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P.I. is a pure deduction game, with players competing in three consecutive mini-games in order to see who's got the best chops in terms of solving their cases.
Each mini-game plays out the same way. To start, you receive in secret one suspect card (out of 12), one crime card (out of 10), and one location card (out of 14); this set of information represents the case that the player to your left must solve. The game board shows fourteen locations arranged so that each location touches a few others; each location has space for a suspect and crime tile. Shuffle the suspect tiles (12, plus two "no suspect") and the crime tiles (10, plus four "no crime"), then place one face up in each location. Each suspect, crime and location is included in a deck of evidence cards, and nine evidence cards are revealed.
On a turn, a player either places an investigator, chooses an evidence card, or attempts to solve her case. When you place an investigator in a location, the player to your right looks at his case cards, then places a disc on this space for each case card he holds that matches the suspect, crime or location in this space. Additionally, he places a cube on this space for each suspect, crime or location that's adjacent to this space.
When you choose an evidence card, the player to your right places a disc on the matching tile if the card matches one of the case cards he holds, places a cube on the matching tile if this tile is adjacent to a tile matching one of the case cards he holds, or places nothing if you've made a wild-eyed guess and the tile isn't adjacent to anything.
To attempt to solve the case, you place a black token on your guesses. If wrong, you're penalized two points and continue play next turn. If right, you receive 7, 5, 3 or 1 points depending on how many others have solved their cases in earlier rounds.
The mini-game ends once everyone has solved their case or only one case remains unsolved. All used investigators are removed from play, then the board and cards are reset for the next mini-case. Each player has only five investigators total, so use them wisely!
Whoever has the most points after three mini-cases wins.
- Fun
- Light
- Engaging deduction
- Well-designed for its type
- Deduction game, mystery solving
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deduction — Players try to figure out their crime/mystery by asking questions of other players who have information.
- Information sharing — Each player knows information about the player to their right but not their own crime, leading to a questioning dynamic.
- Scoring based on speed — Players score based on the order in which they solve their mystery.
- Set Collection — Players need to figure out three pieces of information (location, crime, suspect) from a list.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Mustache is a game where you are every round playing on a different team trying to earn the most tricks.
- The game ends at exactly the right amount of time
- It was a true delight.
- So, I am pre-ordering. I am on the tempo train. and I really really was impressed.
- I was like, how did this little Martin Wallace gem slip by?
- Um, but it's a really good challenging game.
- Puzzle hunt is um just the the best. It's a treat.
- Puzzle Hunt, 10 out of 10.
- Puzzle Hunt is by far the best part of BGG for me, the most memorable part, and the most fun.
References (from this video)
- Thematic interest in boxing over fantasy duels.
- Clever design element of face injury cards.
- Female characters are depicted as strong.
- Difficulty in achieving a sports simulation feel in a card game.
- Potential design ceiling for a pure boxing theme.
- Combat Sports
- Boxing
- Punch-Out
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card game — The game is identified as a card game attempting a boxing theme.
- Sports Simulation — The challenge of creating a sports simulation feel within a card game is discussed.
- Unique Mechanics — The game is noted for doing 'some unique things'.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a lot more game going on than River Valley Glassworks.
- It definitely felt more complex.
- instead of Venn diagram, it's flowcharts.
- tremendously well-done set of streamlining for a lot of Zombicide things that have come out before.
- the mechanism of the water where the pirates when they go I'm sorry the zombies when they go into the water how you can't target them cuz they sink to the bottom and they're like crawling towards you.
- That theme is very, very popular. I mean, like it is incredibly strong that IP.
- My fear, I'll tell you this honestly, I don't know. ... Because they might explode.
- homeschooling extraordinaire kind of thing, you know, teach music, use it as a toy, use it as a learning instrument.
- There's one update in this project and it's to plug a different thing they're running. ... A tarot deck from Vivid. That's the only update.
- advertised by a lady wearing what looks like a giant diaper.
- They will 100% I mean, again, we know this for a fact. They will not let you put a piece of luggage with a battery on the plane.
- It's just a really fun game for me, so it is my pick of the week, Things on Strings.
- This one right here is great. It's done a lot of things. I think first of all, they got rid of the noise, which I think is great.
- this is the Zombicide that will replace all the others for me. Like I really, really enjoyed it.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Hey everybody, Tom Vasel here and we are going to the opening day of a board convention here in the Philippines and this is the first day.
- So, the game buying area is finished.
- Here's one of these from Table Toys, one of the Spiel des Jahres nominees.
- And here's the big stage where this morning's They'll have a presentation this morning.
- This is the view from the stage. You can see kind of the whole thing. They're expecting 20,000 guests, at least 10,000, 15,000. It's going to be a packed thing.
- The energy here is pretty high.
- The ultimate play for fun, board card game.
- I just think it's kind of neat, you know, you have all this and then you can just go outside and see sort of a jungle-esque nature here.
- It's 9:30, the convention really opens at 10:00.
- We did our bingo game, our Metro Bingo, which was a lot of fun.
- The line is almost all the way out the door.
- But this is not bad for the convention for people to buy this many games.
- Well, that was a long day.
- I had a good first day. A great time, a lot of people.
- I saw tons of games being played and bought. It was a really great time.
- Thank you everybody for joining me. We'll come back to you for more. There's still three more days of the convention to go.