Orient Express (board game)

Lore & Background

The game was first released in 1985 by Just Games and by Jumbo in 1986. It has been translated into numerous languages, including English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, and Danish. The game is set on the train Orient Express, traveling from Paris to Istanbul. Players choose one of 10 cases, each involving a murder committed by one or more of eight suspects: the actress, the baroness, the count, the diplomat, the entrepreneur, the fortuneteller, the gambler, and the heiress. The suspects' names are arranged so that the first letters form the first eight letters of the alphabet.

Reader's Guide

Orient Express is significant as a board game adaptation of a classic mystery novel, winning the 1987 Spiel des Jahres 'Beautiful Game' award and the 1987 Årets Spel 'Best Family Game' award. Its gameplay requires players to solve a murder by moving through two train wagons, rolling dice, and gathering clues from crew, rooms, and suspects. Suspects never lie but may provide useless information. Players must also identify the motive—blackmail, espionage, insanity, jealousy, money, or revenge—and can find that more than one suspect is guilty. An engine pawn advances at stations when a specialized die shows a green figure, and detectives receive telegrams about suspects or the victim. The game ends when the train reaches Istanbul, and the player with the correct solution wins. Its legacy includes being a notable example of deduction games from the 1980s.

Did You Know?

• The game contains 10 different murder cases, each playable only once.
• The suspects are named so that their first letters form the first eight letters of the alphabet.
• The game was awarded the 1987 Spiel des Jahres 'Special Prize for Beautiful Game' (Sonderpreis 'Schönes Spiel').