Strategy game
Scotland Yard
Detectives team up to track the hidden Mr X across London
- Set-up
- About 5 min
- Reading
- Little
The quick verdict
Full verdict ↓Great for Family evenings with older children, cousins and grandparents, when the detectives argue happily over every move
Think twice if You mostly play as two: Funskool's classic box is for 3 to 6 (its Scotland Yard Deluxe has two-player rules)
How we rate it
Learning curve. Each move is simple: pay a ticket and move one stop. The challenge is keeping track of where Mr X might be. It sits around Ticket to Ride or Codenames on our scale.
Luck & skill. There are no dice. Start positions are random and the detectives sometimes have to guess, but planning and teamwork decide most games.
Interaction. The detectives plan every move together, and Mr X is reacting to all of them on every turn.
Set-up. The first time, you punch out the tickets, start cards and double-move cards and stick the decals on the pawns, which takes about 15 minutes. After that, it takes about 5 minutes to deal the tickets, draw start cards and place the pawns. Wikipedia gives 5-15 minutes.
Reading. There are station numbers and English place names on the map, and Mr X writes numbers in his logbook. Nothing else needs reading.
Learning curve: 1 = UNO or Connect 4; 3 = Catan; 5 = a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.
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Is Scotland Yard right for you?
Great if
- Family evenings with older children, cousins and grandparents, when the detectives argue happily over every move
- Children from 10 who love mysteries and maps: the game rewards thinking a few moves ahead
- Groups of 4 to 6, because everyone except Mr X is on the same team and nobody sits out
- One player who enjoys being the sneaky villain against the whole table
Skip it if
- You mostly play as two: Funskool's classic box is for 3 to 6 (its Scotland Yard Deluxe has two-player rules)
- You want a quick game: a full chase takes about an hour
- Nobody wants to play Mr X alone against everyone else; the role suits a confident player who knows the game
A place on the honours list
Good company to be in.
Recognition from beyond our table.
Spiel des Jahres, 1983 (Winner)
Selected for Games magazine's Games 100 list in 1983
How Scotland Yard plays
Set-up: one player is Mr X and takes the uncoloured pawn and the logbook. The others share the five coloured detective pawns; with three players, each detective moves two or three pawns. Each detective pawn gets 10 taxi, 8 bus and 4 Underground tickets. Mr X starts with 4 taxi, 3 bus and 3 Underground tickets, plus 5 black tickets and 2 double-move cards. Everyone draws numbered start cards. The detectives put their pawns on those stations, but Mr X keeps his a secret.
- Time to teach: about 10 minutes.
- Reading and language: The tickets and pawns have no words on them. The map's stations are numbered, London landmarks are labelled in English, and Mr X writes station numbers in his logbook. The rules leaflet is in English only. Once one person has read it, the game works fine in Hindi, Tamil or any mix of languages at the table.
how to play SCOTLAND YARD (gameplay and rules) | SPIELREGELN TV x Ravensburger · SPIELREGELN TV · Official
Choose a video · Watch right here
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A turn, step by step
- 1Hide
Mr X secretly writes his next station in the logbook and covers it with the ticket he used. The detectives see only whether he took a taxi, a bus or the Underground.
- 2Chase
Each detective pays a ticket and moves one stop along a route of the same colour. Talk it over first, because the detectives win or lose as a team.
- 3Surface
After moves 3, 8, 13, 18 and 24, Mr X must put his pawn on the board, which gives the detectives a fresh trail to follow.
- 4Win
The detectives win by landing on Mr X's station. Mr X wins if he is still free when the detectives run out of tickets.
The full explanation: how a game of Scotland Yard goes
Each round, Mr X moves first, in secret. He writes his new station number in the logbook and covers it with the ticket he used. That tells the detectives whether he took a taxi, a bus or the Underground, but not where he went. Then each detective pays a ticket and moves along a route of the same colour to the next station. Detectives hand their spent tickets to Mr X, so he never runs out.
Mr X must show where he is on the board after his 3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th and 24th moves, and those are the moments the detectives close in. In between, he can use black tickets to hide which kind of transport he took (a black ticket also lets him take a boat along the Thames) and double-move cards to slip away.
The detectives win if any of them lands on Mr X's station. Mr X wins if he is still free when the detectives run out of tickets after their 22nd move, or if they get stuck without a ticket they can use.
Tips: early on, detectives should spread out near Underground stations, and keep talking: planning together is the heart of the game. For a harder game, the leaflet's advanced rules let Mr X show himself whenever he likes and take a ticket from each detective's pile when he does. They also stop him passing through a station where a detective is standing.
What's in the box
- 1Gameboard
street map of Central London: numbered stations linked by taxi (yellow), bus (green) and Underground (red) routes, plus a boat route along the Thames - 6Pawns
5 detective pawns that you decorate with the coloured decals provided (purple, blue, red, yellow, green), and 1 plain pawn for Mr X - 125Fare tickets
punch-out: 120 regular tickets (taxi, bus and Underground; from the leaflet's share-out, 54, 43 and 23) plus 5 black tickets for Mr X - 18Start cards
numbered punch-out tokens, drawn at random for starting stations - 2Double-move cards
marked 2x, for Mr X only - 1Logbook and pad
a cover with 24 windows that sits over a paper pad; you need your own pencil - 1Rules leaflet
English, 12 pages, with strategy hints and advanced rules
Box: 40 × 27 cm. Handy to know for gifting and travel.
This list comes from two Funskool sources for item 4500100: the box back (shown in Funskool's own product image) and Funskool's rules leaflet. The leaflet also mentions coloured 'Royal Detective Bureau' marker tokens, which keep each pawn's tickets separate, and decals to stick on the pawns. There is no visor or cap for Mr X in this box. Funskool's Scotland Yard Deluxe (item 4500200) has different contents: 12 playing pieces, 29 start cards, 130 tickets, 3 double-move tickets, 12 ticket boards, a travel log, a visor and 2 Bobbies rings.
Where to buy
Paid link · We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
How to make sure you get a genuine copyEditions and the details worth checking.
What reviewers and players say
Scotland Yard has been a family favourite since it won Germany's Spiel des Jahres in 1983. Reviewers love the hide-and-seek tension. One player hides as Mr X while everyone else teams up, and the moment he surfaces gets the whole table talking. The catches: playing Mr X alone against everyone can feel stressful, the detectives can lose his trail for long stretches, and a game takes about an hour. Most reviews are of Ravensburger's editions, but Funskool's box uses the same chase.
What people love
- One against all: Mr X works alone, while the detectives plan and argue together
- The London map with taxi, bus and Underground routes, and the hide-and-seek feel of moving in secret
- Easy to learn, but it takes several games to get good at, especially as Mr X
- Real tension every time Mr X has to reveal where he is
Common complaints
- Playing Mr X against the whole table can be stressful; reviewers suggest giving the role to the most experienced player at first
- Once Mr X disappears again, his possible hiding places multiply quickly, which frustrates detectives who aren't close behind
- Some players find it slow; a game runs closer to an hour than the 45 minutes on some boxes
Based on 6 reviews and discussions
- Review Catching Mister X: A Review of Scotland Yard (Chris James, May 2014) · Casual Game Revolution
- Review Game review: detectives hunt for the infamous Mr. X in Scotland Yard (Chloe Quimby, August 2015) · Boing Boing
- Review Scotland Yard Board Game Review (reviewer 'BG', May 2015) · What's Good To Do
- Players Scotland Yard user reviews (5 player reviews, undated) · BoardGaming.com
- Award Scotland Yard, Spiel des Jahres 1983 · Spiel des Jahres
- Reference Scotland Yard (board game) · Wikipedia
Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Why consider it | This game Detectives team up to track the hidden Mr X across London | A different fit The other great family deduction game: work out who did it, where and with what | A different fit A cooperative chase-and-deduce game for younger children, from 5 | A different fit Everyone works as one team against the game, with even more planning together |
| Players | 3–6 | 2–6 | 2–4 | 2–4 |
| Best with | 4-6 | 4-6 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| Play time | 45–60 min | 45–60 min | 20 min | 45 min |
| Age | 10+ | 8+ | 5+ | 8+ |
| Rules | Medium | Easy | Easy | Medium |
| Indian edition | Available | Available | Imported | Imported |
| On this page | Explore Cluedo | Explore Outfoxed! | Explore Pandemic |
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Also worth a look (not in our catalogue yet): Scotland Yard Junior – Funskool's simpler version of the chase for children from 6.
Questions people ask about Scotland Yard
How many players can play Funskool's Scotland Yard?
From 3 to 6. One player is Mr X, and the others share the five detective pawns, so with 3 players each detective moves two or three pawns. Some Amazon.in listing titles say '2-3 players', but Funskool's product page, box and rules leaflet all say 3 to 6.
Can two people play Scotland Yard?
The classic Funskool box has no official two-player rules. Many families simply have one person play Mr X while the other moves all five detectives. If you'll often play as two, Funskool's Scotland Yard Deluxe (item 4500200) is for 2 to 6 players, following Ravensburger's newer edition.
What age is Scotland Yard suitable for?
Funskool says 10 and up. Younger children can join as detectives alongside an adult, since the detectives play as one team. For children of 6 to 9, Funskool's Scotland Yard Junior is a simpler version.
What is the difference between Scotland Yard and Scotland Yard Deluxe?
The classic box (4500100) follows the 1985 rules: 3 to 6 players aged 10+, with piles of tickets and a logbook. The Deluxe (4500200) is Funskool's version of Ravensburger's current edition: 2 to 6 players aged 8+, with ticket boards, a visor for Mr X and two 'Bobbies' (extra police helpers). The chase itself is the same.
Is Funskool's Scotland Yard the original game?
Yes. It's made in India under licence: the rules leaflet says 'Manufactured under licence by Funskool (India) Ltd', and Funskool's product page tags it as a Ravensburger game. Ravensburger first published Scotland Yard in 1983, and it won Germany's Spiel des Jahres award that year.
Game facts
- Designed by
- Werner Schlegel, Dorothy Garrels, Fritz Ifland, Manfred Burggraf, Wolfgang Scheerer, Wolf Hörmann
- Publisher
- Ravensburger (first published in Germany in 1983)
- In India
- Funskool (India) Ltd, Chennai, which makes it in India under licence
- First published
- 1983
- Players
- 3–6
- Barcode
- 8901383450012
- Language
- Little reading – The tickets and pawns have no words on them. The map's stations are numbered, London landmarks are labelled in English, and Mr X writes station numbers in his logbook. The rules leaflet is in English only. Once one person has read it, the game works fine in Hindi, Tamil or any mix of languages at the table.
- Box size and weight
- 40 × 27 cm
- Awards
- Spiel des Jahres, 1983 (Winner); Selected for Games magazine's Games 100 list in 1983
Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.
Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.
- Funskool - Scotland Yard product page (item 4500100)
- Funskool - Scotland Yard instruction sheet (revised 2022)
- Funskool - Scotland Yard Deluxe product page (item 4500200)
- Toycra - Funskool Scotland Yard Games (SKU 4500100)
- Spiel des Jahres - Scotland Yard (winner 1983)
- Scotland Yard (board game) - Wikipedia