One point is scored if a player gets the correct answer, having heard both the correct and false answers (a 50:50 chance). Our group did spot one glaring omission in the rules though: there is no penalty attached to incorrectly guessing an answer before the correct and false answers are revealed.

There's one thing that's sure - you will know more by the time you've finished a game of the Mystery Hour board game than you do now! The host can also score two points from each player who chooses their invented answer as the correct answer.I can’t help but feel that such a penalty or at least a roster of QI-esque general ignorance no no answers would be welcome.

I purchased a copy at my local games outlet and began wondering just how well the concept would translate to the table. As our group played, it became clear that some of the cards are very subjective in their wording (“Does mixing drinks get you drunk faster?This makes committing to answers for 3 points not as high stakes as it seems - a big payoff, but little to lose by sticking your head above the parapet. If nothing else, this would serve as the closest thing to James O’Brien himself giving you a robust dressing down live on air for ringing in with an uninformed answer which cannot be substantiated and which you refuse accept as incorrect.

While this may sound a bit petty, space is a serious consideration for avid board game enthusiasts and families who need to justify a game’s place on their shelf. Mystery Hour is no longer only available one hour a week - play with your friends and family whenever you want! Having said this, the more we played, the more we settled on the idea of James O’Brien’s Mystery Hour having all of the ingredients for a fiery Christmas Day family gaming experience. On the plus side, the game is very educational, albeit dealing in quite obscure but interesting tit bits of knowledge.

Our group of three were keen not to let these early setbacks dampen our expectations of the game, and we were subsequently pleased with the quick set up and speedy explanation of the rules. The size of the scoring board is responsible for the box size, but the excess cardboard padding could have been easily replaced with more question cards to boost the longevity of the game (more on that later). After all, they might know the answer and you, a brazen bluffer, are left red faced and eating dust. Our gaming group approached this with varying degrees of application - some were burning to get going, whereas I was keen to take my time to come up with alternative but plausible false answers, but felt under pressure from the others to start playing whilst doing so.