75 Gnom' Street Review

Have you ever wondered how much cooler the game Clue would be if were about rival gnome gangs warring over backyard territory and searching for one another’s hidden treasure? Of course you have. And, lucky for you, it was out of left field that CMON dropped this medium-light deduction game with the best gnome miniatures you never knew you wanted.

Look how cute he is with his little brass knuckles!

The object of 75 Gnom’ Street is to figure out which space on a 3x6 grid your opponents’ treasures are located. To do this, you interrogate any gnome gangs lower than you on the turn order track. This initiative is determined by whoever plays the highest card from the identical set of eight that everyone starts the game with. And, in the very likely event of a tie, you must catapult your gnome token onto the board and whoever is closest to the chimney wins the tie. Yes, seriously. This is the rule. It’s pretty ridiculous, but at least it’s good for a few cheap laughs.

Once initiative is determined, each player in turn order will select an action token and terrain tile from the board. The action token tells you what kind of question you will ask someone (or move the cat) and the terrain tile is where you must place one of your gnomes. You can only ask questions based on where one of your gnomes is located on the board, so positioning is important. One token allows you to ask about treasure in line of sight, another about the location being within nine squares, and the third about whether the treasure is on space with a particular color of flower. The last action token allows you to move the cat, which knocks gnomes off the board when it lands on the same space. Because the last player in a round cannot interrogate anyone (they’re bottom rung, after all), this action is usually relegated to them. Turn order is usually different each round, making it unlikely that you’d be last over and over again. Although bumping someone might mess up their positioning for next round or even cost them a point at the end of the game, this cat action seems like an afterthought. It feels like some kind of cheap fix in the design of the turn order system. Couldn’t something that doesn’t feel so lame to execute have been implemented? But this is the same design whose solution for a tie breaker was to flick a token off a card.

Unfortunately, fighting rival gnomes doesn’t involve nearly as much finger snapping and dancing as West Side Story.

Despite these flaws, trying to locate that sweet gnome treasure is actually pretty fun. The deduction part of the game is light, but there’s still enough there to latch onto that makes you think about which action to take, the terrain tile to go on, and who to ask your question to. When players select a gnome card for determining initiative, there is an icon determining whether or not they are a “blabbermouth” that round, meaning they have to say their answer aloud instead of just passing the interrogator a “yes” or “no” card. This makes for a modicum of strategy as to who you ask about what. Maybe you really want to know if John’s treasure is on a white flower, but you don’t want everyone else to know too, so you ask Paul instead about line of sight and get to keep the intel to yourself. With only about six or so rounds in the game, the 45-minute timeframe is just about right for figuring out most, if not all, of the locations.

On top of the deduction, there is a gnome-sized amount of bluffing in the game. After interrogating someone, you can place a mole token on the board, which is like placing a bet that someone’s treasure is on that space. You could also choose to place a bait token, hopefully duping others into placing their mole token on top of yours to earn points at the end of the game. Though this bluffing isn’t a huge part of the game, you do get to give your opponents a little side eye every once and a while and maybe eke out some a few extra points. One or two points don't sound like much, but it could be the determining factor in who wins as endgame scores are very low. This can feel a little unsatisfying given the amount of work you did to figure out where everyone’s treasures are and position your gnome to be on right spot to place a mole token. It’s kind of like in Clue when you know the murderer, weapon, and location, but can’t get to the right room to make the accusation.

Why the gnomes buried their treasure in the same backyard is perhaps the bigger mystery.

It’s important to note that the production value on the game easily bumped it a half-star for me. I’ve already lauded how great the gnomes look, which is not surprising coming from CMON. The board is colorful and fun, though nothing special. The investigation sheets for keeping track of whose treasure is where were well thought-out. All in all, 75 Gnom’ Street is a solid addition for someone who wants a new deduction game or to force their family to break out of their Parker Brothers comfort zone. However, it’s not something that is going to leave much of an impression beyond the adorable miniatures.