''Deception'' (board game)

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Designer(s)	Tobey Ho
Illustrator(s)	Tommy Ng, Ari Wong
Publisher(s)	Grey Fox games (2015)
Players	4-12
Setup time	5 minutes
Playing time	20 minutes
Random chance	Low
Skill(s) required	Deduction, logic

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a board game for 4 to 12 players designed by Tobey Ho and published by Grey Fox games in 2015.^[1][2] Set as a detective investigation scene, in Deception players find themselves in a scenario of intrigue and murder, deduction and deception^[3].^[4] Players take on the roles of investigators attempting to solve a murder case but one of the investigator is actually the killer. There are different roles randomly assigned at the start of play. While the Investigators attempt to deduce the truth, the murderer's team must deceive and mislead.^[5]

The game was originally released via Kickstarter, raising over $65000.^[6] Deception received positive reviews, and was awarded with the Dice Tower Seal of Excellence^[7]

Gameplay

In Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, players receive first their secret roles: Forensic Scientist, Witness, Investigator, Murderer, and Accomplice. Everyone then closes their eyes except for the forensic scientist, who instructs the murderer to open his eyes. The murderer does so, revealing himself to the scientist, and he points to one of the five murder weapons in front of them and one of their five pieces of evidence.^[8]

The Scientist has the solution but can express the clues only using special scene tiles while the investigators (and the murderer) attempt to interpret the evidence.^[9] In order to succeed, the investigators must deduce the truth from the clues of the Forensic Scientist. The Murderer and his Accomplice try to secretly mislead the real detectives by picking the wrong weapon and clue.^[10]

Release and reception

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong was initially sold via Kickstarter, with about 1,800 backers contributing over $65,000 during the campaign.^[11] It was delivered to backers in December 2015 and then released in retail stores.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong won the Dice Tower Seal of Excellence.^[12] The website BoardGameGeek gave it the score of 7.6/10.^[13]

Expansions

The first expansion, Undercover Allies, was released in December 2017, adding three new roles to the game (Lab technician, Clever Accomplice and an Inside man). It adds also more clue cards and tokens to the game, allowing it to be played by 14 players.^[14]

See Also

• A different version of the game called CS Files was published in Asia and France.^[15]
• The Resistance (game)

References

External links

• how to play on Geek & Sundry
• on Dice Tower