Mr. Jack


(All pics have been provided by the various users of this website, Thank You!)

There is nothing quite like an evening with that special someone in your life. Soft music, candlelit dinner prepared by yourself or Stouffer, and when the mood is just right clearing off the table and placing Mr. Jack down in all of its glory. Hey what did you expect?! A movie? Please....

Mr. Jack is a game for 2 players and, quite frankly, is a joy to play and share with others. For me most of the games that get played in our house are two player games. The reason being is that we have two children who are ages two and one and so we do not always have time to pull out a longer game in our busy schedule but we want to play some games.

There are many different two player games out there but they're not that many that I nor my wife would want to request to play but Mr. Jack is high on the list.

On to the review.

OPENING THE BOX AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Nothing like taking the wrapping off of that new game box that just arrived in the mail and the game box for Mr. Jack is quality. Already impressed. Yeah I look at these things. Someone that takes the time to have a good quality cardboard box already has a notch up in my book. Artwork on the box is very fun as well. I enjoy this genre very much so I am excited to see what else is in store in the box



Upon opening the box you will see a game board, instruction book, bag of wooden pieces, four boards of character cards and lights to punch out, as well as one page of character stickers.

My first impression is one of pure contentment. I am looking at quality, pure quality in the components here. Let me explain.

COMPONENTS:

A game is made up of its components. There is never a way around this and Mr. Jack in this sense does not dissapoint. All the components are quality.

Represented in the box you have one Mr. Jack marker card,

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eight character cards,



eight character suspect cards,



eight character wood pieces and the sheet of stickers to attach to the wood pieces (two sticker per wood piece)



Shown with the stickers attached, as well as one clock sticker and wood piece to put it on. The other four things included in the game are the board, the six lights, two manhole covers, and two police cordons.



Everything is very quality in the game. The cardstock is very thick and durable. Like I said I was very content with just the quality of this game.

Artwork on the components is wonderful as well. This game is very rich in the theme of the London/Sherlock Holmes nostalgia. Well done, and well done. This is a theme that a lot of people know and can relate to because of the popularity of this time period as far as murder and mystery are concerned. This is a major draw when I teach this game to new gamers because they already connect to what is going on.

Well done. Great design is always worth every penny!

RULE BOOK AND LEARNING/TEACHING MR. JACK:

The rule book comes in many different languages and so there seems to be many pages to read at first but really the rules contain three pages and one of those is a FAQ (frequently asked questions).

Learning the game for me was very easy. Read through the rules and then walked through the gameplay by myself twice in about 25 minutes and I was ready to go.

Teaching the game was even simpler and I love simplicity. The board is set up with all the information right in front of you that you need to play this game as well as the character abilities are right on the cards themselves. Set up is the only major reason that you would have to review the rule book to see how the game is set up. Usually after five minutes of explanation and walkthrough I am told to go and get sodas and mind my own business. Which is a good thing for me because that means that they got it. This game is very teachable and very easy to learn.

So the quality of the rule book. A+. The rule book does a great job of walking you right through the game without confusing you.

GAMEPLAY:



The game is set up with two sides to the board. Dark side for Mr. Jack and the light side for the detective.

The premise of the game is that one of the eight characters is Mr. Jack, and this is done by taking the eight character cards, shuffling them and the player that is Mr. Jack draws one and that character is the Mr. Jack for this game.

During each game round the character cards are shuffled, four are revealed, and players, depending on which round it is, alternate turn order in picking cards. Players get to pick cards by who goes first pics one, player going second gets to pick the next two, and then the first player finishes with whoever is left. This will change on the next round. Very innovative and causes a player to really strategize over who they pick and play determined on the needs of the game.

The characters are the heart of the game with their different abilities (wall walking, spot light, moving lights, etc.) they are the heart of strategy and supense for this game. The abilities chosen always fluctate on importance depending on the ebb and flow of the game. I wont go into all the detail of the characters here but I really enjoy the characters chosen as well as the way they click together when you play. Good design.

The player playing the detective has no idea who is who and so during the 8 rounds of the game the detective is trying to eliminate characters as suspect by moving them in or out of the light. A character is in the light if: 1. they are standing next to a lamp post, 2. standing next to another character, 3. Watson's light is pointing at them. At the end of the round the Mr. Jack indicates if he is in the light or not in the light.



Above pic if on the lighted side means in the light and vice versa. Then all characters depending upon Mr. Jack's response either remain a suspect or are no longer supsect indicated by flipping them fron their full colored side to the shaded side.



Works so well and keeps track of the information that has been gathered.

This system continues until: 1. Mr. Jack is accused and caught ( detective has to take a character up to Mr. Jack, who he thinks he is, and accuse him) 2. Mr. Jack is never assused and wins because time ran out for the detective, 3. Mr. Jack escapes which can only happen after a round where Mr. jack is not in the light.

Simple rules yet very engaging and very satisfying.

Gameplay is very short so if you lose a game flip sides and try all over again.

PRO'S AND CON'S OF MR. JACK:

Every game has them but will they make the difference in buying the game for you? Let's see.

Pro's:
1. Simple rules simple to understand.
2. Short Playing Time.
3. Quality components.
4. The game is fun.
5. Very popular theme.

Con's
1. Arguable uneven game play for Mr. Jack. Arguable.
2. Luck is involved. Not 100% but the order of the cards and what is chosen can make a big difference in the game, but this is part of the game. The premise is there is a murderer in this group of 8 and Mr. Jack is trying to sneak away. I love the drafting system in this game. Does not always work in a players favor but it fits this game.
3. The stickers on the wooden pieces. Some people do not like messing with stickers, but the instructions are clear on how to have good instalation of the stickers and after more than a 100 plays my stickers are still "stuck" on if you will.

For me the con's of this game are arguable in some respects whether they are really that big of a deal. For me I do not think that they are.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Mr. Jack is a great, simple, fun game that will pull folks in from all different walks of this gaming hobby. For me this is a game that I am not ashamed to bring out to teach even a new gamer, and I find many new gamers enjoy this game for its theme and ease of access. Access in games is important. Not all games need it but most of the ones I buy do because I want to see them get played.

I encourage you to look into this game and see how it could be used in your game group or family. Like I said two player games in my house get played the most cause I can usually find someone else to play.

Mr. Jack 9/10 BGG rating in my book. What say you?

Thank you very much for reading this review and your thoughts and ideas would be great.

Till next time.