Sleuth
A Review & Comparison

Basic overview
Sleuth is a deduction game that uses two sets of cards to provide both the mystery and guide the detectives' information gathering. The jewel deck consists of every combination of 3 gems (diamond, opal, pearl), 3 settings (solitaire, pair, cluster), and 4 colors (red, blue, green, yellow). The question deck consists of cards that specify either one or two variables. A one variable card allows the sleuth to ask an opponent a question like "How many Green items do you have?" A two variable card empowers a more detailed query such as "How many opal clusters do you have?"

Game play
One card from the jewel deck is removed from play, this is the combination that needs to be guessed. All remaining cards are dealt evenly to the players with leftovers exposed for all to see. Each player draws 4 question cards. The provided matrix/worksheet allows sleuths to track which cards are in play and thus hopefully deduce which card is missing.

Each player's turn consists of playing a question card, asking the corresponding question to one opponent, making notes, then drawing a replacement question card as the signal to the next player to begin.

Comparison to Clue and Mystery of the Abbey
Deduction games vary by number of variables, quantity of variation within each variable, and mechanism that restricts the players' cross-examination of each other. Yes, restricts. Moving around the board in Clue or MotA isn't about making the questioning easier. In a game where opponents must answer truthfully, players would quickly devise the optimal set of questions and the game would devolve into little more than an exercise. The questioning mechanism makes the game interesting and will probably determine its replayability. Whereas the variables and variation primarily affect game length.

With Clue, players must discover which three cards are missing, one from each of the 6 weapons, 9 rooms, and 6 suspects. Clue limits the interrogations by requiring the player's marker to rest in the specific room mentioned in the question. The die-roll required to move the varying lengths between the rooms introduces a random (shall we say) frustration.

In Mystery of the Abbey, players must discover one specific combination of 3 religious orders, 3 religious ranks, 2 body-types, 2 head adornments, and 2 options for facial hair. MotA requires that players only cross-examine an opponent whose token rests in the same room/location as the player's token.

MotA rules limit the number of variables that can be specified in the question, but otherwise the player formulates a query to learn what exists in the opponent's hand or gathered knowledge. Instead of directly querying the opponent's hand, Clue requires detectives to suggest a specific combination of the variables for rebuttal.

Sleuth dispenses with the board and limits the question to variables listed on a question card in the player's possession. More like MotA, players use this card to directly query the opponent's hand (but not knowledge). Unlike MotA, players may ask their question of any opponent. Sleuth's question cards introduce the challenge of determining which one of the four question cards when asked to which opponent will yield the most information.

Our choice
Of the three, Sleuth may be our favorite. Two reasons: Just the right number and variation of variables (game length), and enjoyable challenges using the question cards while also making correct deductions from answers to other players' questions (replayability).