by tiagoVIP

Designer: Iaggo Piffero
Playing time: 20 Min
Weight: 1.25 / 5
Publisher: Diceberry Editora
Player count: 2 (best with: 2)

COMPLEXITY: Very low
COMPONENTS: Low
DOWNTIME: Low to medium
FUN: Medium
INTERACTION: High
PLAYING TIME: Low
LUCK: Medium
REPLAY VALUE: Medium
SOLITAIRE: Very low
THEMATIC: Very low

Comments: Sudokiller is an abstract strategy game about deduction. The ideia is that one player will play the roll of the killer and the other of the detective. The killer wants to kill at least one victim and not be caught. The investigator wants to prevent all murders (not likely) and must find the killer before the all the sudoku boxes are filled with number (or X when a box can't no longer be filled). Game ends when the detective tries to catch the killer, saying the number chosen by the killer player to be the assassin and the victim: if the detective is correct, he wins! Otherwise, the killer wins! There are two more end game conditions: if the board if full, and no murder was commited (never really going to happen), the detective wins; or if a muder was commited, the killer wins, as the detective took to long to find him.

Sudokiller works well, considering the components are just a set of rules, a pad of paper and a pencil - even in its small box there is a lot of empty space! The rules are nearly nothing: the killer secretly writes down two numbers between 1 and 6, one for themself and one for their preferred victim. A muder happens when the number of the killer is added after the number of the victim in the same box, provided that the killer's number wasn't placed by the dective.

Both players take turns placing a number on one of the six fields on one of the six empty "crime scenes" boxes. On his turn, the detective, after the placement of the 18th number, can ask a question if a murder has been committed in one or more crime scenes (boxes). The killer must answer the truth if he placed the killer number in a crime scene where the victim number was already present, otherwise they answer no. The detective can ask this kind of question three times in the course of the game. If a murder did happened, the only option for the detective is to try to catch the muder: it must name the correctly the number of the killer and the victim.

It was more than odd that we quickly realized that it was way, way easier to find the killer's number than that of the victim. It doesn't really makes thematic sense, to be aware of who is killing, but also have the demand to find the victim: maybe it is a pre-crime thing? Or a set up to catch the murder in the act? I'm sure that it the detective had to find the killer and the murder weapon, would be more reasonable. Well, it really doesn't matter, as Sudokiller doesn't truly care about flavor or thematic sense - is an abstract through and through.

While Sudokiller isn't a long game, I have often felt the downtime, as the detective side is the only one trying to deduce, with the killer side being in charge of deceit and buying time. Which often lead to turns in which the detective player spent several minutes thinking about the possibilities, making some notes, extrapolating what was happening, why the killer placed X or Y number in a given box. Is nothing particularly deep, still, it takes some time to ponder. We found that we would gain a LOT of time by not only placing a number in a box, but also writing a small D for detective and K for killer, and a smaller number to give the placement order for the bigger number. This also helped prevent errors in the notes or information given.

Overall, Sudokiller was fine. I do enjoy deduction games, yet I much rather those coming dripping in theme, such as SHCD, Chronicles of Crime, Detective: A Modern Crime, and others; thus the abstract nature of Sudokiller is a bit of a put off. Furthermore, competitive 2p games aren't my jam: I find the head to head less fun and more stressful than I usually want in my playing time; but Sudokiller do carries a more relaxed mood, which I appreciated. In the end, although Sudokiller isn't a fit for my tastes, it did worked as intended, with a fine amount of room for deception, for the killer player, and enough to think about for the detective, with a lean set of rules and a tiny footprint.

Att,


image credit: brunomeira

Source: View source