Awkward Guests The Walton Case Fun Board Game for All Ages

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1. Cookin’ with Bobbi Jo Verified Buyer – 12 April 2024

   This game is so much fun to play. You won’t be disappointed!
   

2. Maksym Zotov Verified Buyer – 21 April 2024

   Nice game
   

3. Alex O. Verified Buyer – 23 October 2024

   I’ve only play the game once with experienced gamers so take that into account. You’ll need basic knowledge of gameplay to fully understand my review. The “logic” takes a little getting used to and required many clarifying questions from people who have experience playing “modern” board games. Maybe we overthought the game play. Getting/giving clue sometimes feels like a waste of time if you are getting a clue you’ve already had- I found that happen more often an slowed the speed of the game down. There was 1 card which a player discarded (therefore burying the clue) which was vital, she had a 50/50 chance (she didn’t get it right) to guess correctly, other players needed 4 extra turns to have the knowledge to logically deduce, and win. I like there are basically endless scenarios and I will certainly be giving the game another shot to see if I experience the same issues. I will update and report back in September, 2022.
   

4. Anonymous Verified Buyer – 29 December 2024

   Excellent game
   

5. Travis Lopez Verified Buyer – 24 February 2025

   One of my favorite classic mass-market games is definitely Clue. Murder, mystery, and a bit of deduction make for an engaging and entertaining game! That being said, even classic games can use a little updating from time to time. Allow me to introduce to you a Clue-on-steroids kind of game named Awkward Guests. How does it hold up to the OG staple? Keep reading to find out! Mr. Walton has been murdered! You have been called in to investigate and get to the bottom of this gruesome mystery. By interrogating the suspects and the household staff, searching for clues, and examining the crime scene, you must decide WHO the killer is, WHY did they commit the murder, and HOW it was done. There may or may not even be an accomplice that needs to be caught too. Put your deduction skills to the test as you work to be the first investigator to solve the case! Disclaimer: I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook in this review, but rather give a general overview of the rules and gameplay. To read the entire rulebook, check out the game at your FLGS or directly from the publisher! -L Awkward Guests is a card game of hand management, trading, and deduction in which the players are trying to be the first player to solve the murder of Mr. Walton. The game is actually pretty simple to play. To start, each player receives a hand of 6 cards and a case tracking sheet. The cards will have one or more references (case information) on them, as well as a value of 1-3 points, depending on the reliability of the information presented on the card. On your turn, you will ask for information about two different references in which you are interested. The other players will then look through their cards, and offer some or all that pertain to the chosen references in trade to the active player. The active player may then choose a player with whom to trade, giving that player any number of cards, as long as their value equals or exceeds the value of the cards received in trade. Look at your new cards, make notes on your case tracking sheet, and play continues to the next player. After all players have inquired and traded cards, players have the opportunity to solve the mystery. You must know WHO, HOW, and WHY, and possibly the identity of the ACCOMPLICE depending on case difficulty, in order to solve the mystery. If nobody is ready to solve, everyone discards their hand down to 3, and draws new cards to a hand size of 6. A new round then begins, and play continues until one player successfully solves the mystery. When you get down to it, Awkward Guests is easy to learn and play. It mostly consists of trading cards to learn information. That’s it. And that’s what makes it a great game, in my opinion. Although it feels more involved than regular Clue, the gameplay itself is very similar and that familiarity is reassuring. One thing that elevates Awkward Guests above Clue is the fact that it requires so much more strategy than original Clue. In Clue, when asking for information, you are asking 1 specific opponent for information, and they have to provide it if they have it. In Awkward Guests, you are able to ask all opponents for information, and they can offer as much or as little information as they want. It increases the amount of strategy required to play, and takes it from a simple grid movement memory game, to one that encourages deduction and compromise. Since players are trading cards, you never know who is holding what cards at any given time, and that makes it harder to pinpoint the information you may need. You can’t just memorize another player’s hand of cards, because on any given turn that hand has completely changed. Along those lines as well, you have to decide what information you are willing to trade, in hopes of receiving useful information in return. You don’t want to just trade back the same cards to the same players in an effort to stunt their investigation, because that could deter them from trading with you in the future. You have to decide when is the right time to trade, and what information you are willing to hand to your opponents, because you need to be receiving new information as well. Another brilliant thing about Awkward Guests is the amount of replayability. Each case uses a different combination of cards, and with so many cards, that means that thousands of different game decks could be generated and played as individual cases. The game design and card system boasts a possible total of 3,600 case solutions, each reached through these different card deck combinations. No matter how many times you play, it is almost guaranteed that you will never play the same case twice. That being said, the biggest downside of Awkward Guests for me is the actual game setup and teardown. Each case deck requires certain cards, so that means to set up, you have to search through all 243 cards and pull out only those required for the selected case. And then after the game, you must sort them all back into their correct order. That just takes a bit of time, and makes it a game that can’t just be played on the fly. One other downside for me when playing Awkward Guests are the player screens. Each player receives a screen to block their case tracking sheet from opponents. As you learn information, you write it on your sheet to help keep track of your notes and accusations throughout the game. The player screens are also reference sheets, providing much gameplay information to alleviate the need to reference the rulebook at every turn. The downside is that there is just SO MUCH information in the player screens. It is quite overwhelming, and honestly, makes the game seem more complicated and confusing than it really is. I appreciate the effort to provide that cheat-sheet, but it needs to be majorly edited and redacted to be truly useful. Let’s talk components. The game comes with some high quality double-sided case tracking sheets, and nice sturdy cards and cardboard components. It’s pretty simple, but really gets the job done effectively. The artwork is pretty basic and the color scheme is mostly monochromatic. It may not be the most exciting game to look at, but the lack of colors makes it feel appropriately thematic. Overall, Awkward Guests is a good step-up game from Clue. It requires strategy, deduction, and even though the game is ultimately competitive, selective cooperation is a key to success. As a huge fan of Clue as a child, I can definitely say that I am a fan of Awkward Guests as an adult. Originally printed in a different language, this game was brought to Kickstarter with an English version in 2018, and I am certainly thankful that the decision was made to reprint it in English! If you like deduction games with a twist, I would absolutely recommend giving this one a shot. Purple Phoenix Games gives Awkward Guests a mysterious 17 / 24.

   

6. Tanya McHenry Verified Buyer – 26 February 2025

   So this is a fun game that has the feel of advanced clue. It entertains a large party without completely falling into the chaos of an actual party game. It takes a bit getting used to in terms of mechanics, but the worst downside of this game is the set-up. Each game requires specific cards to play, and digging through this many cards, which are numbered easily enough but takes forever to pick through and get these cards, and then to double check you did it correctly because it’s pretty important you did it correctly.

   I do like the game a lot. So when you are in the mood for a deduction game to play with a large crowd and one that isn’t too complex after the initial, somewhat inclined, learning curve, then this is the game for you. Anyone who gets it completely wrong, as in you guess and are out of the game as the result of your not great detective skills, still had a blast and was more interested in learning their mishaps than actually losing. Everyone enjoyed it!
   

7. Bookworm mum! Verified Buyer – 15 March 2025

   As a family of four we love playing board games, many different themes. I am a fan of Murder Mystery games, so had to purchase this one. Hard to find in the UK, so glad I coukd purchase from boardgamesweekly.com.com. Easy process ro order and shipping not too long.
   The game itself is so good, can’t recommend it enough, we have only played two games so far, a beginner and very easy. Both I managed to solve, so we are going to continue to play trying out more advanced games and possibly with more players. My husband wants to use the app too, alongside the board game , so we may do this, but at the moment I am enjoying the simplicity of playing the traditional board game. Purchase this, you won’t be disappointed as lots of playability.
   

8. Anonymous Verified Buyer – 27 March 2025

   This game is so much fun! It’s like a really complex version of Clue, only so much more intricate. It normally runs about 45 minutes. My kids are 11 and 12 and it’s great for them, but I wouldn’t think it would be great for kids much younger than that. It’s a little complex. The setup is a pain, but it is SO WORTH IT! This is basically Clue for grown ups!