Murder, mayhem and robbery – what more could you ask for while staying at a 19th century French inn? How about beautiful artwork, smart gameplay and a bit of fun backstabbing? The Bloody Inn has all of that in a gorgeous card game that begs to be brought to the table.
A murderous card game with a playing board that serves as the Inn, The Bloody Inn is a wickedly simple to teach and is a deceivingly competitive game to play. If it’s any indication, the last time we showed people this game they pulled their phone out and purchased it immediately after we finished.
The players work in a French inn where it seems that there’s always more money to be made by murder and thievery than from the room fees. The catch? You’re going to need to hide those bodies. You can bribe the police, hide bodies in your opponent’s rooms and try to avoid being caught. Does this theme sound a bit too dark for you? Well, it’s a bit tongue in cheek but I guess for some people that might be a drawback. For us? The theme is so well done, works so well with the mechanics and scoring of the game, that we found ourselves laughing and singing Sweeney Todd.
There’s a good balance of luck and skill and a nice dose of tension as you try and plan your moves within the limited actions available to you each round. Replay value is also high since you remove a number of cards from the deck each time you play.
2nd – (2 player rating) Definitely works as a two player game. I even found it appealing as a solitaire game. We’ve played with up to four players and each variation had its own strategies. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5
S – (setup, takedown, instructions) This is basically a small box game. Set up is incredibly simple with reminders on the backs of the player cards. There’s a short and long version of this game and the instructions are very clear. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5
T – (tactile, components, artwork, etc) I can’t repeat enough how much I love the look of this game. Just stunning artwork. In addition, the rest of the components – the money, etc – are quality weight and feel. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5
A – (action, mechanics, general gameplay) The object of this game is to have the most money. Seems simple enough. But minions are necessary to accomplish your dastardly deeds and those minions need to be paid. Everything works very simply and thematically. There are both short and long versions of the game (although I highly recommend the long version!) 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5
R – (replay factor) As I’ve already mentioned, the guest deck is shuffled and a number of cards are removed before each game. This adds greatly to the replay factor as your guests, and their abilities, will vary game to game. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5
Final thoughts. Again, the last time we showed this game to someone they ordered it before we were even done cleaning it up. That’s a pretty glowing recommendation. Get this. Play it. Enjoy!