CHENNAI: A growing sub-genre of board games is ‘games that put a new twist on a classic formula’. For example, some games take the card-shedding mechanic of Uno to a new level while others innovate 1v1 games like chess. Today, we’re taking a look at Witness, a game that takes inspiration from a classic game — but not a board game at all.
Witness is a modern adaptation of what used to be known as the telephone game, among other things — people sit or stand in a line, and one person whispers something (a phrase or sentence) to the next. That person passes the message on till the last person in line reveals the message they received — which usually is greatly changed from the original.
In Witness, four players (you need exactly four in order to play Witness, in fact) will take the roles of the main characters from Blake & Mortimer, a classic Belgian comic series. If you aren’t familiar with it, not to worry — you’re all detectives, trying to work together to solve a mystery. The problem is that each of you is in possession of a certain bit of information, which you must communicate to your fellow players step by step. For example, in the first round, you might need to whisper what you know to Player 2 on your left; while across the table, Player 3 is doing the same to Player 4. In the next round, however, Player 2 will need to pass on what they know to Player 3, while Player 4 is doing the same to you — but, in addition to communicating what they know, they must also pass on what they were told in the previous round. It doesn’t sound difficult, but when you’re scrambling to remember strange obscure little details, it’s tricky indeed. After four rounds, everybody has to answer three questions. If everyone gets all of them right, you win.
This is one of the most hilarious games in my collection. The garbled message that gets transmitted around the table means that it only takes one misstep for everyone to build their cases on a fact that isn’t true. The groans that inevitably accompany the reveal of the answers is always funny to hear, even if you’re one of the groaning players. Also, the cases are ordered by difficulty, and they really do go up in complexity as you move on. (Some of the later ones are borderline sadistic.)
Finally, the artwork deserves a call-out of its own. It probably hit you as soon as you saw the cover — hey, doesn’t that look like Tintin? You’re not imagining things, because Blake & Mortimer and The Adventures of Tintin were illustrated by the same artists. It’s an eye-catching style, and one that’s very pleasant to look at even with the minimal components.
Witness isn’t the easiest game to find right now but, if you enjoy cooperative games with a twist or games that are at their funniest and best when things go wrong, it’s worth seeking this one out.