''Orient Express'' is a

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

published by

Jumbo Jumbo (December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and then tr ...

and Just Games, released in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

. The game is based on the 1934 novel ''

Murder on the Orient Express ''Murder on the Orient Express'' is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the U ...

'' by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

. The game was designed by Jeff Smets and R. Wayne Schmittberger. The game contains 10 different murder cases, each of which can be played only once. Five new plots were released in 1987.

Development

The board game was first released in 1985 by Just Games and by Jumbo in 1986. The game has been translated into numerous languages, e.g. English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish and Danish.

Gameplay

The game is set on the train

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, w ...

, going from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. The players choose one case among the 10 possible cases. On each case a murder has been committed by one or more of the 8 suspects on the train. The suspects are handily named so that the first letter of each forms a successive list of the first eight letters of the alphabet: the actress, the baroness, the count, the diplomat, the entrepreneur, the fortuneteller, the gambler, and the heiress. It is up to the players to solve the mystery before the train reaches Istanbul and the murderer gets away. Prejudices such as gamblers aren't law-abiding, fortunetellers lie, colonels are armed with guns, etc., must be set aside. It is possible that more than one suspect is guilty. Another aspect of the solution: players must identify the motive behind the murder. Possible motives: blackmail, espionage, insanity, jealousy, money, and revenge. The players start in the middle of the train and move around in the two train wagons according to dice rolls. By moving through the train players are able to get clues about the characters by talking to the innocent crew on board or examining the rooms. The suspects can also be interrogated - they never lie but they might be telling useless information. In practice text cards represent the staff, the suspects and the rooms. An engine pawn is moved one station every time the specialized die shows a green figure. The detectives receive a telegram about one of the suspects or the victim on certain train stations. When the train stops at Istanbul each player must announce their solution of the murder. The player with the correct solution wins.

Critical reception

Awards

Awarded winner of the 1987 "Beautiful Game" by "

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, 'Game of the Year') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence an ...

". Awarded winner of the 1987 "Best Family Game" by "Årets Spel".

Reviews

*'' Jeux & Stratégie'' #45 *1985 Games 100

References

External links

Official site
* {{Hercule Poirot Board games introduced in 1985 Jumbo Games games Murder and mystery board games Roll-and-move board games Adaptations of works by Agatha Christie