Investigate, the theme of May’s Board Game Bento, is not unknown to tabletop gamers, whether the classic mansion setting of Clue, or the psychic detectives in the seance simulator, Mysterium, or the more direct dungeon delving and looting of Dungeons & Dragons. In a way, every subscription box promises a mystery, so the Investigate themed Board Game Bento is the most sincere subscription box of them all, admitting to the opener that it is, indeed, a Schrodinger’s Cat of unknown contents—unless, of course, the user has sought spoilers on Google or unboxing videos on YouTube prior to its arrival.  On that note, if you’re a subscriber and you haven’t received your Board Game Bento this month, be aware that spoilers lie below, and proceeding would be like peeking in the Clue envelope.

If you’re not a subscriber currently, you might be asking just what is Board Game Bento?  Or, you don’t know what a subscription box is, which would probably mean that you’re not on social media or you’re muting or unfollowing everyone under the age of 35. Subscription boxes are all the rage nowadays; what’s better than a box full of goodies that you get each month, filled with different desirable items?

Board Game Bento’s tag line is “A Box of Board Games Every Month,” with the additional promise that at least $80 worth of games are in every subscription box, and a monthly charge of $50 plus shipping and handling for a single box, or $270 plus shipping and handling for a six month subscription. To the uninitiated tabletop gamer, that could sound pricey, but when you understand that the good tabletop games range from 25 bucks to 75 bucks, with the sweet spot being around $50, you can see that getting a good board game subscription box can be a no-brainer if you are a hardcore gamer.

Investigate was our first Board Game Bento, and it was extremely impressive even before we saw the contents. By chance, I saw the UPS guy coming up to our porch with a bright red armful, and my first thought was “that huge box can’t be it, can it?” Usually, I can just crack the screen door and grab most deliveries with one hand, even most other subscription boxes like Loot Crate. I don’t have enormous hands, but I don’t have Donald Trump sized hands either. Board Game Bento Investigate is a 13″x11″x6.5″ box, so I had to open the screen door most of the way, step out onto the porch, and grab it with both hands, as its smallest side couldn’t possibly be grasped one handed except by this Ukranian strongman.

Not only is the box an impressive beast, it has colorful box art, in which Monopoly, Catan, and D&D are homaged in cartoons. Inside the box are three games, two of which were popular crowdfunding projects, and the other is a game with a lot of positive word of mouth buzz and several laurel wreaths, the most recent of which is an honorable mention for the 2016 Spiel des Jahres awards. Additionally, there were two expansion sets for one of the games, and a Board Game Bento mouse pad.

The newest game in the box is Salem, which was originally available as a Kickstarter in 2015. Salem has an eye-catching design, as instead of a simple cardboard box, the container is a “faux book box,” which is a perfect container for a game that has the tagline of “A strategic card game of deception.”

Accuse and defend your fellow townsfolk as you hunt down the witches of Salem. Act fast, before conspiracy turns you against your own.

Salem is a strategic card game of deception built for 4-12 Players, and is most suited for players aged 12-93. Estimated game time is 20-35 minutes. Game comes in antique-looking fake book box.

Machine of Death: The Game of Creative Assassination was also funded on Kickstarter in March of 2013, and was shipped to its backers in early 2014. However, the game has roots in an earlier project, the 2010 Machine of Death short story anthology that had the interesting premise of being “a collection of stories about people who know how they will die,” due to the predictions of the titular “Machine of Death.” The tabletop game modifies this premise so that the players have to plan assassinations that match their target’s death prediction

…Will the prediction turn out to be literal, or will it come as a hilarious, ironic surprise? Only you can say!

Encounter over 200 different death predictions, and get equipment from over 100 unusual stores. This particular establishment only sells “things with teeth”? You can work with that.

This cooperative, hilarious, outrageous party game is recommended for anyone with a dark sense of humor. Fun, fast-talking, creative storytelling at its most morbid!

Two expansions, Webcomics Pals, and Webcomics Chums (2013), were also included, and these include extra Machine of Death game cards illustrated by webcomic artists, including Ryan North, Meredith Gran, and more.

Lastly is the much-honored Spyfall, which currently has a lot of buzz among the board game enthusiasts that subscribed to this box, as it was nominated for two Golden Geek awards, won the 2014 Best Party Game from the Dice Tower Gaming Awards, received a Major Fun! Award, and recently took a honorable mention in the announcement of this year’s Spiel des Jahres nominees.

We played Spyfall in our most recent game night, and you’ll see this week’s Game Night recap as well as a formal review of the game later on Board of Life. Suffice to say that we couldn’t have been more excited to learn this game, which we discovered has a very interesting dual dynamic: if you’re not the spy that round, you have to “find your crew” as fast as possible by tipping them off without tipping off the spy; if you’re the spy, you’re in the dark and must gather your intelligence before the rest of the group realizes who is the odd man (or woman) out.

All this and a mouse pad too:

We’ve opened a small share of subscription boxes in this household, and while Board Game Bento is a good value, monetarily speaking, that is a standard feature of subscription boxes and we’ve come to expect it; on the other hand, we have received underwhelming subscription boxes before despite their contents’ cash value, so what usually preoccupies us when we are waiting for them is whether they will pass the “intrinsic value” test—that is, ignoring the contents’ price points, will the box be packed with goodness?   I can tell you that our first Board Game Bento passed this test, as we have already had a wonderful time playing Spyfall, and I am already cogitating strategies for our future play; Salem and Machine of Death look like fun games with unique themes as well, and I have high hopes for them.

If you’re as impressed as I was by the Investigate Board Game Bento, you have until June 30th to subscribe to this month’s box, which is themed Party:

Summer time is fun time, so get ready to get loud with four games that are great for large groups of good friends. Play them on the patio after a barbecue, or inside by the AC. With a wide variety of themes and play styles, and three new games (two from 2015, one hot off the press from 2016) as well as an older game that still knows a good time, Board Game Bento’s PARTY! box is a box of fun like never before.

You can subscribe to Board Game Bento by following this link.

Here are my other subscription box reviews on NerdSpan.com.

Cross-posted on Board of Life. This review copy was provided by Board Game Bento.