by As it happens, the detective is the most popular genre in film and literature. People love mysteries, and even more – their solutions. Probably everyone dreams of being like Sherlock Holmes, Rusty Cole. And someone, perhaps, even Lieutenant Columbo or Detective Pikachu.
Also, it is probably not very correct to mix purely text-based detectives, where the entire game is conducted in the heads of the participants, with the same “Agency TIME,” a full-fledged tabletop co-op with character pumping, movement through locations and dice checks. At the same time, the game has a pronounced detective story, which is why “Agency TIME” is here.
Text-based detectives, classic and contemporary
“Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective. Murders on the Thames and Other Investigations.” An iconic text detective set back in 1981. Working together, players try to put together a text puzzle by drawing information from book paragraphs and newspaper notes. Then they answer questions and compare their results with Sherlock’s perfect solution. A reimagined edition from Space Cowboys was released in 2017, receiving top ratings and reviews. In 2018, the game was localized by publisher Crowd Games.
The board game Detective. A game about contemporary investigation. This truly innovative detective game was invented by the famous Ignacy Trzevicek, released by Portal Games in 2018 and localized by GaGa Games that same year.
“Secrets of Arkham,” localized by Hobby World. Analogous to “Sherlock Holmes, the Consulting Detective.” The action of the game takes place in the city of Arkham, invented by H.F. Lovecraft. A stunningly atmospheric game, not as cerebral as “Sherlock Holmes”, but also providing food for thought.
“Agency TIME. An adventurous cooperative game with quests, riddles and dice checks.
“Crime Scene.” Another innovative detective game using an electronic app. Players scan QR codes in locations, character and item maps, and view panoramas of crime scenes.
Board game quests. Getting out of a locked room.
All of these games are disposable, but they’re also incredibly cheap. Some quests, such as EXIT, even if you erase the memory of all the participants, you can not go again, because during the party participants will have to write on the components, bend or cut them. You can, of course, try to save components by redrawing images or making photocopies, and then donate or even sell the passed game to someone. Gikacz has done just that a couple of times, but he doesn’t advise spoiling your fun.
“EXIT Quest. A quest in a box in the escap-room genre. To get out of a locked room, participants must solve many riddles and puzzles. Answers are accepted in the form of a sequence of symbols. After displaying the symbols on the decoder disk, players see the card number in the slot. If the answer is wrong, participants continue their search. Otherwise, they remember where they saw the specified symbol and move on to the next card.
“QuestMaster. In this series, participants must also get out of a locked room. By solving puzzles and puzzles, they try to get to the last card in the deck.
“Quest Collection” (“Unlock”). A series of quests using an electronic application. There is a limited amount of time to complete the scenario. Upon seeing a symbol, players unlock the corresponding card. These can be items, mechanisms, locations, codes, modifiers, or penalties. Penalties result in a loss of time. The program keeps track of the time, gives clues, and tallies up the final score.
