5-Minute Mystery

LEARN THIS GAME IN OUR HOW TO PLAY VIDEO!

Official Rules

The official rules are available here.

Enhanced Rules

This game is easier to play with some minor changes as described in our Custom Rules section.

How many players?

• Playable with 1 - 6
• Best with 2 - 4

While the number of components doesn't limit the game to 4 players, the Scene cards become harder to see with more than about 3 people crowded around them. This is why we say it is best with 4 or less (3 players searching and one using the codex).

What ages can play?

• Playable for ages 4 to Adult
• Best for ages 6 to Adult
  As long as an older or more experienced person is playing to help manage the codex and interpret the clues, very young kids can play along and really contribute by helping to find clues.

Can different skill levels or ages play together?

Yes. This is a cooperative game and even very young or inexperienced players can help find the hidden symbols on the Scene cards.

How long does it take to play?

5 - 10 minutes (with an extra 5 minutes for setup). Unlike 5 Minute Dungeon and 5 Minute Marvel where are games really are only 5 minutes using the official rules, some of the cases in 5 Minute Mystery will have a longer timer.

Will we get bored after a few games or does it have good replayability?

This game is very replayable. There are 19 different case files with different objectives. Honestly, the game could almost have worked with a single case file. You can repeat the same case file over and over because you would not get the same Scenes or Clues each time anyways. Plus, the 40 different Scenes you'll be searching are made of 20 base scenes that are all duplicated with the symbols hidden differently on each. So it's highly unlikely a player will remember the locations of the hidden symbols on the Scene cards either. Altogether, this makes for a very replayable game.

Setup/Cleanup

How much work is it?
Low.

Would kids be able to do it on their own?
As long as someone is playing that can read (some reading is required for the case cards), the rest of the game could be set up be even young kids.

Will parents have fun too...

...when playing with the kids?
Yes, this is a great game to play as a family. In fact, kids will probably find some of the hidden symbols even before their parents.

...without the kids?
Yes, this can be a challenging game for adults, especially with the Veteran and higher cases.

What skills will this game help develop?

Observation
Players will need to find different symbol types hidden in each of the scenes. Some of these are very well hidden as part of the background image and will take careful searching to find them.

Deductive Reasoning
Eliminating suspects as clues are revealed is good deductive reasoning practice. This is especially true for cases that have more than one suspect, these ones can be challening even for experienced problem solvers.

But will my kids actually have fun playing it?

Yes, this is a very fun game and fast paced. The artwork and theme are also engaging for kids.

Make the game easier for younger kids (and most parents)

Sort Suspect cards by background type before starting.
For most of the clues, it is not difficult to determine which of the suspects have them. However, the purple clues (fur, feathers, scales, or skin) can be harder to figure out because some of these features look alike for certain animals. The background of each Suspect card shows the appropriate feature to help, but that can still be hard to see in the heat of the game. Before the game starts, each player can sort their Suspect cards into piles based on these four different features to help once the game starts.

Younger kids can start with less Suspect cards
Sorting through the Suspect cards once a clue is revealed can be challenging for the youngest players. The official rules state Suspect cards should be divided evenly between all players, but it doesn't impact gameplay to give younger kids a few less cards to start. If too many of their Suspect cards are eliminated early in the game, another player can then just pass them a few they have left.

Agree on names for each symbol variation
Each of the 5 symbols hidden in the scenes has 5 possible variations. Trying to describe the symbol variation you see to the person using the codex can use up valuable time. Over time your family will likely settle on a name for each variation, but it can be helpful to go through the list and agree on a name for each from the very start. This will make the game move much more smoothly. For example, in our family, some of the custom names we have for the Circle symbol are: Circle-Ears (a bump on opposite sides of the circle), Circle-Sun (8 bumps completely surrounding the circle), or Circle-Bullseye (concentric circles like a target bullseye).

Do you use custom rules we haven't thought of? If you have found some other ways to customize the rules, please share them with us through our Contact page. We're always interested in new ways to improve gameplay.

If you like this game, we suggest these others

• 5-Minute Marvel
• 5-Minute Dungeon
• Outfoxed!

Or check out our full list of Reviews where you can sort by any of these categories

• Our Ratings
• Number of Players
• Playing Time
• Competitive vs Cooperative
• Educational Skills