Mr. Jack Pocket

2010 · Post-Napoleonic

Mr. Jack Pocket

A compact deduction game set on a 3x3 grid of street cards showing the suspects. One player secretly controls the guilty party while the other controls Holmes, Watson and a dog that rotate around the grid and “look” along rows and columns. Each round players take turns choosing from four shared actions — moving a detective, rotating or swapping street cards, or drawing an alibi — with action selection changing who plays how many. At the end of the round the guilty player declares whether they are visible; the detectives win by identifying the culprit, while the guilty player wins by remaining hidden until escape.

Players
2
Playing time
15 min
Age
14+
Complexity
1.8 / 5
6.7 on Ludoyafrom $13.60Murder / MysteryDeductionHidden MovementModular BoardMap Deformation

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya
235
Plays logged
108
Players
17m 42s
Average play
94
In collections
3
On wishlists

6.7/10

from 45 Ludoya reviews

  • Mestremuten5.0

    Rating: 2/5 Production value: 2/4 Is the game in my collection/Love to have?: 1/1

    Played it 6 times

  • Mohasz6.0

    There's something about this game that just doesn't click with me. It's really unique and clever, but I always find myself being underwhelmed after playing it. I really wanted to like this one for its uniqueness and cleverness, but in the end it just didn't click. I always feel dumb while playing it. :) It'll have to go finally. Maybe I'll give the app a chance someday.

    No plays logged

  • Kevin Van Loo6.5

    Fun 3/5 · Interaction 5/5 · Appeal 3/5 · Uniqueness 4/5 · Replayability 3/5 · Accessibility 3/5

    No plays logged

Read the reviews and rate it

Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

Who takes the first action, and how does the turn order work?

On odd-numbered turns, the Investigator chooses one action, Mr. Jack chooses two of the remaining actions, then the Investigator takes the last one. On even-numbered turns, Mr. Jack takes one first, the Investigator takes two, and Mr. Jack takes the last action (p. 6).

When Mr. Jack says whether he can be seen, which suspect tiles do we turn over?

If he can be seen, turn over suspect tiles that are not in any Detective’s line of sight; if he cannot be seen, turn over those that are in a Detective’s line of sight. Walls block line of sight, and the tile’s wall must keep facing the same way when it is flipped (pp. 8–9).

Do we have to use every action, and can we rotate the same tile twice?

All actions are mandatory. A tile cannot be rotated if it has already been rotated that turn (p. 7).

Do I reveal an Alibi card when I take it?

The Investigator reveals the card and, if its character is still a suspect, clears that suspect; Mr. Jack takes the card face down and keeps it secret. Hourglasses on an Alibi card count toward Mr. Jack’s total, but an Investigator’s revealed card makes Mr. Jack lose any hourglasses on it (p. 8).

What exactly makes each player win?

The Investigator wins if only one suspect remains after an Appeal for Witnesses. Mr. Jack wins after an Appeal if he has at least six hourglasses in total from Turn tokens and Alibi cards; if both objectives are met, the rules give a special-case resolution (p. 10).

Opens Ludoya's rules assistant, which reads this game's rulebook.

Score sheets and play helpers

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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.