Suspicion is a game of hidden identities and set collecting while you roam around this beautiful mansion and steal what you can find.
Designer(s): Forrest-Pruzan Creative, Prospero Hall
Artist(s): N/A
Publisher: Wonder Forge
You seem suspicious… what did you do?!? Suspicion has a very funny premise for its concept. Everybody is a jewel thief, so, what do you do? Invite them all to a party in a mansion full of jewels! This is clearly a safe idea and nothing bad will ever come from it. I’m kidding.
All the jewel thieves just managed to get invitations to the masquerade ball of a rich guy. As a player, you want to steal the most gems, discover the identities of other players and keep your own role as secret as you can!
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Gameplay Overview
This is a general overview to provide context for the review, not an in-depth how to play. Some rules may be glossed over or missing.
Suspicion is a game for two to six players. I think that this game thrive more at higher player counts as it is easier to make players confused with actions and abilities. I have mainly played Suspicion at around four to five players.
Game Flow
The game flows between player turns. There is no upkeep outside of player turns and no end of round effects that take place.
Setup
All ten potential player characters are place out on the board. They will each occupy one room along the edge of the board. A pile of gem tiles will be made on the side of the board. The number of gems available does change depending on the number of players. More players, more gems available to steal!
The invitation and action cards are shuffled in their own respective desk. Each player will then receive on invitation that should be kept secret from the other players. This will tell you who your character is! Players will also receive two action cards to put into their hands, a set of Yes/No Cards, and sheet from the deduction pad.
Player Turns
Each player turn is made up of two phases; The movement phase and then the action phase.
In the movement phase, the player with roll the character dice. The dice will determine two guests that you’ll have to move. A guest must move through a doorway into any adjacent room. The question mark on the dice is a wild symbol so you can move any one guest when that die face is showing.
Now it’s time for your character to complete an action. A player will choose one of the two action cards in their hand to play. Each card will have a top portion and a bottom portion. Both halves of the card must be completed but you can perform the action in any order. I’ll get more into the actions on the cards under concepts.
The active player then draws a new action card into their hand and gives other players time to write down any gained information onto their information sheet. Now the next player goes!
End Game
The game ends when one of the three gem tiles is completely depleted from the supply. Each player then circles who they believe their opponents to be on their deduction sheet. Players will then reveal their identities and we go to end game scoring.
There are three ways to get points in Suspicion. A player will get six points for every complete set of three gem tiles (one diamond, one ruby, and one emerald). Any remaining single gem tile is worth one point. Lastly a player will receive seven points for each other player they correctly guessed.
Concept: Player Actions
There are five potential player actions that can appear on each card.
Room Robbery. This action will show a cluster of all three gems. This will allow the player to take a jewel matching the one available in the room where their player piece is in. i.e., if your character is in a room showing an emerald and a diamond, you will take either an emerald or a diamond.
Luckily Lift. Represent by a specific gem, the action will allow the player to take the specified gem on the card even if your character is not in a room with the gem symbol!
Secret Passage. This action looks like a trap door and will allow the player to move any one guest from one room to your choice of any other room in the house. They do not have to be adjacent.
Peek at an Invitation. Depicted by a magnifying glass investigating a letter, this action will allow a player to peek at the top of the invitation deck. Once they have updated their deduction pad, the card is then placed on the bottom of the deck.
Question a Player. This action will show a specific character. The active player can ask if this character is in the player characters line of site. i.e., if their character is in the same row or column as the character on the card. The player in question will have the active player a Yes or No card to answer this question.
Who Will Like it?
Suspicion is a light hidden roles game that allows players to public gain point and secretly gain some points from other people as well. The game has a higher complexity of social deduction that a game like “Clue” but is still a fun and light party game.
What I Think
Suspicion is a very interesting game as it has some great ideas and unique art style.
What did I like?
I do love how Suspicion implemented the social deduction aspect into the game. The game incentivizes players to be crafty about hiding their identity because you don’t want to give anyone else those points. I also like how the game incentives diversity of resources, so you are forced to move around or hope other players move you.
What didn’t I like?
The limitation on stealing and movement really contradict each other. You can only steal the gems in your room, but you can only get to that room if you’re able to move. And movement is random since it’s controlled by the roll of the dice. This can really lock someone into one place if their character never gets rolled.
My Take
Suspicion is a fun light party game for those looking for a fun and slightly suspicious time. While it is a social deduction game, there is not a lot of table talk happening as most players are silently contemplating all the actions being taken. It also requires all players to pay attention to all actions because who knows when someone is revealing telling information.
Breakdown
Rulebook/Learning the Game
The Suspicion Rule book was fairly easy to read and comprehend. The layout of the rulebook is very straightforward although the action on the cards is separated away from the player turn. I do love the examples that the rules use to outline certain scenarios as it makes everything very clear. I also like that there is a hint and tips sections for players who may not be used to social deduction games.
First Play
In the first play, I acted a little more obvious than I intended too. I didn’t realize the importance of moving people into the proper positions. I wanted my character to be in the same room as at least 3 other people because that would be a little bit more confusing. But I got caught very early from a “line-of-sight” question.
Subsequent Plays
In the following plays, I started to pretend to be a different character to throw off the other people in the room. I also spent more time focusing on how to get sets of gems because that’s where I found a lot of the points are. In most of the games I played, a lot of identities were found out so the only real difference in points came down to the gems.
Rating
5/10
Suspicion is a fun deduction game but there are tricks of the trade that allow a player to figure out identities quickly. I have only played a handful of games where every player identity was not discovered. I think I would prefer to play other games in the genre before going to suspicion.
*See my rating scale Here