Forum Overview :: Reviews :: Review: Incognito (Board Game)

[quote name="blackwater"]Incognito is set in Venice. It has an interesting art style where everyone is wearing those creepy Carnival masks. The game is technically for 3-5 people, but I've heard that it's really best with 4 (which is also how we played it.) Each player controls 4 figures that are moving around on a map of Venice. So the blue player gets the blue figures, the red figure gets the red figures, and so forth. Each turn, you get a chance to move around a bit over either land or sea routes (your available moves are randomized each turn.) There is also another figure on the board called the Ambassador. Each player can move the ambassador if he happens to (randomly) get an ambassador move. The general idea is that you are a conspirator, trying to complete a mission. But before you can even find out what this mission is, you need to identify your partner. Everyone is holding a set of cards that describe various attributes of that person (body type, name, etc.) If you can get one of your figures to one of another player's figures, you can ask him to give you some cards. At this point, he gets to give you some cards, at least one of which must really reflect his actual characteristics. So it's a bit like Mastermind or Mystery of the Abbey, in that you're doing a lot of process of elimination and logical deduction. If you can get one of your figures to the ambassador, you can get a little more information from another player. There are rules in place to prevent a player from just giving you the same cards over and over, so you always learn some new information with each encounter. Once you think you know who your partner is, you can reveal to him what your mission card is. If you have two mission cards, that's enough to describe the mission completely. At that point, you can accomplish it, and then announce that you've won. Incognito was fun, but if I wanted to play a game where I was figuring out people's roles, I'd probably play Shadow Hunters instead. I'm not completely sure why I feel this way. I guess part of it probably has to do with the fact that there's combat in Shadow Hunters, unlike in Incognito. Also, Shadow Hunters games tend to have more people and feel more chaotic, which I enjoy in a game like this. I also kind of get annoyed when I have to use pencil and paper in a board game, which you definitely do in Incognito (unless you have some kind of freakish memory for what information people have given you so far.) The 5 player variant adds the Ambassador as a playable character, with a conflicting agenda. I'm not sure how the 3 player variant works exactly. I guess I give this a weak thumbs up. Not the best game of its type, but good for a change.[/quote]