Mysterium (board game)

Mysterium is a cooperative board game from Ukrainian designers Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko. It combines elements of murder mysteries with card-based deduction. One player takes the role of a ghost—a murder victim who can only communicate through dreamlike, illustrated cards during a séance lasting up to seven rounds. The other players act as psychic mediums, working together to interpret the images on the cards they receive, aiming to identify the correct suspect, location, and murder weapon from a crime. Since its 2015 release, the game has earned strong reviews and become a well-known title in its category. Two expansions followed: *Hidden Signs* (2016) and *Secrets and Lies* (2017), the latter adding a new card type called the story card.

**Gameplay** The story begins thirty years earlier, when a servant was killed at a party in his employer’s mansion. A group of mediums holds a séance to solve the mystery. The ghost’s goal is to reveal who killed him, where, and with what weapon. Three sets of illustrated cards are laid out—one for suspects, one for locations, and one for weapons. One player is the ghost, who cannot speak directly to the mediums (though the mediums may talk among themselves). The ghost secretly picks one suspect, one location, and one weapon for each medium to guess. Each round, the ghost gives each medium one or more illustrated cards as its only way to communicate. The mediums advance through three stages by correctly guessing their assigned suspect, location, and weapon. Tokens let players signal whether they think a guess is right. If all mediums pass the third stage by round seven, the ghost gives a final clue about which medium holds the true murderer’s identity. How quickly the mediums progressed and how many correct tokens they placed determines whether they see one, two, or three cards from the ghost. During this final stage, mediums cannot talk, and each votes in secret. If the majority guesses correctly, everyone wins, and the ghost is freed to enjoy the afterlife.

**Publication** Originally released in Ukraine as *Містеріум*, the game was picked up by French publisher Libellud for English and French editions. Libellud made several changes to the rules and artwork.

**Reception** *Polygon* named it one of the best games of Gen Con 2015.