Posted by Alex & Wandee Steinmaier in 12 July 2021.

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The invitation to the wonderful cruise came unexpectedly and of course was accepted immediately and without much thought. But what must have been the best time of your life soon turns out to be KILLERCRUISE, because a psychopath wants to settle an outstanding bill with you and hire a killer. Your only chance is to find a psychopath in time and thus escape from the nightmare. It seems to be hiding somewhere on the lower deck.

We bought SEBASTIAN FITZEK – KILLERCRUISE ourselves.
This does not affect our rating!

A fun cruise…maybe not always

The goal of the cooperative game KILLERCRUISE is to find a psychopath in the basement. The quest is made more difficult because at the same time you must bring your characters and other passengers to safety from an unchosen killer.

At the beginning of the game, the hull of the ship is folded out of the toy box. This resulting deck initially represents the lower deck, where 12 ship spaces with letters are located.

The playing group chooses one of 24 available scenarios and places 12 hint cards in 12 rooms in the basement according to the specifications.

Now two additional levels with 12 rooms each were placed in 12 rooms in the basement. The middle deck is easily identifiable by the blue carpet, and the upper deck has a plank floor. All rooms on top of each other have the same character.

The “Killer” figure can be placed in any room. The group then chooses 3 of 4 pawns and places them anywhere in the rooms on the upper deck. The remaining fourth pawn is not required at the moment, this is the one who has disappeared in the middle deck who can be discovered and rescued during the game. In KILLERCRUISE, players jointly control the available characters.

Depending on the number of players, 4 to 6 character cards are now dealt to everyone. The rest forms a draw pile, where 8 to 12 additional killer cards are shuffled, depending on the desired difficulty. Another stack of passenger cards was laid face down. 4 cards of these, representing passengers, are drawn and distributed over the spaces of the ship indicated by letters.

The game’s endings take turns and they can use their character cards to perform at least one of the following actions.

• move pawn
• Open the ship’s rooms
• Put the key in the “Gather here the keys” area

At the end of each turn, the hand of cards is drawn to the original number. This also draws killer cards, which means he moves from room to room and does whatever gets in his way. The playable characters can withstand the blow, but they bless time with the second blow, just like the passengers. The game is lost when you finally catch five passengers or all of the game pieces, or when the passenger card pile is used up.

To avoid this, players have to move the pieces skillfully. A passenger can be accompanied with every movement. Passenger cards have printed terms and can save them. For example, by reaching a certain room when there is a certain playing piece or any two pieces.

Each character card shows who can be moved by showing the figure. In addition, the room is selected and if this corresponds to the current position of the figure, the figure can be moved as desired, otherwise only in the shown room or one position to the left or right.

In order to unlock the ship’s chambers, the number in the corresponding chamber and the two color keys printed on the chamber are required. These also appear on character cards. So shape cards can be used either for movement or as a key. If all conditions are met, the two matching key cards are deposited and the ship can be unlocked. For this purpose, the corresponding vessel space is removed at the level of the upper or middle deck. No killers or passengers allowed.

Key cards can also be deposited in the “Collect Keys Here” area and then become available to all players.

The lost figure can be found in the middle deck by opening four rooms upstairs. Notes printed on the back indicate the room in which the missing figure is located. In order to save them, one of the pawns in this room must be on the middle deck. The killer is not allowed to be there at this point. Once this condition is met, the fourth pawn can also be used. Previously, these character cards could only be used as keys.

If the rooms in the basement are unlocked, the playgroup will receive information on the whereabouts of the psychopath. Once you have collected enough clues, you can express your doubts and name the room the psychopath is staying in.

Now it comes to confrontation: any game character must be moved to this room on the lower deck, at this point the killer is not allowed to be in this room. The scenario card is now used to check if the playing deck is right. If the guess and the solution match, the playgroup wins.

In addition to the normal mode, there is also a variable with the time factor. The game works according to the normal rules, but a timer has also been set and two additional passenger cards are placed in the ship every two minutes.

luxury cruise ship

The material of the game is unusual and inspiring even when it is set up. The game chest itself becomes part of the game board. Built-in magnets ensure everything stays in place. The resulting cruise ship provides an impressive presence. Other materials make a good impression, too.

The game instructions are compact and explain the course of the game in an easy-to-understand manner. It provides some interesting and sometimes funny background information.

Tags: 2-4 people, game connoisseur, detective, 30 minutes, racing, cooperative