Antidote

A lab-set deduction game where you decide what everyone else must do, then drink the last card and hope it is the Antidote.

Designer: Dennis Hoyle
Published by: (Web published)
Editions by: Popcorn Games, University Games, Bellwether Games

Antidote (2013) puts you in a lab coat: a deadly toxin has infected you and everyone else in the lab, and the only way out is to find the Antidote before time runs out. On a turn you decide what all the other players must do: either discard from their hand or trade research with each other. Eventually everyone is down to a single card that they must drink and hope it is the Antidote. If it is, you live to play again, and if not, you die, but you can always try again. One card type has been removed from the game, and working out which one it is, as in Clue, is the whole deduction. Semi-cooperative, since you live or die alone, for two to seven players.

Deduce which card type is missingYou choose what the others must doDrink your last card and hope

Who it's for

You like deduction games in the spirit of Clue and want a semi-cooperative puzzle that scales from two up to seven.

Not for you if…

You dislike being knocked out mid-game or want a purely cooperative experience. You can lose alone while others win.

Vibe's take

Tense and puzzly. You trade info and cards while knowing that your final sip decides everything, and your neighbors may or may not be telling you the truth.