This week we played the game Mysterium and generally, I really enjoyed this game. Two of my favorite games are Codenames and Clue, both of which I included in my top three favorite games for the “what kind of gamer am I?” survey. With this said, i’ surprised someone hasn’t recommended this game to me sooner. I think the game was a bit complicated to figure out at first. I watched a few different videos about how to play the game and still had some problems understanding how it’s played, but after the first few rounds it gets easier. I think because so much responsibility revolves around the ghost in the game, I feel like it would be easier to play with a ghost that really knew the game well, or at least wasn’t brand new, because as everyone else is figuring the game out, the ghost was too, and that was difficult.
Some of my favorite things about the game are the artwork, and the guessing interpretation.l the artwork on the cards is very beautiful and it creates a dynamic where every game is not going to turn out the same each time. I like all the different options and possibilities. I also really enjoy the theme of the game, since I’ve always been into mysteries. I felt as if we were really a part of a novel or mystery movie, and I like the immersion effect. I also enjoy guessing and trying to analyze the cards, as well as trying to think like the ghost would. Something I disliked about the game was that there wasn’t really a clear winner. Our team either beat the game, or we did not, but amongst us, there wasn’t really a winner. I don’t think there necessarily has to be, because it was still enjoyable to play, but if I’m in a competitive mood, this might not be the best game for me to play for that reason. I also disliked how some of the cards are extremely unrelated or up for too much interpretation, because it feels like you’re wasting a ton of time discussing a card that really doesn’t relate to anything, or relates to too many things to the point where you have to just take a wild guess.
I think my friend Annie from back home would really enjoy this game. Growing up, we always played Clue together, specifically the Harry Potter version and we also watched the movie Clue every Halloween. We both really enjoy mysteries and spooky feeling things, so she would enjoy that aspect of this game. However, it would be hard to play with her though because we would basically have to have a decent sized group to play with, which I guess could be another negative to this game.
As for how this game relates to leadership, I feel like the ghost is somewhat the leader because they are guiding the rest of the team. The people who are doing well and are advancing to the next levels also somewhat act as leaders because they have figured out the ghosts way of giving clues and are mostly good at interpreting them, so they can help others interpret. Because of the element of agreeing or disagreeing with other people, it could possibly create conflict between group members, which also is an important part of leadership, since we won’t always agree with leaders or teams that we work with in general. It’s important to learn how to manage this conflict in a constructive way, and to not take things too personally, because at the end of the day, it’s just a game. This game has a lot of team building elements because we need to work together and are trying to help each other through the puzzle. I feel closer to the students that I played this game with, as a result of this activity. We all either were going to win together or lose together, and even though we lost, it was still very fun. I would love the opportunity to play this game again.