Stats:
No. of players: 4
Amount of time to play: 15 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: minimal

Witness is a cooperative game of deduction, communication and memorization. Can your team solve the case and score the most points?

Witness Rules Description:

Witness takes the classic whisper down the lane (or telephone) game and combines it with a crime solving game. There are 64 cases in 4 flavors of difficulty, Beginner, Normal, Difficult and Diabolical.

Each player takes a book for one of the characters. Once you decide which case you want to try, each player silently reads the information they have on that case. Then you randomly determine whom players talk to first. Two players whisper all their information to the player next to them. Then the information continues to flow in that direction over the next few rounds. After four total rounds all the information has been passed around the table.

Next you take any notes about the information you received and read the case from the questions booklet. The questions book might have a diagram for you to look over or some other information. And there are always three questions to answer.

Now you can look at the answer in the solutions booklet. For each question the team answered correctly you score one point. So you can score from 0 to 12 points.

Quick Review of Witness:

Witness is a truly unique deduction game. It looks great, plays fast and is super accessible.

The components for this game are fantastic. The art specifically is just awesome. The game is based on a 1940s comic and the artistic style really pops off the table. Several people were interested in this while I was playing it at a meet up group, solely on the way it looked. The rules and books are all well done and everything in them is pretty straightforward.

I like the unique game experience Witness creates. Some hard-core gamers may not like the mechanics (or lack thereof), but it is worth 15 minutes to see what you think.

It is definitely worth noting that the game requires four, and only four, players. And with just 64 cases it might suffer from replay value. It might depend on your pace and how well you remember the cases.

This is basically a memorization, deduction and communication game. Your mileage might be dependent on your group. It is certainly different and appealing. If you like these types of games, you should pick it up. I think most everyone should give it a try. Besides calling Gieco what are you going to do in 15 minutes?

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 1 out of 6
Luck N/A
Player Interaction 6 out of 6
Replay Value 3 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6