Knowing how to most enjoy a board game is essential to elevating a game experience from good to great. When it comes to Mysterium, there are several ways to do this. In other words, this is how to most enjoy Mysterium.
To most enjoy Mysterium, players should set the right mood with dim lighting and creepy background music, play with people who understand it isn’t meant to be taken seriously, only play it every so often so it stays fresh, and add in more content when needed from its two expansions or other games in the same line.
What Is Mysterium?
In case Mysterium remains a mystery to you, perhaps due to not playing it yet, know that Mysterium sees players trying to solve a murder, including the ghost who was murdered! One player plays that Ghost, while the remaining players take on the roles of Psychics. The Ghost gives the Psychics surreal, painterly visions in the form of tarot-sized cards to help them solve the murder.
How To Play Mysterium?
A comprehensive guide on how to play Mysterium is available. Mysterium takes place across two phases. During Phase 1, the Ghost Player gives the Psychic Players Vision Cards that they need to interpret so they can correctly guess Suspects, Locations, and Objects that may be involved in the Ghost’s murder.
If all the Psychics do this within seven rounds, all players move on to Phase 2. In this phase, the Ghost gives the Psychics a Shared Vision, which they use to vote on the Suspect, Location, and Object group most likely to be responsible for the Ghost’s murder. If they’re successful, they win! If not, they lose…
And that’s how you play Mysterium.
How To Most Enjoy Mysterium
There are several steps you’ll want to take to most enjoy Mysterium, and you can take these steps regardless if you’re a first-time Mysterium player or a veteran. The first of these involves setting the right mood.
Set The Right Mood
Mysterium demands to be played at specific times. Halloween, winter, and dark, stormy nights all come to mind. Mysterium can be played at any time, but it does best at times like these.
To set the mood even further, play with low or dim lighting. If you have candles, use them! Put some creepy background music on. The game even has its own dedicated ambient music.
In short, anything you can do to up the creep factor for the game, the more you’ll enjoy it.
Play With The Right People
I’d give this advice for any board game. You may do the same thing. However, it’s important for games like Mysterium because it’s easy to misunderstand them.
In other words, games like Mysterium are not to be taken seriously. I mean that. Mysterium has a serious subject matter. I mean, a person was murdered, after all! But the game that grew out of that subject matter is not meant to be taken seriously.
The gameplay is at the core of this, and there’s an element of luck to it that will cause even the most in-sync teams to struggle. This comes from the Vision Cards, which are drawn in such a way that it’s easy for a Psychic to think the wrong part of them provides the necessary clue to pick the right Suspect, Location, or Object.
But this likelihood is part of the reason Mysterium is such a joy.
Mysterium knows you’re going to make mistakes, and you should too. Go in with the mindset that no matter what happens, you’re going to enjoy it, and you’ll come away from your game of Mysterium laughing and wondering how it all went so gloriously wrong.
Or maybe it doesn’t. Maybe you and your pals pull off the victory of a lifetime, and that’s great too! Because Mysterium doesn’t just know you’re going to make mistakes. It knows you’re going to triumph as well.
Find people like you who lean into this aspect of Mysterium, and you’ll all have a blast.
Only Play It Every Now And Then
Some games should be played over and over again, with each session coming one right after the other.
Mysterium is not that type of game.
At first, have at it. Play the game as many times as you want, but after those first few plays, let Mysterium rest a while before playing it again. It’s like enjoying a good mystery. If you come back to it too soon, many of the elements that intrigued and excited you will fall flat or feel stale. But if you wait a while and let them become fresh again, you’ll rediscover why you liked them in the first place.
Add In More Content
There are two ways to get more out of Mysterium, and both have to do with adding more content.
The first is buying the expansions. Mysterium has two: Hidden Signs and Secrets & Lies. Both add more cards, and Secrets & Lies also adds Story Cards. These replace Object Cards and add a little extra challenge since it’ll be harder for the Ghost to give the Psychics Vision Cards that lead them to the right Story Card.
To be clear, I’m not recommending you go out and buy these expansions right away. Get them after you’ve played Mysterium enough that you feel like you need to freshen up the experience a bit.
There’s another way to do this too, and it lies with the games that use the same kind of surreal, painterly, and tarot-sized cards Mysterium does. The company that makes Mysterium, Libellud, makes these games, such as Detective Club and Dixit. It’s easy to take cards from one of the games and put them into the other. All you have to do is put them in card sleeves that don’t allow you to see through the back, and you’re set.
Did You Know?
(Each time you refresh the page you will get a new “Did You Know” fact!)
Did you know that Terror Below is a game inspired by the movie, Tremors? It’s not a filler game, but it’s a fun game nonetheless. Head over here to check out my review of Terror Below!
Conclusion: How To Most Enjoy Mysterium
Ultimately, everything above is my opinion. I don’t say that to discount what I’m saying, but rather I want to open up more possibilities for you. You may know of other ways or come up with other ways to most enjoy Mysterium, and I think that’s great.
In fact, I think that’s so great, I’d love to hear what they are. I’d also love to hear if you agree or disagree with my own ways to enjoy Mysterium most. Let me know in the comments below!
And, as always, keep on gaming, fellow board gamers.
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