Master Word (2020)

About this game

Are you as clever as a fox? As dogged as a bloodhound? Do you have an eagle-eye for details? Pool your team's resources together to seek out the master word! Master Word is a co-operative word-based deduction game in which players have to work together to try to find a secret word from a single starting hint. Each game, a guide selects a card, looks at the master word, then shows the other players (seekers) the starting hint. The seekers then have 90 seconds to discuss and each write a clue on a card, which they place in a row. Once this is done, the guide places a number of tokens at the end of the row equal to the number of clues that are "on the right track" toward the master word. The only catch: The seekers don't know which clues the tokens refer to! If the seekers write the master word on a solution card before the end of seven rounds, everyone wins! If they fail to do this or if they accidentally write the master word on a clue card, everyone loses!

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 3 to 6.
• Rules load. At 1.5/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 12 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.