Book · Medieval

The Voynich Puzzle

1–4 players120 minages 14heavy difficulty

About the game

What is The Voynich Puzzle

The Voynich manuscript, named after the bookseller who discovered it in 1912, is an enigma that has resisted human curiosity for over 600 years. Is it an otherworldly botanical treatise? A secret code of alchemists? Or perhaps an elaborate hoax by some medieval genius Every theory falters before the abyss of its unknown author, its incomprehensible purpose, and its unreadable language. But one thing is certain: whoever delves into its pages will never see the world the same way again. Now, the manuscript has fallen into your hands. Will you be able to decipher its secrets and piece together this mysterious puzzle? The ink is dry, but the story lives on... and you are about to write its next chapter.

In The Voynich Puzzle, you will collectively try to decipher the Voynich manuscript, using your copy of the book as the main tool to do it. As the collective understanding of the manuscript grows, you will be able to gradually decipher pages on your book, improving your chances to decode it. The player with the most overall knowledge at the end of the game, will be the winner.

On your turn, you will select a double page on your book, and perform the actions on the top side of those pages(cards). Each pair of pages will allow you to interact with one of the 5 main sections of the manuscript (botany, astrology, baths, writing and recipes). Once you gain enough knowledge on an area, you will share that knowledge, adding a piece of the puzzle that the manuscript represents. All players will have access to that knowledge, helping them decipher the manuscript, which is represented by the turning and flipping of the cards in your book. Deciphering the manuscript gives you access to better actions and endgame scorings, so it should be your main focus of the game.

The game ends when the marker of any player reaches the endgame icon on the 52nd space. End the round so all players have played the same number of turns, and then all players play one more turn, before performing endgame scoring.

Specs