#Review of Foul Play – Once Upon a Crime @afterdarkmurder @foulplaygamers @zooloo2008

Thanks for stopping by! I have something a little different to share with you today. It will still be a review but instead of a book it’s for a card game called FOUL PLAY – Once Upon a Crime. Before we find out my thoughts let’s take a look at what the game is about…

FOUL PLAY

The Murder Mystery Card Game

Once Upon A Crime

A game for 2 – 5 players | Age 8 +

£8.95 + p&p

www.foulplaygame.co.uk

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Email : info@afterdarkmurder.co.uk

 

The Game

Carabosse the Bad Fairy is dead, and her Big Book of Villainy has been stolen…

In a shocking revelation, the magic mirror has revealed that all the suspects are goodies, but who had a motive to go bad? You’ll need to swap, steal and search for the evidence in order to scupper the other detectives and sleuth your way to your happily ever after!

There’s more than one way to catch a killer though. So what’s it gonna be? Good Cop or Bad Cop? These two game versions come with their own set of rules and tactics to crack the case and finger your suspect, but will you use fair play or FOUL PLAY?

The Game is Afoot! Playing as detective, you’ll need to find the three evidence cards that point to a specific suspect in order to catch a killer in this crazy criminal caper. Will you uncover them in the crime scene? Could the other detectives be willing to collaborate and share their findings? Or will you resort to more tricky tactics, and plunder the proof you need to solve this crime?

REVIEW OF ONCE UPON A CRIME

Once Upon a Crime is a murder mystery card game suitable for 2-5 players. We played a few times as a family of 4 but mostly as a duo. You can also play this card game two different ways. Either good cop or bad cop, the choice is yours! Both versions of the game have their own set of rules which makes things just that little bit more interesting.

I’ve always been a fan of board games and one of my favourites has to be Cluedo. So when I saw this card game I was very eager to play detective. As soon as I saw the cards, the collection of fairy tale characters stood out. Especially with their often colourful outfits and interesting accessories. This definitely gave an extra fun vibe!

The length of time the games lasted varied but on the whole they were pretty quick to play. The fact that you only need the deck of cards to play the game is a definite bonus. The only thing you really need is enough space to create a 3 x 3 grid of the cards. Age wise there is a 8+ rating and I think that is pretty accurate. It is a very visual game especially when it comes to spotting the details on the characters cards. However you will also need to be able to read the evidence cards to fully play the game. So a younger child could play but may need help in reading the cards.

The game itself is fun and simple to follow especially after we had played a couple of times. It was only the first few games where we had to refer to the rules quite a bit. After that it was easy! Each game is different anyway but because you can either play as bad cop or good cop this adds an extra twist. This for me was another great selling point. I loved the variety of characters and the evidence that you had the choice of before you finally announce “I wish to solve the crime!”

This card game was a very entertaining way to spend our time and such a fun game to play too. Not only perfect for at home but also compact enough to travel with. Once Upon a Crime is a quirky, engaging game that can be played again and again in many different ways!

History of Foul Play

What’s a Murder Mystery Events Company to do?

With a pandemic sweeping the nation and no sign of being able to perform their confounding criminal cabarets or incredible interactive investigations any time soon, they needed to come up with a plan, another way to provide mystery to the masses (and provide income to keep themselves afloat)!

Well, lockdown does strange things to people, especially actors who can’t go out and perform. So one fateful evening, Ben & Lee Cooper-Muir decided to come up with a whole new way to murder people. Keeping their cards close to their chests they plotted and schemed until Foul Play : The Murder Mystery Card Game was born. So, what to do next? This is where After Dark enters the picture. After all, Ben and Lee were two of the operators of the infamous murder mystery company. Maybe they could collaborate to bring the game to the masses. When Lockdown restrictions were eased a top-secret meeting was held with the other criminal masterminds behind After Dark, Helen Burrows, Sophie Webster & Tom Fisher and a pact was made. The game would be launched and licensed under the After Dark banner. In true After Dark style, the team burst into action and then began the beta testing, design updates, promotional planning, character changes, proofing, proofing and more proofing until finally all the kinks were ironed out, mysteries solved,and FOUL PLAY : Manor House Murder came to life!

The team didn’t stop there though! Due to the popularity of the first game, a second version ‘Once Upon A Crime’ was put on the table, designed, and then launched on Kickstarter. Fully funded in under 48 hours the team at After Dark had another success on their hands and players had another murder in theirs! Once Upon A Crime hits the stores on 1st July 2021 and Manor House Murder is available to buy too.

We hope you enjoy playing it, and although we all hope to be back performing soon, WATCH THIS SPACE! Now we know we can create and produce games we’ve got a lot more fun things planned for the future!