Manor House Murder, Foul Play – Game Review

There has been a murder in the Manor House and this fabulous new card game is here to help you solve the crime. I was thrilled to be sent a pack of cards to play with my family. We all love a good murder mystery.

What’s in the Pack?

In this very portable pack of cards you get a selection of game play cards and instruction cards.

The cards include the suspects, the evidence, crime scene cards, clue cards and the red herrings. Everything you need for a good crime solving kit.

How to Play Foul Play, Murder in the Manor House

There are two ways to play, Good Cop or Bad Cop. We decided to go for Good Cop and the first step was to sort through the Evidence cards and pick just three. The rest were put away (Without looking) and not used in the game. The game reminded us of playing Cluedo, but rather than having a board it’s played with a pack of cards. If you think of the three cards in Cluedo that are chosen in secret and put in the envelope, these are the three pieces of evidence at play in this pack. Once you have all three then you can identify the murderer in the manor house, but you have to have the murderer card in your hand to win the game.

After choosing your three pieces of evidence, all the cards are shuffled. Nine Cards are placed in the centre of the table in a grid, this is now the crime scene. Then each player is given five cards which become their hand. The remaining cards are placed next to the crime scene and are now known as the evidence locker. Cards that are played are then put in the discard pile on the opposite side to the evidence locker. Once the evidence locker is empty, the discard pile is put back in play.

Here is an example hand. You can have anything in your hand from evidence to suspects. When it’s your turn you choose which card to play and put it down for all to see. Then once you have carried out the instructions on the card you put it into the discard pile.

The object of the game is to get to see all three pieces of evidence which are in play, and then once you’ve identified the murderer you need to have them in the hand before announcing that you have the suspect in custody and are making your arrest. Then if you are correct you have won the game.

What we Thought of Foul Play

It took us a while to figure out how to play. The rules were simple enough, it just seemed confusing at first. I think maybe if there hadn’t been two different ways of playing we may have understood better. But neither way of playing is particularly complicated once you get the hang of it.

Bad Cop

When you play Bad Cop you don’t take out the other evidence cards, but you need to have three pieces of evidence and the suspect in your hand to make your arrest and win.

As you get used to the game(s) you soon learn tips and tricks that help you to play better.

The game is fun and although confusing at first it does get easier once you have played once or twice. We honestly didn’t enjoy the first game, but once we knew what we were doing we became very competitive. We wanted to be the first to solve the crime and our investigative skills became more honed.

Good Cop is definitely my favourite version to play, but it’s nice to have another option to change things up a little.

The cards are good quality and look great. The pack is small and easy to transport. It will definitely be in our suitcase for when we are on our travels. If you are a fan of Cluedo then you will love Foul Play.

Here are the clues and all the suspects…..can you work out who did this manor house murder?

You can buy Foul Play for just £8.95 from their website.

I was sent a copy of Foul Play in return for my honest review. You can read more of my reviews here, and my Disclosure and Privacy Policy here.