Scotland Yard

One of the more interesting family boardgames on the market is Scotland Yard, published by Ravensburger Games.  In the game, one player takes the role of Mr. X, an elusive criminal, while the other players take the roles of Scotland Yard detectives.  The game is played on a large overhead map of London, with game spaces linked by the modes of transport necessary to reach them - taxis, buses, subways, and boats.  Each player is given a limited number of tickets for each of these conveyances, and the players must cooperate to trap and capture Mr. X before he can escape justice.

The twist in this game is that Mr. X doesn't put his marker on the map, instead recording his moves on a notepad supplied with the game.  After his third move, and after every fifth one thereafter, he is forced to reveal himself on the gameboard, otherwise the only clues the detectives are given are the type of transportation used.  Comparing this information with the layout of the board, and their last known location of the villain, detectives must close the net around the fugitive.

The game inspires creative thinking on both sides of the table.  Mr. X must figure out how to escape ever-tightening police nets without giving away his position more than he has to, and inspectors must utilize probability and logic to predict his movements and location on the board.  The notepad ensures that at the end of each game, everyone's kept honest; Mr. X's movements can be easily reconstructed to verify that the game was a fair one.  Scotland Yard definitely appeals to the intellectual problem-solver types, but is reasonably easy to pick up for all members of the family.