Detective is a cooperative game of deduction. Each of you plays an investigator with a unique ability and skill set. You must gather information, collect clues, and follow leads in order to solve a case, which is represented by a deck of cards.

At the end of the game, you will answer questions to gain victory points. You will win or lose the game based on the number of victory points earned.

Game Concepts

Teamwork

Detective is a cooperative game. All players share the Skill tokens, Stress tokens (), and Authority tokens () in a common Token pool and use a Time marker to track the passing of time when resolving all Actions. We use the word "you" to represent the entire team. You are going to examine all clues together, as a team.

Metaplot

Detective is a campaign game. The five cases in the box are connected by one overall narrative thread. While playing, you might find clues that seem unconnected to the current case. Sometimes they are dead ends; sometimes they are clues you will need to solve upcoming cases.

Don't be discouraged if you don't understand the significance of a clue when you first encounter it. Maybe that information will be crucial one day soon...

One Case, One Deck

Each case is comprised of a dedicated deck of 36 cards: 1 cover card and 35 "lead" cards. Do not browse through this deck or shuffle it! Draw the appropriate cards from it only when instructed to do so.

Read only the front side unless instructed otherwise. Once you draw a lead card, you can refer to it at any time during the campaign.

Cast a wide Net

At the start of each case, you will find a few lead cards and clues to get you started .Consider following each of these leads before deciding to investigate further down any particular path.

Following a few leads based on a variety of clues to build a wider picture of what's going on is often MUCH better than focusing on only one lead.

Notes

With five interconnected cases in the base game, taking good notes will be crucial. If you start a later case without remembering vital names and clues from earlier cases, you will have a hard time piecing everything together.

Do not hesitate to write down important names. Connect them with lines to show their relation to one another as well as to evidence , dates, places and events. In addition, we recommend creating a mind map to organize your thoughts.

Solving Cases without a Full Deck 1

Each case has many paths to completion. Due to time constraints, you will never see the whole deck or discover all of the clues. In fact, the average number of cards drawn in each case is about twenty!

After finishing the game, don't be disappointed that you didn't go through the entire deck. This is a game of deduction. Ultimately, what matters most is how you piece it all together, not how many clues you discover.

There is no "you won" Card

Detective is not a "choose your own adventure" game. There is no final paragraph that says you won and sums up the entire story; no single card that makes everything click. All of the information is scattered among many different cards. You must connect the dots to build up theories and find answers to your final questions.

Remember - no single card will win you the game. The answers for the Final Report must be deduced from the clues you have gathered during the game. You won't get far if you merely cycle through the deck, trying to draw one card after another, hoping that one last card in the chain will win you the game. It will not.

Play Testing Tip

Detective is a game night experience and solving a case can take more than three hours.

Since you will most likely play each case only once, don't ruin the experience by playing in a rush, in a bad mood, or under any other circumstances that will not help you fully enjoy the game.

Find a good quiet place, maybe put some music on in the background, relax, and become a detective!

Components

Game Board

The game board depicts all of the major Locations the investigators will visit during the game. It also features a Day track and a Time track to mark the passing of time, which is important because each case has a precise time limit in which it must be solved.

Casebook

The casebook includes game introductions and special rules for each of the five cases in the campaign. Do not open the casebook before starting the game. Play all of the cases in order and don't read the next case until you have finished the current one.

Antares Database

The Antares National Investigation Agency maintains a database of its resources at ANTARESDATABASE. COM. On this website you'll find witness reports, interrogation transcripts, additional materials dedicated to each case, and personal files of the primary characters you'll meet in the game.

5 Character Tiles

With investigators on the front and consultants on the back sides.

5 Case Decks

Don't read or even open the next case deck until you have finished the current one.

Wooden Markers

1 Time marker, 1 Investigation Team (IT) marker, 1 Day marker

Character Tokens

15 Authority, 10 Stress, 5 Used Ability tokens

5 Special Tokens

Used for various purposes (e.g. as an additional IT, Time or Day marker, as a spare, or to mark important lead cards). Unless instructed otherwise, you can use them as you see fit - be creative!

Skill Tokens

3 Research, 3 Technology, 3 Perception, 3 Questioning, and 5 Wild Skill tokens