Playing board games is a Christmas tradition as sacred as turkey and the trimmings in some households but, thanks to the UK’s macabre preoccupation with all things true crime, this year’s sought-after titles include immersive murder mysteries aimed at armchair sleuths.
Games in the Unsolved Case Files, Cryptic Killers and Hunt a Killer series are being pitched as perfect presents for the legions of would-be detectives who regularly tune into true crime podcasts and TV dramas. Indeed, the company behind Hunt a Killer is advertising its latest game on the Drunk Women Solving Crime podcast.
Like the “escape room in a box” titles – where players work together to solve clues and puzzles – that took off during the Covid lockdowns, this new style of game is billed as immersive and requires collaboration.
In the games, players review “evidence” such as crime scene photographs and witness statements to solve the coldest of cases and, in a boon for families where it gets competitive, must work together. Close to 500,000 copies of the Unsolved Case Files series, which includes titles such as Who Killed Jane Doe?, have been sold in the US and UK combined.
Britons rediscovered board games during the Covid pandemic and – while enthusiasm for other lockdown pursuits waned as life returned to normal – are still playing, spending £288m on games in the past 12 months, according to the consumer analysts Circana. True crime falls under the “family strategy games” category, which is one of the fastest growing areas of the market, with sales up 5% over the same period.
“Our fascination with true crime has really hit the headlines in recent years,” says Rachael Simpson-Jones, the editor of Toy World Magazine. “There are so many documentaries on Netflix, podcasts and there’s even Crimecon UK which I am going to next year. In gaming, true crime is a really interesting format because it allows people to immerse themselves in something that is a hobby or passion.”
Simpson-Jones says games nights had become more popular during the cost of living crisis because it was cheaper to spend £20-£30 on a game to play with friends than to go out. “Another really nice aspect is that unlike traditional board games where you are trying to win, and it can get quite feisty, many of adult strategy games involve working collaboratively,” she added.
Goliath, the toy company behind Unsolved Case Files, says sales of its board games were up in triple digits during the pandemic. “It was a time when households reconnected through playing games,” says Chloe Burrowes, its marketing controller. “For Unsolved Case Files, this appetite isn’t slowing down. Our new releases are quickly matching or superseding sales of previous editions as the brand awareness grows.”
Maddi Tiscoe, the head of UK marketing for Moose Toys, which makes Hunt A Killer, says it has responded to the increased demand for adult games, and murder mysteries in particular. “The genre shows no sign of slowing and we have engaged with true crime and board game communities across likes of Reddit, YouTube and crime podcasts.”
Despite games being launched all the time – many linked to popular TV shows including Taskmaster, Race Across the World and The Traitors – sales data from Circana demonstrates the staying power of old favourites. Uno is this year’s top-seller, followed by Monopoly, Dobble, the Rubik’s Cube and Jenga.
