Product Description

The second in our series of Mystery Rummy card games, Murders in the Rue Morgue takes players deep into the mid of Edgar Allan Poe and a world of mystery and intrigue. There's no telling who, if anyone, will prove the case! Includes a booklet of instructions. For 2-4 players, ages 10 to adult. Cards measure 2-1/2" x 3-1/2".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2332336 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Cards

Customer Reviews

Murder and mayhem and rummy!
The second installment of the Mystery Rummy series focuses on Edgar Alan Poe's classic MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. For those of you who haven't read the short story, this card game will spoil the outcome and this review is also a spoiler for the story.

The players are investigating the grissly murders of two women. It has been determined that the murderer was an orangutan. The mystery is in collecting enough evidence to prove the orangutan did it.

The game mechanics are similar to those of the first mystery rummy game, Jack the Ripper. Players try to form melds (three or more of a kind) of evidence cards. Whenever a meld is formed a card is taken from the top of the draw deck and placed under the orangutan card. This is important because at the end of the hand, whichever player went out first gets to take the cards under the orangutan and use them, if possible, to score additional points. There are a number of ways to get bonus points, as well. For example, each evidence card set has a complimentary evidence card set. These sets are of similar color (dark green and light green) to easily match them up. If a player plays complimentary evidence melds, they earn bonus points.

This is a great game to play with two people, though it's more challenging with three or four. I highly recommend this game for a quiet evening of mysterious fun!

Least satisfying of the mystery rummy games
For those unfamiliar with the Mystery Rummy games, the game is played using a special set of cards. The idea is to build melds (as in regular rummy), but game play is affected by a special set of cards that allow you to draw extra cards from the deck, score extra points, or allow you to retrieve cards from the discard pile. Each of the Mystery Rummy games uses slightly different mechanics and is based on a different mystery.

In terms of game play, Rue Morgue is the weakest of the 4 games. There are few chances for strategic interaction, as the players can do little to affect their own melds or their opponents.

Rue Morgue is also the simplest of the mystery rummy games (not that any of them are hard to grasp after a few games). Even so, Mystery Rummy 4 - Al Capone offers a similar complexity, but much better game play. Mystery Rummy 3 - Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde is slightly more complicated, but considerably more fun either than Rue Morgue or Al Capone, and is almost as good as the original Mystery Rummy 1 - Jack the Rippper. The original Mystery Rummy 1 - Jack the Ripper is the most complicated of the games, but is also the best.