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Mystery Rummy Case #2: Murders in the Rue Morgue
From the Publisher...
The second in our series of Mystery Rummy card games, Murders in the Rue Morgue takes
players deep into the mind of Edgar Allan Poe and a world of mystery and intrigue. This
innovative card game challenges players to build a case against a group of suspects, but
there is no telling who, if anyone, will solve the case!
 Read
more information at the Board Game Geek website
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Interview...
A little over a year ago I purchased Mystery Rummy 1: Jack
the Ripper, a card game designed by Mike Fitzgerald. My wife
and I really enjoyed the game. In fact, it wasn't long before we
bought all three of the Mystery Rummy titles. The
themes, along with the interesting new twists in the cards and
rules, make the ever-popular game of rummy all the more enjoyable.
Hoping to share these fine games with more of our customers, I
planned on highlighting them as our Featured Games. I asked Mr.
Fitzgerald if he'd grant us an interview to go along with his
featured games here at Fair Play. I was very pleased when he
agreed. Here's what he had to say about game design and, more
specifically, his work with the Mystery Rummy games.
Mike Petty: To start off, how did you first break into the
game industry as a game designer?
Mike Fitzgerald: I was at the 1994 Toy Fair and the head of US
Games asked me if I knew someone who could make a game like Magic:
The Gathering. I had a Magic deck with me that he
saw. I said, "I could," and the result was my first
game-Wyvern. I had tested and fooled around at games
before that but was not serious about it until Wyvern.
MP: Speaking of US Games Systems, I see they are producing a
game of yours called Dragon Hunt. Is that game related
to Wyvern?
MF: Dragon Hunt is a two-player stand alone card game
based on Wyvern. I dropped the Treasures and the "reaction"
cards to make it simpler. It is a good introduction to Wyvern.
Wyvern is still played in certain spots around the
world, like Australia for some reason. I still play a lot of
sealed deck and booster draft Wyvern. The game is
excellent in those formats.
MP: My wife and I have really enjoyed your Mystery Rummy
games. Could you tell us a little about how those were developed?
For one thing, I've always wondered if you started with mechanics
or a theme.
MF: I played Rummy all the time as a kid and always loved it. As
I got older I wondered if I could put a little more strategy and
a theme onto the base mechanic so I could enjoy playing Rummy at
a new level with my gamer friends. I always start with a theme
and build mechanics around it. I knew mysteries would work since
you are collecting information to solve a mystery, like making
collections of cards in rummy.
MP: So, I assume that you meet with a regular gaming group.
Do you use them to playtest your latest designs?
MF: I have two main playgroups-one in Connecticut and one in New
York City based at Neutral Ground ( a gaming club for Magic
etc.). I playtest my designs with the target age groups, so
lately I have been using my daughters classmates for many of my
games. For my strategic games like Mystery Rummy I do
use both groups. I also do a lot of two-player gaming as that is
my favorite form of gaming. As far as what we play, we play the
latest German hits like Puerto Rico (great two-player by
the way).
MP: Which is your favorite of the three Mystery Rummy
games?
MF: Jack the Ripper is my favorite. It is my favorite
two-player game period. I worked on it for three years before
publishing. I believe it is a real gamer's game with lots of
skill opportunities within a rummy format.
MP: Do you have any other Mystery Rummy games in the
works?
MF: Mystery Rummy 4 is Al Capone and comes out early
next year. Five is almost done-I cannot divulge the theme yet.
The plan is to keep going as long as they sell well and I can
offer new and interesting ideas in each one. The Al Capone game
borrows from Canasta for some mechanics.
MP: There are many similar mechanics in the Mystery
Rummy games and in Wyatt Earp. How did that one end
up being themed so differently?
MF: I was working on a Mystery Rummy for the wild west
when I realized it was really not suited for the Mystery
Rummy series. Especially with the use of money etc. My good
friend Richard Borg agreed to work on it with me so it could be a
"German" type game.
MP: It's fascinating how much mileage you've gotten from the
basic rummy mechanic, yet the games are each unique in their own
ways. There must be an incredible number of versions and tweaks
before you decide on which traditional rules to keep and which
special features work well with them. You mentioned the first one
took 3 years to develop. How long on average has it taken you to
do each of the others, including Wyatt Earp?
MF: Jack the Ripper took three years to balance the
escape victory condition with the normal way of going out. It was
also the first, so I had to spend a lot of time finding mechanics
that worked well in this rummy system, like going into the
discard pile, etc.. Once I did the first one the others are much
easier, because I know a lot of what will work and not work
already. Most of the Mystery Rummy games take one year. Wyatt
Earp took a year and a half because Richard and I had to
tweak it for the German type strategy game.
MP: On a more personal note, what have you found most
satisfying in your experiences as a game designer?
MF: That's a hard question. I think it is working with Wizards of
the Coast for the last three and a half years. They have the best
R&D department anywhere and I got to work with them on
several projects. They published my Nitro TCG and my X-Men
TCG and then used my Nitro mechanic for Harry Potter.
My most satisfying accomplishment so far is Jack the Ripper.
I have a lot of designs coming in the next couple of years, so we
will see if I can get to that level again.
We'd like to thank Mr. Fitzgerald for his interview and we
look forward to what new games he has in store for us in the
upcoming months.
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