Murder Mystery games aren't new. There were a string of them published by University Games and other publishers in the 1980s and 1990s, mostly predicated on them functioning as themed dinner party games where each of your guests was given a role to act out and with clues planted to point ultimately to the guilty character. Many even include formal invitations for dinner guests and guidance as to what food to serve with each course of the game. For enthusiasts of the genre there are scores of these games available, tho' the quality varies.
Alibi, from DV Games, follows in the same tradition but Antonello Lotronto's design makes use of techniques developed through the parallel slew of escape room board games to present a more streamlined package. It's playable certainly as a dinner party game, tho' it's shorn of all the hosting prep that came with many of its predecessors. Alibi tho' is designed equally to be played in about an hour as a standalone deduction game. Or rather, as one of the three discrete deduction games that come in the box - the three separate 'intricate mysteries'. The art from Emanuele Desiati, Alessandro Manzella and Martin Mottet is suitably evocative.
The three mysteries (Murder on the Nile, Blood Tartan and A Dish To Die For) are all designed for five or six players. With five players, each takes on an assigned role, following the information each round on their individual cards. With six or more players, you have the five characters but with the sixth player taking on the role of the detective, using a deck that remains unused in the five-player game. You can push the player count to seven or eight by having the additional players sharing the detective role. You can even reduce the player count to four but that requires some preparation, using a QR code in the rules to work out which character to take out (ie: one that isn't the culprit that will be revealed in the denouement). As you might guess, Alibi is at its best with five or six players.
Everyone's initial card is designed to give the player plenty of information about the character they are playing. Important because, as with most games in this genre, you really want players to get into role for their characters. Players are encouraged to interact and even interrogate each other, and each round there will be information and reactions that players will be expected to share as well as a piece of 'secret' information that they can keep to themselves unless asked specifically about it. It's only in the final round that players' cards will reveal to them whether their character is guilty or innocent. Players each then summarise their account of events and make accusations about who they think is the guilty party, with the guilty character obviously trying to direct accusations elsewhere. Players then simultaneously vote (point a finger) at who they think is guilty...
We've avoided giving away any spoilers in this review or in our Board's Eye View 360. Suffice to say that all three mysteries are well designed and satisfying to play, whether as games night staples or dinner party amuse bouches. As with most Escape Room in a Box games, the mysteries in Alibi aren't replayable by the same players as, once you've played, for example, Murder on the Nile, you'll know which character is the murderer. However, with three standalone mysteries in the box, Alibi provides very good play value, and you're not destroying or damaging any of the content so you can certainly pass the game on to friends and family for them to play afresh.