An Expansion for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Game
Ellery Queen, as the joint pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, is cool. The magazine? The countless collections? These guys are top notch, legendary–an undeniably major influence on not just the Shamus Game, but the whole mystery genre. But Ellery Queen, their erudite, educated amateur sleuth, star of print, television, radio, film, etc.? Meh. Not my cup of meat. And not a P.I.! (Sorry, Roger).
And so I was going to leave Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Game out of my list of private eye-themed games, despite the very private eye-looking illustration on the box lid (is that supposed to be Bogart in a trenchcoat and fedora over there to the right?). Until… I discovered an extension pack featuring one of my all-time favourite private eyes: Dan Fortune. Yep, the extension pack promised “Four Dan Fortune Mysteries for 1-6 Players,” written by someone named Debbie Christian. The idea, whether you’re playing the master game (designed by Darwin Bromley and Laird A. Brownlee) or this private eye offshoot is the same: you’re a detective trying to crack a case, accumulating clues by visiting various locations on a map The main game comes with a full-colour board (a map of New York City), clue cards, tokens, files and all the usual stuff, but the expansion pack seems to be mostly black & white print-outs, offering more Fortune-centric play.
FROM THE BACK COVER
Play Dan Fortune, the one armed detective featured in the novels and stories of Michael Collins. He is a master at solving cases in which no foul play is obvious. Enjoy this exciting supplement to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Game.
Uncover Hidden Evidence in these four challenging mysteries:
Would Dan Fortune turn down a beautiful women’s request for help? In A Shot in the Dark, the detective assists a lady in distress.
Have the police arrested the wrong man? When there is A Death in the Greenhouse, the master detective must prove that the suspect is innocence.
When Dan Fortune vacations in Bromlee Station, three college students ask the sleuth to find their missing roommate. Are these young men overreacting, or is their friend The Missing Physicist?
Can working late at the office be fatal? Perhaps so, in The Embezzler’s Revenge.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
All that permits to remember Dennis Lynds and his work must be saluted!
Roger Martin, from France.
Amen.