We love a good mystery around here – Clue, Mystery Train, Shady Pets–so when we saw the 13 Dead End Drive game we knew we had to give it a try. But with Clue being one of our top favorite games, how will this game stack up? How will it be different? And could it possibly be more fun than one of our most played games?
In this post we will cover how to play, the rules, how to win and most importantly, we’ll answer the question of if you should make room for 13 Dead End Drive on your family’s game shelf. You might also find this game under 1313 Dead End Drive (I have no idea why the name change or when it happened but it does seem to be back to the original.) Let’s get into it.
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The 13 Dead End Drive Story
A dear old rich Aunt Agatha passed away without having any surviving relative. Now her millions are will be given to just one of her 12 dearest friends. This person, or cat, will be the one whose portrait hangs on the wall. The 12 friends have gathered at the mansion to find out who will be the lucky one, but all of their bios show that they are all a little on the shady side—even the cat who is a spoiled rotten.
The mansion is filled with traps like a loose book case, a trick fireplace and a shaky chandelier. You need to stay on your toes in this house because if you’re not alive you can’t possibly inherit the fortune…
Setting Up 13 Dead End Drive
First, I will say that the set up for this game is a little long. There is a whole house to set up—with walls, fireplaces and all kinds of traps. Once the house is put together you then have to set up the cards. There are portrait cards that are shuffled and placed in the special spot above the fireplace—with Aunt Agatha’s picture to hide the others.
Next, are the character cards that you shuffle and deal out to the players. Then there are the trap cards that you shuffle and put in their spot on the game board.
Last, you place the detective mover at the start of the walkway outside of the house and the rest of the character pawns in the middle of the board on their chairs.
Playing 13 Dead End Drive
To start, you remove Aunt Agatha’s picture and place it on the coach. This reveals the first player who might inherit the fortune. Now players will look at their character cards to see which ones they have. They will keep their characters a secret.
To start, the first player will roll both dice and move two characters off the red chairs. They do not need to move their own characters. Also, no one can move a character twice until all the characters have been moved off the starting red chairs.
The goal of 13 Dead End Drive is to get your character out the front door when their portrait is at the front of the stack on the wall. You can also win by being the last player alive in the game. There is one other way to win that we’ll cover later.
So with the goals in mind, players take turns moving around the mansion, either trying to move to the door or trying to eliminate other player’s characters.
Eliminating Characters
To take a character out of the game, you need to move him to one of the trap spaces. Moves must use all of a rolled number and characters can’t move diagonally or through furniture or other characters.
Once you have moved the character onto the trap space you may either play a trap card that matches the trap, as a fireplace card if the character is standing at the fireplace, or if you don’t have a card fro that trap, you may draw a card. If that card matches the trap, or is wild, you may use the trap and eliminate that character.
When this happens, remove the character from the house and his portrait from the wall if he is the one at the front. The player with that character puts his card face up on the table.
There is one more rule about the traps and cards. If you have moved one of your own characters onto a trap and have drawn a card that matches, you may fib and say that it doesn’t match. You then keep this card in your hand to use on a future turn.
As well, if you draw a trap card that doesn’t match the trap you’re on, then you add it to your hand. You may use this card for when you’re on that trap’s space.
Detective Card
Mixed I with the trap cards are the detective cards. When you draw one of these cards, you put it in the discard pile and move the detective one space on the walkway. If the detective reaches the front door before either the top character leaves the mansion or there is only one character left, then the character whose picture is on the wall is the winner.
Secret Passages
There are spots on the board that are secret passages. To use these spots, move a character onto the space and then to another secret passage spot somewhere else in the house. This counts as a move and must be counted in your roll. For example if you roll a three and you move the doctor onto a secret passage that counts as one, then the move to the next secret passage spot counts as 2 and you have one more move to move her to another space.
Rolling Doubles
When you are lucky enough to roll doubles you have more options. First, you can change the picture on the wall if you’d like. To do this, place the front picture at the back of the stack. If the new picture reveals a character that is out of the game, remove the card and place it on the side. This is repeated until you show a picture of a character that is still in play.
Now to move a character when you’ve rolled doubles you have two choices. First, you can use the roll to move two characters as on a normal turn. On the other hand, you can choose to move one character the sum of the roll. For example, if you rolled double 4s then you could move the cat and gardener each 4 spaces. Or you could choose to move the gardener the full 8 spaces.
Note About Playing
On your turn, move one character and complete the move before moving the second character. For example, if you move the best friend to the bookcase trap, either use a card or draw a card to either luck-out of eliminating her or successfully eliminating her from the game. With that character dealt with you may now move your second character.
Winning 13 Dead End Drive
There are three ways to win this game. First, you can win by getting your character out of the mansion when their picture is showing on the wall. Second, if the detective reaches the front door and your character is the portrait being shown. Third, you can win by being the last player still alive. After all, if everyone else perishes you’re the only one left to inherit Aunt Agatha’s fortune!
Two Player Game
Unlike some of the deduction games like Clue, you can play 13 Dead End Drive game with just two players. To play a two player game, you set the game up as you would before. Now when it comes to handing out the character cards there is a change. First, each player is handed two character cards that they will not look at and will place on the side as hidden characters. Now, the rest of the cards are passed out and the game is played the same. The difference is that neither of the players knows the identities of the hidden characters and you might be eliminating your own character without knowing it!
What We Like
First, we are a silly family and we love the game play of eliminating the characters. There is a certain satisfaction you get by putting a character pawn on the top of the stair case, pushing the button and watching the character go tumbling down the stairs. The variety of the ways to eliminate people is also good. And speaking of people, we love that each character has their own back story. Although is odes nothing for the game play itself, it’s a nice touch that made us laugh.
Next, we like that it has a similar feel to our favorite games like Clue but is a very different game! Even if you’re pretty sure that the person beside you has the hairdresser it changes very little of the game.
We also love that there are multiple ways to win. This keeps the game fresh and unpredictable. Just when you think you might be winning something can happen to make it look like someone else is going to win just to have something else happen that changes everything.
The fact that you can play as a two player game is great. We have played several times both ways and although it is different, the game play is the same and is just as much fun.
What We Don’t Like
First, the setup is a lot. It takes quite a bit of time and is quite a few steps. And with that, the board itself can be a raw back. Once it’s put together it’s a shame to have to take it all apart again. Also, because of its size and shape it can be hard to see and reach all the spots. Also, with that many parts, the possibility of lost parts is a possibility.
Second, although the game play is actually quite simple, at first it seems overwhelming.
Next, getting your character out the front door seems impossible as it’s a long way from any of the other places. Not only this, it becomes obvious when you try to make a run for the door. The other players see it and will move you back so it makes it hard. With that said, we have won with this method.
Last, when your characters get eliminated quickly, you are out of the game and just have to watch. This is part of any game I suppose, but as the player who this happens to more than I’d like to admit, it can get a little long to watch.
Should You Add 13 Dead End Drive to you Family Game Shelf?
The answer to this I think depends on what your game style is and if you have young children. With the constant elimination of characters, it might be hard for younger kids to play and be okay with. However, if you love a little silliness and cunningness to your games, I say defiantly add this game to your game shelf! It’s great for Halloween time as well as any other time of the year. Although it has a feel of a Clue game to start, I’d say that it really isn’t like Clue. Rather it’s a unique game.
To get your copy of 13 Dead End Drive, shop here. Canadians can get theirs here.
And for more fun games like this check out Mafia Murder, Saboteur, the card game Cheat. And since 13 Dead End Drive is a perfect fit for Halloween be sure to check out some of other Halloween games like our Big List of Halloween dice games, our Halloween game party and our Pumpkin Seed minute to win games. Be sure to visit the Family Game Shelf shop for tons of games in our Halloween section and our seasonal and original games like our Whacky Putt mini golf dice game.
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