Hidden Games – The New Haven Case – US Murder Mystery & Detective Game

First time doing one of these games. Fun!!! A great way to spend a rainy evening without TV/media. Clues were well presented. Really liked being able to go online to get more case details - made it feel less of a game and more real. Not sure how well it would play with a lot of people. There's a lot to read and back/forth discussion of clues. TIP - Don't overlook anything. Every detail matters. Liked it so much I ordered another one immediately! Can't wait. As far as value for money, I'll be looking for sales and coupons. That said - in my opinion - any time spent away from media/notifications aka noise - is priceless to me.

This was lots of fun! Instead of playing persons of interest, the players all worked as a team of investigators. We avoided writing on the paper provided and then passed it on to others in the family! One important thing, we missed clues first time around because we used phones only. When we added a laptop we got access to bunch more clues.

Fun game, played with my teen daughter. We had a blast. For the cost, I wish the package came with at least 3-4 cases, as it’s pretty expensive for a single game in my opinion. Recommend for true crime buffs, family gatherings, & slumber parties.

This game was a ton of fun. It made great use of the internet, including social media. The props were realistic and some were helpful in solving the case. However, the storyline and the reason the murder was committed fell short. Because the reason for the murder was so farfetched, all the efforts in cracking the case felt like a waste of time.

I loved this! I am a retired police officer and my family figured I'd be good at looking at all the evidence provided. Still, it required a group effort that really brought people together. It is so interactive and creative with all kinds of media to work with, just as in real life. This was great!

Great mystery with lots of interconnected clues, some online & phone components, a couple of red herrings, and a nicely developed timeline to figure out. Unlike some mystery games, I consider this one very fair. Several potentially guilty parties, but diligent discovery and elimination will lead you to just one. Good luck!

I love these games. When the family gets together its a fun way to spend the time. We all brain storm and have fun figuring out the mystery.

The puzzle was not as straightforward as other murder mystery case files that I have gone over. It was difficult to keep track of all the suspects. I would have preferred to have witness statements and suspect interrogations in the file. Given all that, it was fun to go over this file. I am glad to add it to my collection.

Justo

We ordered the American Version of the game because of English speaking friends. +) The principle of the game is quite nice. It is different than escape games and the details were really cool. If one likes crime series this is a real highlight and highly recommended by us. +) Customer service via email is excellent. As we had issues (see below) we contacted the email given in the game and got a reply the same day! +) Nice extras like an overview map, date chart and suspect list made us nearly wanna by a Flipchart :D The suspect list with possible motives was not really needed for us. +) In theory you could copy the files and let other people play it again, however the big poster doesn't really fit in a copy machine so that would have to be done manually (which isn't a big problem - or you just buy a Flipchart :D). -) Sadly there were a few flaws with surnames when comparing the files in the folder to the interrogation records on the police server (different name: e.g. Max Clover and Max Cobbler and 5 more people). At least the first names stayed the same so we kinda figured that out. -) *little spoiler alert*: the American version contained an American mailbox number one has to call. Of course from Europe we wouldnt do that. Customer service sent us the MP3 file the same day we asked so that was not a big problem but interrupted the flow a bit. -) opinion of solution: we figured everything out except for the motive. We thought we had the proper motive (we suspected the correct person) but the motive of the solution was a bit far fetched in our opinion. Obviously more people thought that. We could have thought of a much better reason why this person killed the victim. -) feeling that police files are not complete: of course that can be planned by the makers so that the players have to figure out more, however, for authenticity it could have been handled a little bit differently. Compared to others we at least didn't have an issue with missing documents (content can be checked at the homepage). Conclusion: We will still try a second case as it was fun and can be played in a Corona friendly manner when you copy the files before playing and share it with your friends. The price might seem a bit high to some people considering it's just an envelope with paper, however, we find it fair. The love for detail and setting up all kind of other stuff outside the folder should be valued. The game play is innovative and a lot of thinking goes into creating a story like this. Moreover, the customer service is very excellent. Ideas like this should be supported and not used for private profit so that many more cases will be available in the future. We recommended this game to all of our friends.

This is the same as the BARRIDALE Case just with a new name. Very deceptive and now I have to return a Christmas present!

This was our first time playing this type of game. It took us 3 hours and it was really fun. We wanted to play this with our elderly mother, so I was concerned about the amount of technology we might need. This game promised the least amount that I could find. Still, you definitely need an internet connection and be able to navigate websites. The easiest way to play also uses your phone and Facebook, which could have been a problem since 2/3 of us don't have Facebook; however, I think you can use the internet to listen to the phone call, and it turns out we had already figured out the clues found on FB by the time we got to that portion, so it's not totally necessary. You also need the internet if you want to check/submit your answer or get hints. One other problem was that even by the very end, there never was an "AHA!" moment, where we had definitive proof of guilt of the suspect. We got to a point where we said, well, it must be this/these person(s), and this must be why, but I don't think it would have held up in court. Maybe that's how it works in real life(?), but it still felt a little dissatisfying, even though we were correct. Overall, it was super fun, and our mother had a great time, and even asked about getting more games of this type. So I'd definitely recommend this game, and we'll be looking at game #2 by this company next.

Never did finish it, I’m sure if we put our minds to it we coulda finished it! And we never had time. But if you like this stuff get it!