And this is how it works: first, all players draw 5 cards from the draw pile and distribute them in a well-known drafting mode. Among the cards, we can find capital investments, estates and events, including a cause of death for our current husband (a prankster who thinks evil). In the next phase, the so-called investment phase, investment cards can be played. Investments are paid out as soon as the current husband dies. Apart from that new lands can be added into our active zone (placed face up under our player boards). Those cards have different effects, depending on the type and are triggered on various occasions. Events can also be played in this phase with various effects as given by the card text.

In the next phase, things get macabre, as this is the husband phase and - as already mentioned - husbands in this game have the sole task of increasing the lady's reputation and income. The sooner they are gone, the better. The best way to do this is to play a cause of death, but you can also take the somewhat messier route of strangulation. Both methods increase our infamy, which we want to keep under control, as we are not allowed to be higher certain values when marrying one of the noblemen (which is of course more popular than one of the normal workers).

Oh, that’s hard for us men, but husbands are not completely lost in the game: at least the workers can actually be promoted by their wives, which makes them more useful before they die. As already mentioned, after the death of a husband, all capital investments are paid otu, which is a good thing, because marriage costs a dowry, as indicated on the respective husband card. Of course you want new men after such a mysterious death, so marriage is another option in this phase, but of course only if you no longer have a husband at your side.

I immediately found the theme, black widows in Victorian Britain, so funny that I had to take a closer look at the game. Many phases are played simultaneously, so there is little downtime. The rules are also quickly explained and very easy to understand. Nevertheless, you can expect the game to last between 30 and 90 minutes, which sometimes makes it a little lengthy. The duration of the game mainly depends on which cards are drawn. And so you can be lucky one time and unlucky another.

In principle, the more players there are, the funnier the comments at the table become when the husbands pass away, but then again you play the marriage death phase simultaneously and so not every player gets to see how my current partner is going to pass away. That's a shame, because there are some amusing ways to do it.