Marrying Mr. Darcy Review

Are you tired of the pace of modern life? Do you consider yourself a person of refined taste and talents? Would you like to return to a simpler time? Well dear friends, bring out the fine china and the cucumber sandwiches because this could be exactly the game you need right now. Based on Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Marrying Mr Darcy is a game of etiquette and self improvement for 2 to 6 players making it a fantastic change of pace for your gaming group or family game night.

“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?”

Let’s begin with a very important disclaimer: Marrying Mr. Darcy is not the kind of game to be taken too seriously. Does it strictly adhere to the spirit of Jane Austen's work? Absolutely. Will it please fans of this classic work of fiction? Indeed. And yet this is not a dry or serious game. It stays respectful to its source material whilst providing a really fun time. Playing with grandad and calling him out for stealing his sister’s bonnet only to end his days as a lonely and bitter Old Maid is a rare experience that not many games provide.

“He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman’s daughter. So far we are equal.”

The aim of Marrying Mr Darcy is a simple one. You are a bright young lady in Regency England and you have one goal in life… to marry well. As a true role-playing experience, everyone will choose one of the 8 Heroines from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ to play as. Each Heroine will be trying to make themselves appealing to the male Suitors by improving their characters and attending various events.

The objects of their affections are the 6 available Suitors (Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Wickham to name a few) who each have their own unique ideas of what makes the perfect wife. As an example, Col. Fitzwilliam will only propose to a lady with a Dowry of 3+ and a Reputation of 2+ whereas Darcy requires a Wit of 5+. To make things varied, each of the 8 Heroines have their own unique end game scoring: Elizabeth Bennet gains 15 points for marrying Mr. Darcy but only 5 if she marries Mr. Wickham whilst Lydia Bennet gains a measly 8 points by making a match with Darcy as Mr. Denny is the one to give her top points.

“I am excessively diverted.”

Gameplay is extremely quick to teach. First off, we have the Courtship Stage. This is the time where players gain points and character traits. On your turn you will Draw an Event Card, follow the instructions and that’s it.

Most of the Event cards will allow you to draw and/or play a Character card to your Heroine. These Character cards are categorised as Beauty, Wit, Friendliness and Reputation and each card has a value that adds to your total number of points obtained in this particular quality. The fifth type of Character card is Cunning and by having the most number of these cards (albeit in secret) will make you the most cunning lady at the table, ready to enter the Proposal Stage first.

The Event Cards themselves are heavily inspired by the book. From dice rolling to determine your actions at Netherfield Ball to the embarrassing scandal that comes from eloping, each one of the scenarios fits neatly into Austen's world. Again, it's all for fun and the resulting banter is well worth the cost of admission (“You are caught kissing an officer of the militia” can never be read with a straight face).

Once all the Event Cards have been played, then it's on to the Proposal Stage. During this phase of the game, all the consequences of your actions in the Courtship Stage are brought to bear. Each player adds up their Character card values and works out which of the Suitors requirements they meet. Remember, without the required number of Character cards you won’t be able to marry the Suitor of your dreams.

So let’s say you have the required character traits of several of the available Suitors. Line up all the suitors in numerical order starting with the LOWEST numbered Suitor and roll to see if he will propose (rolling a 4-6 will cause a proposal). But wait, you have now been proposed to by the lowest scoring Suitor. If that’s the case (or if he DIDN’T propose) you can choose to decline and roll for the next eligible Suitor and so on. Now this can work one of two ways, either you manage to bag a higher scoring husband or you find yourself out of favour with all the gentlemen and nobody proposes to you! If that’s the case, you have become an Old Maid. Before you despair, take courage and don’t worry as you can still score points and keep your head held high.

“My good opinion once lost is lost forever.”

Happily, we have kept a very good opinion of Marrying Mr Darcy! Now admittedly myself, my wife and our eldest daughter are fans of Jane Austen's work, but even without knowing tuppence about the book you can enjoy this cracking little game.

What impressed me most was that this is very much an indie game from a small publishing operation and yet it packs a (ladylike) punch that's as powerful as any of the bigger gaming publishers. Yes, the card quality isn’t the best but the mix of modern illustrated artwork and vintage imagery is charming enough to make that seem like a real bit of nitpicking.

We loved how simple the game was to share with newcomers and just get stuck right in without needing to explain a lot. It’s not a strategically deep game, but does it really need to be? There are many such games that will take up hours of your day at a time, but this is a quaint 30-60 minutes that will always be welcome at my table!

For a relaxed card game that is guaranteed to bring a genteel smile to your face, you can’t do much better than Marrying Mr Darcy and that is, as they say…

The End.