Page 45 - spielbox 03/21 - English

For Kids. Detective Charlie
Detectives on the Move
With parents mulling over an Exit case, following Sherlock and teaming up with other decoders, why shouldn‘t their offspring also be training their investigative, logical thinking, and code-break- ing skills? See! But there is also something for kids who don‘t like to play detective. For example, a children‘s implementation of a former “Spiel des Jahres“.
D changes as the witnesses are And I also find fault with the impres-
etective Charlie: For the kids, it‘s not Sherlock, but Charlie Holmes who has to solve six tricky cases in
the city of puzzles. Detective Charlie en- gages in classical investigative work, with questioning witnesses as her main focus. And all under time pressure, as she wants to be back at the police station for her five o‘clock tea.
The setting that Théo Rivière and Loki have come up with here is awesome. The cooperatively solved cases and charac- ters are very child-friendly. The box also doubles up as police station, and all the suspects in each case have already been called in, while the detective in- terviews eight witnesses on her way.
questioned, and their testimonies usually result in calls to the station, leading to the release of one, or sometimes several, of the suspects. Tracking, logical thinking, simple puzzle keys help to solve the case, with the little investigators matching their findings with the solution in an en- velope at the end.
Everything is highly suitable for kids, and the detectives can always rely on the witness statements, so Charlie‘s chances of investigative success are good as the children are quickly reducing suspect numbers. This visible elimination princi- ple is very popular, although elementary school children sometimes question the witnesses’ credibility.
sively designed game. Our detective has to move to the witnesses by rolling the dice, so Rivière introduces the time fac- tor into play, since two of the dice sides show a clock. The full five points are only scored if the clock doesn‘t tick too fast. But players are constantly rolling them or ending up at witnesses who have already been questioned. Loki and the author of Draftosaurus get a lot right here, but there is room for improvement. (cs)
Théo Rivière: Detective Charlie (Loki), Illustration: Piper Thibodeau; for 1 – 5 children, about 7+ years; duration: about 20 – 25 minutes; price: about 25 Euro.
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Charlies Stands a
Good Chance
By WIELAND HEROLD The state of evidence
Photo: Herold