Looting London

by Robinson Gamestore

Product Features

• 2-5 players
• ages 8 and up
• 20 minutes

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B001TH8LD6
• Item model number: 1172
• Manufacturer recommended age: 10 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,195 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Product Description

London has been looted! Five of its rarest treasures have been stolen on the same night: one of the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London, gold reserves from the Bank of England, top secret files from Big Ben, a priceless Incan artifact from the British Museum, and a Picasso from the National Gallery. You are a famous London sleuth in Looting London! Game Contents: * 72 Witness Cards * 25 Evidence Tiles * 5 Loot Disks * 1 Rules Booklet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Looting London is a card set collecting game with a pasted on theme, October 24, 2009

By 

Christopher K. Halbower "Christopher Halbower" (Muskegon, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Looting London (Toy)

Reiner Knizia, famed game designer, has created Looting London, a game where players interview witnesses to solve five robberies. Looting London is published by Gryphon Games as one of their yearly bookshelf games. The game comes in a small, very compact and convienent box, making storage (a la a bookshelf) very easy.

Players take turns drawing cards from either the draw pile (face down) or from four random cards that are available face up. Before drawing a card, players may play a meld.

A meld is a set of cards all matching the same witness. There are four witnesses, each from a archetypal British motif: the London bobby, the waif, the organ grinder and the society dame. To play a meld, you must have enough cards in your set to claim the evidence tile.

The evidence tiles have one of the four witnesses on it and have a number from 2 to 6. This number represents the amount of cards in your set that is required to claim the evidence tile. It also represents the amount of points you gain if the crime is solved. Players may eliminate an evidence tile to claim the evidence tile immediately behind it.

When all the evidence tiles of a crime is claimed, that crime is solved. When four of the 5 crimes are solved, the game ends. Players score points based on the evidence tiles they garnered from the solved crimes but do not gain any points from the evidence tiles from the single unsolved crime. If a crime is solved, the player with the majority of evidence claims a bonus tile which awards him extra points. The winner is the person with the most points.

Looting London is fast. You can play in 30 minutes. It's easy to teach even to nongamers. There is an element of strategy because you have to decide which evidence tiles to claim and which to destroy.

Unfortunately, the theme of the game feels pasted on. There is no real mystery to solve, no real deduction. It's really just a set collection card game like Traders of Carthage or R-Eco. The theme is so weak that I am reducing my rating to 2**. People who don't mind the theme's weakness would probably be more forgiving and give this a 3*** rating. It's a good, quick filler game. I wish the theme was stronger.