Mysterium Kids is a Ghostly Good Time
If there’s one thing I like - it’s a good junior version of a board game. Many of our very favorite family games are kids versions of famous adult board games. So when I saw that the creators of the wonderful Mysterium had released Mysterium Kids: Captain Echo’s Treasure - I was very excited to try it with the kids.
And it makes me very happy to report that Mysterium Kids is a very huge success in our family. Both our 10-year-old and our 6-year-old (especially our 6-year-old) wanted to play this several times in a row. I can’t stress enough how much they really love it. I think the first night we opened it we must have played at least 5 times in a row. And the very next day my 6-year-old asked to play with me again. As many games as we own and as much as we enjoy playing them - all of that excitement for repetition is still a rarity. And that made Mysterium Kids a very easy choice for our Game of the Month.
I think the reason that junior versions of board games work so well is that, for the most part, only really popular games get this treatment. That means that the concept and theme of the original game are good, and it all only needs to be simplified for young kids to play too. It’s generally a very good recipe for a great family game, and, judging by my kids’ enthusiastic response, Mysterium Kids is one of the best yet.
The original Mysterium is a very creative and exciting cooperative board game with an amazing supernatural theme. In the original, one player plays as a ghost and tries to give clues to help everyone else solve their murder. We’ve played it with our son before, but it is certainly a bit complex and it involves a bit of setup and rule explaining as well. It’s recommended for ages 10+ (and I’m kind of surprised it isn’t 12+), while Mysterium Kids has a rating of just 6+.
In this junior version, there has been no murder. The story involves an old mansion on the outskirts of town where a lost treasure is rumored to be hidden. You and your friends decide to spend the night there - and the ghost of Captain Echo is there to help you find where the treasure is hidden.
In sharp contrast to the original, I could probably explain to a new player how to play Mysterium Kids in about 30 seconds. In fact, you could simply start playing and the new player will definitely know how to play by the time it’s their turn to be the ghost.
How to Play Mysterium Kids
Like the original Mysterium, Mysterium Kids is a cooperative game with asymmetrical roles. One player once again will play as a ghost, but it will change every single round so that everyone gets a chance. And instead of solving a murder, the ghost is helping everyone discover treasure hidden in the haunted house. But the only way the ghost can communicate is through the included haunted tambourine.
There are 5 rooms in the haunted manor, and each round you will place 1 of 78 different sound cards into each room. It might be a drum, it might be a cat scratching the drapes, it might be the dripping of a faucet - there are dozens of possibilities. By randomly flipping over tokens numbered 1-5, the ghost will be told where the treasure is hidden, and they must attempt to make the sound in that room using only the tambourine - and lead the treasure hunters to the correct room.
The ghost can use the tambourine any way they’d like. They can scratch on it, bang on it, tap on it - anything to help their teammates guess the correct sound. Before and after making your sound, you’re supposed to let out a good “boooo!” to let everyone know when you’re beginning and when you’re finished (and when to close and open their eyes as well). And, at that point, everyone must vote on the room they think the treasure is in.
If they choose the correct room, everyone earns a treasure chest. You get to flip over a treasure chest and add the number of stars on the back to your total. Some treasures are only complete if you get both pieces of the treasures - and they award you an extra star. At the end of the game, you add up the stars you’ve earned and compare it to the chart in the rule book to see how you all did.
The game is played over the course of 6 rounds, and that’s why it says you can play with up to 6 people - so everyone gets to be the ghost at least once during a game, and sometimes two or three times. There is also the option to make the game more difficult by adding extra treasures, and requiring players to make two different sounds in the same round.
Why We Enjoy Mysterium Kids So Much
When our kids fall in love with a game, it’s always interesting for me to try and figure out why. We had a very fun family game night with Mysterium Kids. All 4 of us were playing, we were all having fun, the fire was on, and I think there may have been hot chocolate involved too. But I don’t think the good atmosphere is entirely responsible for all of the love this time. And it’s certainly not just because of the great spooky theme either.
The game itself is a creative concept, and unlike anything else we have in our board game collection. There is very fun role-playing taking place, where you are pretending to be a ghost controlling a haunted tambourine, and the kids love playing that role a lot. And the challenge of making the sound of an egg cracking using only a tambourine is a very interesting and engaging task - even for us adults. It’s very rewarding when everyone figures out what noise you intended.
Cooperative games have always worked really well in our house. And there’s nothing better than cooperative family games that genuinely interest the entire family and make everyone feel involved. And the fact that every round someone takes the center stage and gets to be the ghost is perhaps the biggest secret to why my kids love this game so much.
In traditional cooperative games, it’s very possible to feel left out of the decision making and to feel like you’re playing less of a role. But in a game with asymmetrical roles like this one, even the youngest member of your party will be guaranteed to feel like they are on true equal footing. And it certainly helps that the task the ghost must perform is a creative one that is equally accessible to both young children and adults.
The reason I write about books and games on Dad Suggests is to talk about our family’s favorite things, and to help others find books and games that their families might love too. And it’s always a real pleasure when a game comes along that elicits such passion from the kiddos. It genuinely makes me very happy how much my 6-year-old loves this game, and I hope others out there find as much joy in it as she does.
Have you played Mysterium before? What about the new Mysterium Kids? Let us know what you think in the comments!
