After introducing Love Letter Premium last week, we have the pleasure today to release Secret Moon, another game from Seiji Kanai! Published by Kanai Factory in 2014, Secret Moon is set in the same kind of romantic atmosphere as Love Letter, and can be considered a second game in the same series. It is much less known that Love Letter, and we are happy to allow players to get to know it here on Board Game Arena, because we think it's a really nice game too!
In Secret Moon, the princess is a shy young woman who likes to read about the world beyond the castle walls. She would like to meet with the wanderer in order to listen to him telling the tale of his travels. Unfortunately, this is not considered proper for a princess, so they have to meet secretely at night in the gardens, and the minister and guards will try to prevent this encounter...
This 5 to 8 players game is a semi-cooperative game, where you'll be either in the princess team or in the minister team. Like in a "werewolf" game you won't know which team other players belong to (except the wanderer and the princess who recognize each other). But unlike a "werewolf" game, you aren't allowed to chat about the game: Secret Moon is a game of deduction and guesses, where you'll try to sneak unnoticed silently through the gardens at night! You will need to rely on a limited set of actions to try and discover who is on which side and try to match the winning condition...
If you are on the minister team, you'll try to discover both the wanderer and the princess, or to capture the princess. If you are on the princess team, you'll try to escape the minister team during three consecutive rounds, or to capture the minister! The available actions to reach your goal are:
_ Inspect: look secretely at a character card.
_ Inquire: ask "Who goes there?" to another player. This will give a clue about this player's identity through a conventional answer.
_ Accuse: guess character card and reveal it (if incorrect, reveal your own).
_ Protect: defend someone or yourself (unavailable during round 3).
_ Disrupt: force another player to pass his/her turn (in exchange, you are captured).
_ Capture: "capture" a player with a revealed character (unavailable for guards).
_ Pass: choose a discarded turn order card and take it (for the next round).
At first, it may be a little difficult to know what to do, but the game plays fast since you have just one action per round. So don't hesitate to try out things to see how it goes, then start another game! You'll quickly get familiar with the possibilities offered by each action. Here are some tips:
_ During the first round, you'll mostly need information, so Inspect and Inquire will be very useful.
_ If someone on your team is discovered and in danger, use Protect! But that may get you in trouble too...
_ On the second round, if enough info is available, you'll use Accuse to reveal players, or Pass to get first play in the third round to be able to Capture! (the Pass action is an essential part of the game!)
_ Disrupt can be powerful, but don't forget that it will get you captured.
We would like to thank Seiji Kanai for his kind authorization to create an online version of Secret Moon, and for taking the time to make a test of the game with us! Thanks a lot!
We hope that you'll enjoy discovering this new cooperative/semi-cooperative game on Board Game Arena!
