Friday Filler: Dying Message

Dying Message is an Oink game with a difference. Notably, it comes in a bigger box than the standard size for a title from the Japanese publisher. It is also particularly gruesome. Even bloody in its own way. Which is to say, a ‘felt’ way. Dying Message is a party game, a social deduction game with a classic theme. That is, to find out who committed a murder. The identity of the murderer—because this is a game—is determined randomly, but the role of the victim is always one of the players. In fact, the players take it in turns to be the victim, each time their killer being randomly determined. Only as the victim, a player does not start the game dead. Only dying. In classic murder mystery style, the victim gets to leave a message for anyone who finds his body. In blood. His own, of course. Only in the moment of death, he has forgotten the name of his murderer, so can only draw vaguely helpful clues that might help the authorities—as represented by the other players—identify who did the deed. At which point, the victim is dead and as his player, he can only listen in, keep his mouth closed, and try not to get too frustrated as the other players play detective and fail to detect any clues in his otherwise brilliant ‘dying message’.

Dying Message is published by Oink Games and designed to be played by between three and eight players, aged twelve and up, in roughly twenty minutes, and three modes. ‘Joint Investigation’ is the standard mode and has the players work together to solve the murder; in ‘Competitive Investigation’ the players race to be the first one to solve the murder; and in ‘Speedy Death Showdown’, the players race to create a message and be the first to die. Besides the rulebook, Dying Message consists of thirty Suspect Cards, fifty Message Cards, six Alphabet Tokens, a Judgement Card, thirty-two Score Tokens, a six-sided die, and a Dice Cover. The Suspect Card are large and each gives an illustration, the name, occupation, and description of a potential suspect. The Message Cards are double-sided and are marked with a symbol or shape or sign or line drawn in blood red. The Alphabet Tokens are marked ‘A’ to ‘F’, as is the die. They are used to indicate a Suspect Card in a lineup, whilst the die is rolled to determine the murderer and Dice Cover is used to keep its result hidden once rolled. Lastly, the Felt piece is intended to be used to enhance the theatre of the Victim’s death.

Set-up is quick and simple. The player to be the Victim draws six Suspect Cards for his cards, assigns their Alphabet Tokens, and then draws fifteen Message Cards. He rolls the die to see which of the Suspects did him in and hides the result under the Dice Cover. The Victim then has a minute to craft his message to the other players, the Detectives. Only the side of the Message Cards visible can be used, and when crafting the message, he cannot hint or point at or spell either the Suspect Card or its associated Alphabet Tokens. Otherwise, the Victim can arrange the Message Cards he uses—and he does not have to use all of them—as he wants, including covering parts of them up. Once done, the Victim essentially groans and falls dead on the table, his head resting the pool of blood (or on the felt!).

At which point, the Detectives enter the scene. They can read the details of the Suspect Cards, they can look at the Message cards in play, but cannot move them, and they can examine the Message Cards that the Victim did not use. The Detectives have three minutes to deduce who did it, at which point, they collectively point at the Suspect Card representing who they did the dirty deed. The Victim uses the ‘Judgment Card’—either its ‘Found Peace’ or the ‘Lost Hope side—to indicate whether or not they have been successful.

Once done, the next player becomes the Victim and the procedure plays out again until everyone has had a turn at being the Victim. Then each player awards points based on what he thinks was the best Dying Message using the Message Cards and which was his favourite Dying Message. The player who scores the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

The ‘Competitive Investigation’ plays out in the same fashion, but instead of the Detectives all pointing to the Suspect Card they all collectively think is the killer, they individually point to the Suspect Card they think is the killer. Scoring is more complex in this mode. No points are scored if all of the Detectives were either correct or incorrect. The Victim will score points for every Detective who correctly identifies the Suspect, whilst each Detective who is correct will score points for each Detective who was incorrect.

Lastly, in the ‘Speedy Death Showdown’, each player draws fifteen Message Cards and secretly chooses one of the Suspect Cards as his potential murderer. They then race against each other to be the first to craft a message using the Message Cards. The player to do so, takes the Felt and becomes the Victim. The other players become the Detectives. Play then proceeds as per the standard ‘Competitive Investigation’, including the scoring and winning conditions.

The heart of Dying Message is the Message Cards. Getting the most out of them and being able to craft the most effective message is the key to the game and its play. They are also where its fun lies too. Of course, sometimes a Victim will be faced with Message Cards that can easily be arranged to form a message, at other times not, and so he will be forced to do the best that he can. So, there is a luck element there, but it really is up to the Victim to do his best with what he can as after all, it is the last thing he will do. Yet even if a Victim has crafted what he thinks is a great message, there is no guarantee that the Detectives will be capable of deducing anything from it. Which leaves a lot of groaning to be done in the post-mortem as each Victim explains what he was trying to convey with his message.

Physically, Dying Message is very well produced. Everything is of a good quality and the rulebook is a quick and easy read that clearly explains the rules. The game is also easy to teach. The Felt is absurd, but fun.

With its  high number of Suspect Cards and Message Cards, Dying Message has plenty of replay value. It is a game that works better with a higher player count—especially ‘Speedy Death Showdown’—as there is more variation and more player input. At its heart, Dying Message is a classic murder-mystery, social deduction game which gets inventive by adding physical and creative elements to its play. It is clever and it is fun, and it can be enjoyed by casual, family, and veteran gamers alike.