Mystery Games Gift Guide for Valentine’s Day

If a cat-and-mouse chase across the dingy alleyways of Victorian London sounds like a fun date, you should grab a copy of Letters from Whitechapel.

In this deduction and bluffing board game, one player takes on the role of the infamous Jack the Ripper while the other plays an investigator determined to track him down before there are any more casualties.

The game unfolds on a blood-spattered board based on London’s Whitechapel district, filled with grisly details of Jack’s real-life victims, making it a huge hit among history and true crime aficionados. 

I first stumbled on G.T. Karber’s Murdle during the long months of the pandemic—waking up each day to solve a new murder was a special kind of excitement.

Following its success, he launched a series of books, all packed with engrossing logic puzzles, led by a cast of colorful criminals and detectives.

If you’re keen to sharpen your powers of deduction, the Murdle books are a must-have on your bookshelf. While the puzzles can be solved singly, it’s often more fun to solve them together or hold a friendly competition and see which party can solve the maximum number of cases in a given period of time.

Perhaps the winner can get a special prize—like a true love’s kiss!

If you’re in a long-distance relationship, a co-op video game can make for an exciting virtual date night.

The Past Within is a point-and-click escape room adventure like no other, created by Rusty Lake, an indie game studio specializing in atmospheric and eerie locked room adventures set in eerie, surreal worlds.

With one player stranded in the ‘past’ and the other in the ‘future’, they have to work together to solve puzzles, crack mysterious codes and uncover the mystery surrounding Albert Vanderbloom.

To play The Past Within, both players need a copy of the game and a way to communicate with each other.

Moreover, once you’re done with the first playthrough which lasts for two to three hours, you can switch places and replay the game to get the full immersive experience.    

For lovers who prefer their mysteries with a dose of sci-fi, the timey-wimey adventures in the board game T.I.M.E Stories provide hours and hours of fun.

Designed for two to four players, this cooperative game allows folks to take on the role of time travelers, exploring alternate realities and solving challenging mysteries, where every second matters.

And if you can’t solve it in time, you’ll have the restart the mission till your team gets it right. Accompanied by mesmerizing artwork, the game also has a few expansion packs for players longing to return to this world again and again.

So if you’re planning to impress your partner, a date night involving time travel will surely set a high bar.

If you’re keen to provide a more personalized and intimate mystery experience for your partner, planning a treasure hunt around your home or garden is well worth the effort.

This scavenger hunt kit comes with clue cards and colorful envelopes that will help you design an immersive experience—perhaps each clue can tie to particular memories from earlier dates or celebrate milestones in the relationship.

The final treasure could be located at the entrance of a cozy, romantic corner, lit with scented candles, a bottle of wine, and a starry backdrop! 

If you and your partner enjoy tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons or The Call of Cthulhu, you could try running a one-shot from Brindlewood Bay, a game that charmingly blends cozy murder mysteries with cosmic horror.

Unlike board games or video games, these don’t require any special equipment or software—just pen, paper, some dice, and a lot of imagination.

Brindlewood Bay in particular is very low-prep with easy rules making it perfect for those who don’t have much experience in running tabletop campaigns

 Inspired by Murder, She Wrote and H.P. Lovecraft, the game lets you play as elderly women solving murder cases that are linked to a darker, occult conspiracy that looms over the community. 

Finally, if you’re determined to create the murder mystery experience as realistically as possible, you can check out Hunt a Killer’s series of games, with Death at the Dive Bar being an easy entry point.

These games are packed with ciphers, codes, and puzzles, the game simulates the experience of poring over real-world case files, questioning suspects, checking their alibis, and deducing from the gathered evidence.

 Players feel as though they’re really Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigating shady criminals and uncovering the truth!