'm more confused and also more eager to play.

Oregon Trail coming for the iPhone: [link]