In may ways, every great board game is a puzzle waiting to be solved, whether it’s working out how to mechanically maximise your score in a points-heavy Euro, tactically positioning miniatures in a wargame or psychologically analysing your friends’ allegiance in a social deduction title.
This month, we’ve taken a look at a number of games that take the whole puzzle thing a bit more explicitly, featuring cases to be cracked and riddles to be solved. Unlock! and the Exit: The Game trilogy both approach the escape-the-room genre very differently, with one taking the digital route with a companion app and the other sticking with trusty pen and paper.
Meanwhile, there’s the Jack the Ripper-themed sequel to one of most famous puzzle board games of all time, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, as well as spin-off Watson & Holmes, which dials back the complexity of the mysteries but introduces a gripping race against your fellow investigators to discover clues.