Players:2-4
Time: 30-60 minutes
Difficulty: 3 (of 10)
This is the review of the second edition of Jack the Ripper. From what I understand the main difference is a cleaned-up rule bok.
The Components
Jack the Ripper comes with 62 cards and a set of rules in a small box.
The Cards: The Jack the Ripper cards are some of the highest quality playing cards I've ever gotten in a game. They're extremely thick (perhaps too much so--at least one of my playtesters said the stiffness made the cards hard to shuffle) and glossy, cut with rounded corners.
Each card is printed 4-color, but uses a very limited pallette. A bar on the left shows a color for the card's category (related to one of the 7 evidence melds or one of the 5 victims or gray for Jack the Ripper himself). The main body of the card is black, white, and beige, with very period-appropriate drawings. I find the effect a bit bland, but other players have enjoyed the thematic feel that the overall look provides.
The colored spine of each card contains the most important information. An icon at the top left clearly separates cards into two categories: evidence cards (which may be melded), and gavel cards (which must be played as individual actions). The gavel cards also have subcategories running down the colored spine--such as Suspect, Scene, or Victim. Evidence cards have a tiny number at the bottom left, which is used solely to determine who Jack the Ripper is, in case of ties. The overall effect here is to make it extremely easy to see what a card is when the cards are fanned, which is a very good design for a card game.
The rest of the card contains all the expected info: card scoring value, card name, card effect, and color text. The description of the card effect is, at times, incomplete (e.g., Ripper Escapes doesn't note that it can be played at any time, the Alibi cards don't say to discard previous Alibis, and the Ripper Strikes doesn't explicitly say that you get bonus cards when you discover a Victim); this will cause mistakes for beginners and could have been avoided with a bit more care given to the text.
Overall, though, the cards will hold up well and do a good job of noting 95% of the relevent rules for card interactions.
The Rules: The rules are printed on a two-sided five-fold rulesheet. They overall do a decent job of explaining the game, but could still use a bit more clarification (e.g., on how wild cards work, on which cards don't give penalities when kept in the hand at the end, and on what occurs when the Ripper Escapes scoring is used). I had to go to the Internet for a couple of different questions. Nonetheless, I was able to play after one readthrough, albeit with some mistakes in the first couple of games.
The Box: This is one of the coolest boxes I've ever seen for a card game. The overall box is a little bit bigger than the cards contained within (divided into two piles), but overall it's a pretty good compromise between visibility and compactness. The box is made of heavy, glossy cardboard and is designed to look a bit like a book.
The cover for the box is hinged, so the entire game opens up like a book.Within you find a list of suspects to the left (alas, not color-coded with the Jack the Ripper colors, and the suspects aren't quite in the right order of priority) which isl quite useful. To the right is a built-in tray which holds the cards; running under each deck of cards is a ribbon, so that you can pull up the ribbon and have the cards come out. Very much beyond the call, and thus appreciated.
Overall I find the production quality of Jack the Ripper far, far beyond any other card game I've played anytime recently. The relative plainness of the cards is the only purely aesthetic issue I have with the game. However, I usually also consider the usability of the components when I mark the Style of the game, and as already noted I had some issues with both rules and card text, which will both affect new players. Still, Jack the Ripper comes out above average, earning a "4" out of "5" for Style.
The Game Play
On the one hand, Jack the Ripper is Rummy: you're putting down your cards in melds with the goal being to nearly empty your hand, discard your final card, and go out. But, there's also a lot more going on ...
Setup & Order of Play: The game opens with each player being dealt 8-10 cards (depending on number of players), and the the top card of the deck being flipped face-up, to begin the discard pile. Players then take their turns one at a time, each either drawing from the deck or taking the top card of the discard pile. After drawing, each player then makes legal plays and discards a single card.
The Cards: There are two card types in the game, gavel cards (marked by a gavel) and evidence cards (marked by a magnifying glass). A player may play either or both during his turn, subject to certain restrictions.
Evidence Cards. These are the Rummy cards. There are seven colors, one for each of the Jack the Ripper suspects (and one extra for "Letters"). Each color (suit) has 5 cards (except Letters has 4).
Players must play Evidence cards as melds. This means that you have to have in hand 3 or more of the same color, and then you play them all together. You can also layoff a card on a meld already in play. For example, if an opponent has played a Prince Eddy (yellow) meld of 3 cards, and you have a Prince Eddy evidence card in your hand, you may play it on your turn as a layoff on your opponent's meld. These layoffs go in your play area and will be counted toward your score.
You may play as many legal melds as you want in your turn. In fact, I enjoy driving my wife crazy by playing 3 or 4 melds on the same turn, and going out. There's only one restriction to playing melds: there must already be a Victim (a specific gavel card) in play. After all, there's no point in gathering evidence until a murder has occurred.
Gavel Cards. These are the special cards which add strategy to normal Rummy play. They're thematically grouped into cards related to victims, cards related to suspects, and cards related to Jack the Ripper. Only one gavel card can be played during each turn (in addition to however many melds you wish to play). This places a necessary choke on strategic play, and also keeps you from tossing out a pile of Gavel cards all at once (and going out)
The victim-related cards include 5 Victims and 5 Scenes. Each Victim is tied to one Scene and vice-versa. As noted, there must be a Victim out before Evidence can be played. Here's what each of the cards do:
- Victims: Allows you to draw two new cards from the deck. Also, take the related Scene if it's already in play.
- Scenes: Allows you to select a card from the discard pile. Also, take the related Victim if she's already in play.
The suspect-related cards include 6 Suspects and 5 Alibis. There's one of each for each of those evidence melds (all appropriately color-coded), except for Prince Eddy and Sir Gull, who have a joint Alibi. These cards can only be played when a related Evidence meld is already out (e.g., you can't play George Chapman Suspect card until a George Chapman evidence meld is already out somewhere on the table). Here's what each of the cards do:
- Suspects: Just worth points, which makes it more likely that Jack the Ripper is this suspect, as noted below.
- Alibis: Makes it impossible for this suspect to be Jack the Ripper, as noted below, but when you play an Alibi you discard any previous Alibis on the table.
The Ripper-related cards include 2 Ripper Strikes, 2 Commissioner Resigns, and 1 Ripper Escapes. The whole point here is that Jack the Ripper can get away. If all 5 Victim cards are on the table and someone plays the Ripper Escapes card, the round of play immediately ends with Jack getting away. The other 2 card types make it easier to get victims out, and thus for Jack to eventuall escape:
- Ripper Strikes: Flip up to 5 cards from the draw pile to the discard pile. If you turn up a Victim, play her immediately. Stop flipping cards once you've found that victim or gotten to 5.
- Commissioner Resigns: All players must immediately play all their Victims in their hand, and do not receive the normal Victim bonus of a 2-card draw.
Selecting the Ripper: As already noted, a round of play ends when someone plays their penultimate card, then discards their final card to the discard pile. At this point, players then figure out who the Ripper is. This is done by looking at all the suspect-color-coded cards that have been played: the Evidence cards, the Suspect cards, and potentially an Alibi.
Each card is worth a specific amount: 2 points per Evidence and 4 points for a Suspect card. The suspect with the most points is Jack the Ripper for that round, unless that suspect has an Alibi out, in which case the suspect with the second-most points is Jack the Ripper.
In case of tie, the priority numbers on the cards are consulted, which go from "1" for Montague Druitt to "6" for the idea of a woman comitting the crimes. The highest priority tied suspect is determined to be Jack.
(One note: there's no decision as to who the Ripper is if the Ripper gets away.)
There's a couple of reasons it's important to figure out who Jack was. First, his cards are worth more when scored. Second, players may get bonus points if they "voted" right. You see, during normal play, before drawing a card, a player may call a vote if there hasn't already been one during the current round. At this point, each player puts down his best guess as to who the Ripper is on a secret piece of paper. Play then continues normally.
Scoring the Points: After figuring out who the Ripper is, players score all their points. All the cards on the table are worth points: 1 each for Victims and Scenes, 2 each for Evidence, 3 each for Alibis, and 4 each for Suspects. All of the color-coded cards for the Ripper are doubled in value.
Each player then subtracts from his score any points for cards in his hand with one exception: Evidence, Alibis, and Suspect cards for which there is already a meld on the table are not subtracted, they're just worth zero. This allows players to hold onto cards in an attempt to control who the Ripper is, without being penalized for it.
Finally, each player who guessed the identity of the Ripper correctly during a vote gets 10 bonus points.
There's slightly different scoring if the Ripper gets away, either through play of the Ripper Escapes card or after the players have gone through the deck twice. In this case, only Scene and Victim cards are scored; there are no negative points. If someone played the Ripper Escapes cards, they get +35 points (which is the incentive for doing so).
Play continues until one player reaches 100 points, at which time the player with the most points wins. This tends to take 4-5 rounds for a two-player game and can run to a high of 8 or 10 rounds for a four-player game.
How the Game Works: In case it's not obvious, the play goes something like this. Players get dealt a hand with some raw beginnings of melds and a few gavel cards. A victim gets played, and the fun begins. Players slowly begin gathering melds, throwing out unmatched cards, which sometimes get snatched up by opponents, and moving toward sets of 3 or 4. More victims and scenes get played, then the first Evidence melds appear.
At this point, play opens up a little bit, with layoffs, Suspects, and Alibis all becoming fair game. At some point, someone calls a vote, usually just before he plays cards that he thinks will change the face of the game--and who Jack the Ripper really is. Eventually someone gets rid off his next-to-last card, most frequently through dropping a meld, but sometimes by playing a final gavel card. He then discards and the round ends.
Sometimes, toward the end, people start to worry that Jack the Ripper is going to get away, because there are a lot of Victims on the table. If someone is holding the Ripper Escapes, they try and use Commissioner Resigns and Ripper Strikes cards in order to force the remaining Victims into play, while other players do their best to go out as fast as possible.
Controlling who the Ripper is can have a big effect on final scoring, both because of the doubled value of his cards and because of the bonus points for voting, so it's always an issue too when people are playing their cards (or deciding not to).
Relationships to Other Games
Jack the Rummy is, clearly, based on the traditional rules for Rummy.
It's also one in a series of Mystery Rummy games. There are currently 3 others, each with slightly different rules: Murders in the Rue Morgue, Jekyll and Hyde, and Al Capone and the Chicago Underworld. There are also two other games which use the same basic concepts, but aren't technically in the series: Wyatt Earp and History's Mysteries (though the latter is much simplified, without any concept of "gavel" cards, just Rummy melds).
The Game Design
The Mystery Rummy series of games start off being Rummy--and what can you say about Rummy, one of the true classics of card games? After all, Rummy is about a hundred years old, and itself is based on Conquian, a game that goes back another half-century.
However, Jack the Ripper isn't just a pale retheming of the old classic. It's instead a new and innovative game that uses the ideas of Rummy as just one of its core mechanics. Here's the best of the game's design:
Good Strategic Possiblities: The gavel cards are all about strategic possibilities. With the Victim and Scene cards you can control extra draws of cards. With the Ripper set of cards you can try and move toward a Ripper victory, or alternatively just try and grow the discard pile for future use of Scenes or try and deny opponents of the value of Victim cards. With the Alibi and Suspect cards you can try and control who the Ripper is, for scoring purposes. These possibilities add several orthagonal paths of strategic play, totally separate from the basic strategies of Rummy, and thus widen the overal strategic breadth of the game quite a bit. The timing of voting is yet another strategic issue.
True to Rummy Ideas: At the same time, the game stays true to basic Rummy ideals. You can't meld gavel cards, but they still "go" with other cards in the game. Scenes and Victims usually end up together, while Suspects and Alibis are neatly color-coded to the Evidence melds. This is purely an aesthetic issue, but I think one that was approached very well, because it ensures that the game still feels like Rummy.
Good Color: The game has very good color, with the 5 Victims being Jack's actual victims, and the Evidence cards all being about possible suspects in the Ripper murders. There's also great color text on the cards; the text is brief, but still describes who the suspects are, and why they might, or might not, have been Jack the Ripper. I humor myself by talking about the various reasons for or against each Suspect when discarding or playing appropriate cards. (I'm not sure that the people I play against are equally humored.)
Here's my one complaint about the game:
Game Feels Complex: I've had the experience a couple of times now where I got bleary eyes when I tried to explain the game. Somehow the innate nature of the game is harder to explain than it is to actually play. I think this has something to do with the number of cards which have unique gameplay effects. There's enough that they're hard to run through, but not enough that you really want to say, "Just read the gavel cards if you get them" (though I may try that next time I play with a new player, to see if it helps).
I fumbled around for a while, trying to figure out what Substance score to give Mystery Rummy. I've played it enough now to say that it's definitely a solid, smooth-playing game with real strategic possibilities. Mike Fitzgerald has added a lot of strategy to the game which I think greatly improves on the original Rummy design.
Yet, it's just Rummy, and how far above average can that be?
I think on its own I might have given Mystery Rummy No. 1: Jack the Ripper a "4", but looking at it as a very innovative design that somewhat shakes up card games by introducing new types of gameplay, I've decided to boost it to a full "5" out of "5" for Substance. For its gameplay and for its originality Jack the Ripper is an excellent game.
Conclusion
The Mystery Rummy games might not be a substitute for the newest and greatest German games. However, if you enjoy traditional card games as well, I definitely suggest this game as something to introduce new fire to an old genre.
