How to play Mystery Auction
2 to 8 players · online or one phone · about 10 minutes
Mystery Auction is an auction where you bid on a clue, not a name. You might spend $9 on "a swordsman who gets lost walking in a straight line" and it turns out to be exactly who you hoped. Or it turns out to be someone else entirely. Names and pictures stay hidden until the end.
The rules
- Everyone starts with $20 and four empty slots. The host can set teams of 2 to 6, at $5 a slot.
- One lot goes up at a time. In the classic mode you only see a clue about the character.
- Bid in whole dollars, $1 at a time or more. Online, every bid resets a short countdown and the lot sells when it runs out. On one phone, bidding goes round the table and passing drops you out of that lot.
- You always keep $1 for every other empty slot, so you can never spend everything on one lot and get stuck.
- There are only so many lots: a full team for everyone plus one spare each. When the lots left only just cover the empty slots, those slots are filled free from what's left.
- When every team is full, the names are revealed and everyone votes for the best team.
The ways to play
| Mode | What you see |
|---|---|
| Mystery (classic) | A clue that's fair but doesn't give the name away. |
| Open | The character, name and picture. Pure bidding, no guessing. |
| Troll | Sneaky lines that are technically true and point the wrong way. "Lost an arm to a fish" sounds like a joke until it's a Yonko. |
| Mixed clues | A different kind of clue on every lot: a stat line, a canon group, two traits or a story clue. |
The secret theme
If the host doesn't choose a theme, the game picks a secret one, and every lot fits it: Villains, Mentors, Dads, Moms and more. Online, each player gets one guess at the theme from four options. A right guess adds $3 to your budget, which is a lot when everyone else has the same $20.
A lot, step by step
The clue: "Promised to give a hat back to the man who lost an arm saving him." (An example written for this page.)
Dana bids $1. Eli is fairly sure it's Luffy and jumps to $6. Dana thinks that's too much for one clue and passes. Eli wins with $6 and now has $14 left and three empty slots, so he can bid up to $12 on the next lot.
At the end the names are revealed. It was Luffy. Eli's guess paid off. Dana spent her money later on a lot that turned out to be a D tier.
Tips that actually help
- Price your certainty, not the character. If you're 90% sure the clue is an S tier, bid like it is. If you're 50/50, bid half.
- Watch who's still in. Late in the game, someone with $2 left can't fight you. Don't overpay against nobody.
- Remember the free fill. If you're low on money, passing several lots isn't the end. The last empty slots still get filled.
- Guess the theme early. The extra $3 matters most before the big lots, not after.
Common questions
Who writes the clues?
They're written for the game, character by character, from the anime itself. They never name the character or describe how they look. See Who Am I? for how clues are written.
What if nobody bids?
The lot goes unsold and is gone. Unsold lots count against the spares, so the free fill comes sooner.
More guides
- How to play Role Draft
- How to play Build a Character
- How to play Perfect Anime Draft
- How to play Who Am I?
- How to play Anime Guess Who
- How to play Anime Imposter
- How to play Name Chain
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- How we rank characters
- Anime tier lists
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