Almost Innocent

• Designer: Philippe Attali
• Publisher: Kolossal Games
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 12+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Almost Innocent is a co-operative deduction game with a progressive story in which your teammates must work together across different scenarios to prove your innocence.  Each player will be responsible for the solution of another player. Turn after turn, each player asks select questions that will help not only them, but everyone else playing as well. The goal is to find out who committed the crime, with what weapon, and where before time runs out!

To start the game, choose a scenario to play and a level of difficulty (which determines how many investigation tokens you get as well as what sort of communication you’re allowed to have).  The scenario will tell you how to set up the game as far as investigation tokens and Almost Innocent tokens.  There is a board specific to the scenario that has a number of clues on it.  The scenario will also tell you how to set up the solution cards, one deck for each color/type.  Players get a sheet and a screen to hide their work.  Players each draw one solution per color and then mark down their answers on their sheet as far as Victim / Offender / Evidence / Scene /Crime go.  This combination will be the solution of the player to their left. The goal of the game is to have the table work together to correctly discover all the solutions.

On a player’s turn, the active player chooses a row or column on the board and asks one of two possible questions:

A] How many clues relate to my answer in this row/column?

B] Is my Victim/Offender/Evidence/Scene/Crime in this row/column?

When the question is asked, ALL players will give an answer, providing the answer for their player on the left.

Continue around the table with the next player posing the next question, and again each player answers them.  In the first game, you can freely ask questions, but in other scenarios, you might have a set number of each type of question to ask.

When all the questions are asked, the table checks to see if they have solved the game. The rules recommend going one category at a time, so each player starts by announcing who their offender is and the player on their right saying “yes” or “no”.  If it’s yes, the next player goes.  If it’s a “no”, an Almost Innocent token is discarded and the player makes another guess.  If all the Innocent Tokens are discarded, the game is lost.  Otherwise, all the players have given correct answers and the game is won.

There are a number of scenarios provided in the box, and as you progress through them, you’ll encounter some characters, each with a unique special ability.  Specific scenarios will include some or all of these – be sure to understand the abilities that you get in each game so that you can best use them. 

Another interesting module is the Queen – which is essentially a 2×2 blocker. At the start of the game it always starts in the center – thus blocking rows 3 and 4 as well as columns C and D.

If a player wants to ask a question in one of these rows/columns, the group loses one of their investigation tokens – so the group gets one fewer question for the game.  At the end of each turn, a die is rolled which moves the queen.

My thoughts on the game

Almost Innocent is an intriguing game that makes the players cooperate with each other to find the individual solutions.  What feels unique to me about it is that the game tasks you to do two things at once: solve your own problem as well as give the right information to your left hand neighbor so that they can figure out theirs.  You have the most control when you’re the active player, and it’s a challenging decision to figure out what is the best question to ask at that moment given your two tasks.

At the easy level of difficulty, the rules allow you to say which types of clues you think you have figured out and which you need help with.  The standard rules only allow you to say whether you think you have discovered your solution or not. The expert rules don’t allow you to say anything.  Once you move past the easy level, it is a challenge to know what is the ideal question to ask!

Unlike many cooperative games, this one doesn’t really allow the players to converse and discuss what the best plan is – even at the easy level, this sort of communication isn’t allowed.  On the bright side, it’s nearly impossible to quarterback the game as no one can suggest questions to other players.  On the downside, if everyone isn’t of similar ability, the group could be destined for failure as everyone has to get the right answer in order for the group to win.

Note taking is important here. First, you have to make sure that you always give accurate answers.  An incorrect answer at any point in the game will probably bork the game.  Second, keeping good notes might help you also solve the other boards at the same time, and if you can figure out other people’s answers – it will not only eliminate spaces in your own solution, but it also helps you know what questions you need to ask (or don’t have to ask because the solution is known).

I personally wish the board were bigger, and maybe didn’t have as much background art.  While it is definitely pretty to look at, I’d like more actual space for note taking and what not.  I found that it was just as easy to try to solve the whole board (all the players) as it was just doing my own stuff, and for now, that’s how I’m always going to approach the game.  It takes a bit longer, but it makes it so much easier for me.  I can do a lot of cross referencing; as I learn each missing piece of information, it often leads me down a cascading path where I can keep marking off other possibilities around the board.  And, of course, with each successive answer (from all players), I can use that info to confirm the deductions I’ve made.

When you get to the end of the scenario, the game isn’t quite over.  The team has to reveal the answers one at a time, and I’d recommend continuing to take notes.  As correct/incorrect answers are announced, you still might be able to eliminate spaces on your board if you don’t have full confidence in your answer.

Having played a few games, I’d make sure that everyone knows they have to be “turned on” for the whole game.  Every question is important, every answer has to be given correctly, and there really isn’t a moment when you don’t want everyone giving their full attention to the game.  Admittedly, the games are short, so 20-30 minutes is all you need to commit; but this isn’t the sort of game that anyone can succeed in if they’re constantly checking their phone or watching a college football game at the same time.  Also, unless your kid is truly a savant, the age suggestion is pretty solid here, as I think you probably need to be a middle schooler in order to process the logic puzzle presented by the game.  The game also works against kids in the sense that there isn’t any group strategy possible; your kid definitely has to be able to solve the puzzle on their own.  (I mentioned above that I can solve for all the player’s solutions myself, but I can’t transmit any of that info to anyone else – so it only helps me).

The game is infinitely replayable – even though there are scenarios, the individual player solutions are determined by drawing the solution cards.  Unlike many deduction games, each scenario is not a case with a fixed answer, rather each provides different rules or restrictions which the players have to deal with as they search for the answer.

Everything works well, but ultimately this sort of game isn’t really my jam. I’m discovering that as I play through the myriad of different puzzle/logic games this year – I find that I just don’t enjoy them as much as I used to.  Of course, everyone has different tastes, and I’d say that if you like this type of game, Almost Innocent is worth a try.  It looks great, and the different scenarios offer a lot of different obstacles to work through.  For me, I’m glad to have played it, but it’s not something I’d actively request – and that’s not just this game, but pretty much any of the group logic puzzle games.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Steph H.: Pure deduction and cooperative is a hard combo to master and this game does it incredibly well! You can replay levels easily which is great as well. I would always play if given the opportunity.

Dan B. (1 play):I like deduction games and am just about always happy to play one. I am not usually a big co-op fan, but I find I like co-op deduction games fine because for me, the main pleasure in a deduction game is figuring out the answer, not in winning per se. I played this on a relatively easy level, which was fine but probably not something I would play a lot, but I see the potential there at higher difficulty levels.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Steph H
• I like it. Dan B.
• Neutral. Dale, John P
• Not for me…