Alibis

Alibis is a thinky, co-operative word game about catching the supervillain that committed the crime. Players know two suspects who are innocent and must provide a hint for players to match suspects to, narrowing the lineup down to the correct perpetrator.

My Thoughts

• Clue giving can be very challenging when you have two very disconnected words, since there is no choice but to connect the two suspects you are dealt. I thrive on this challenge, but you may not.
• Co-operative nature of the game provides room to make mistakes. Others can remove heat when you guess incorrectly and it is still possible to deduce the perpetrator without matching suspect pairs to alibis exactly.
• Despite being co-op, there is still some competitive spirit to be the player that matches all the alibis correctly.

• Big fan of the comic book villain art and how the word cards form the mugshot board they hold. While Alibis is just a word association game at the core, this brings the theme out more.
• Alibis is best played with 4 to 6 players, but the 2 and 3 player variants are still enjoyable and don’t feel like a lesser alternative version of the game.

• As a Codenames addict, there is room on my shelf for both games (if it helps, Alibis comes in quite a small box).
• I’ll reach for Alibis over Codenames when I have more or less than 4 players. At higher player counts, everyone is actively participating equally, each giving a clue and deciphering clues on their own. At the lower player counts, Codenames requires the Duet version or one player to give clues for both teams at 3.
• Whether you are capturing the criminal every time or just be baffled by bad clues from your friends, this game is pure fun.