Rear Window is an odd choice for a board game, considering the main character of the film mostly sits in front of his balcony and takes pictures of his neighbours, but you know what, we’ll go with it. The setup may be strange, but considering the paranoia and suspense at the core of the film, design studio Prospero Hall has an opportunity to create a fascinating whodunnit board game based on a very excellent Alfred Hitchcock film.
The game features two screens–one for the Director and the other for the remaining players, behind which they observe the tiles and clues laid out on a game board between them. With an illustration of Hitchcock on the Director Screen, it’s implied that this board game is as interested in the structure of the movie as it is focused on the mystery at hand. According to the press release, the Director “must communicate using clues and signs (and without ever uttering a word) to help the other players figure out who the murderer is or if there was even a murder.”
This is the part that really intrigues me, as it reads as if there’s an opportunity for the players to fool themselves into thinking there’s been a murder. Careful players might be willing to dismiss clues as just neighbours being odd in their off-hours, while over-excited sleuths might be willing to jump to accusations too quickly.
Prospero Hall is a frequent collaborator of Funko Games, and has a lot of experience creating IP-driven games, such as Back to Future, Fast and Furious, and one of my personal favourite board games, Jaws. Immediately the Rear Window game shares a lot of similarities with Jaws, wherein one person plays the shark, operating in the darkness of the ocean, as the other players telegraph their moves on land and sea to collaboratively attempt to stop the shark’s murder spree.
So yeah, I’m interested! If anyone can pull off a Rear Window suspense/strategy game that pits Hitchcock against the rest of the room, it’s Prospero Hall.
Rear Window Game is scheduled to be released this summer .
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