Noises at Night: Review

Noises at Night: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Deduction, Hand Management, Bluffing

Player Age: 8+ 

Player Count: 2 - 4 Players

Time to Play: 10 - 20 Minutes 
Game Designer: Floyd Lu
Game Artist:  Darina Lapkovskaya

Publisher: B&B Game Studio

BGG Weight: 1.67

Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

The aim of 'Noises at Night' is to gain the most points by the end of the game. This is achieved by correctly guessing the identities of other players, or one point is awarded for every face-up symbol that matches your identity and for every card played on the same location as your character by the end of the game.

Card Anatomy:

Identities:

This will be the identity of each player. There are eight identities and each has one of four symbols that will help that player gain points.

Player Tokens:

These represent the characters in one of five locations throughout the game.

Locations:

There will be five out of ten locations used every game, where the bathroom is featured in every game. Each location has an action that will occur when a card is played on it. Some locations have a symbol near the action meaning that two cards need to be played on this location in order to activate the action.

Events:

At the end of each round, an event will be revealed. This will either result in a one time effect that occurs straight away, or an effect that will last throughout the entire next round.

Clues:

These clues will be played on every turn and will either have an action associated with the clue or will have four symbols that will help players to score at the end of the game.

Timer:

This is used to track the rounds until the game is over, as well as the number of points that can be awarded during the guessing phase of each round. The points will be equal to the current time the timer is on, for example, if the timer is at 5 o'clock if the player guesses correctly they will gain 5 points.

Player Aid:

Each of these cards are double-sided. One side helps as it the player rules and the other side will show the eight identities and the symbols associated with those identities. This comes in handy when guessing the other player identities.

Setup:

- Deal each player one identity card and a player aid.
- Place down the bathroom location and four random locations.
- Place two-player tokens on each location except for the bathroom.
- Shuffle the clue deck and deal each player four clues and one victory point.
- Set the timer at 7 o'clock for two players, 6 o'clock for three players and 5 o'clock for four players.

How to Play:

Each round consists of the clue phase and the guessing phase. The game will continue until the timer runs out.

Clue Phase:

In turn order, players will play two clues on one or more location. This can be face down or face up but the symbols and actions on the clue will only activate if the clue is played face up. Once the clues are played the location’s effect will activate. These clues will be played in an attempt to gain the most points at the end of the game, as well as help to mislead the other players on your identity.

Guessing Phase:

After the clue phase, each player starting with the first will have the opportunity to guess another players identity or pass their turn. If a player correctly guesses another players identity they will gain points equal to what is left on the round timer, and that identity is revealed. When an identity is revealed it is unable to be guessed again, although the player still remains in the game. If the guess is incorrect, the player whose character was guessed incorrectly will gain points equal to the round timer simply for being a crafty and misleading player.

Once every player has guessed or passed, the round timer will decrease by one, the first player marker will pass to the left, and an event card will be drawn and resolved.

Scoring:

Once the game is over, each players' points will be tallied by all face-up symbols on clue cards matching their identity's symbols, all the clues played on the location with that player token, and any victory points each player already has.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Child-friendly theme and art but the mechanics allow adults to find many ways to misdirect opponents and gain points through incorrect guessing.
- Replayability through different locations.

Cons:
- Turns into a take that game when all of the identities are revealed.

'Noises at Night' is a perfect family weight game. The rules allow for young players to be drawn in by the aesthetics but allows adults to mislead and analyse other player cards to try and interpret which identity they have. The main issue is that the dynamic of the game changes once every identity has been revealed and for this reason, in my opinion, the game should finish at this stage not once the round timer completed. For the hidden complexity, approachable fun and compact size of the box, Noises at Night has the makings of a great family game.

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