Name of the Game: Detective Charlie
Number of Players: 3
Recommend Ages: 7+
Reviewed By: Will Patterson (7) Sienna Patterson (11) and Elaine Graham (Adult)
Who did you play the game with?
The game was played with 1 adult and 2 children boy (7) and girl (11)
How does the game look?
I was very impressed with the quality of the game. The packaging was of a very good quality and a nice touch was that you where able to use the box (slots) to put the suspect cards in, making it easier to see and read them. Each individual case 1 – 6 also had its own individual slots and was clearly marked on the box 1 – 6 where the cards went in. The quality of the artwork on the cards and on the box is beautiful and clearly a lot of thought had went into this to achieve such a high standard for the final design. The clock was also a nice touch and the die is of a good quality and well thought out rather than a usual 1 – 6 dots they have used numbers and included the use of the clock. Each of the 6 cases provided a good variety of different locations, suspects, and clues. The clue cards and the suspect cards worked really well together and got everyone thinking, can we eliminate them as a suspect?, we found it more helpful and useful to read the clue card a few times to understand the clue rather than rush in, which worked perfectly as the first case culprit was successfully identified. However, only providing one Charlie notebook caused problems because each player wanted one, so in the interest of fairness the notebook was not used. The rule book layout was set out in such a way that that it made understanding the game very straightforward. Detective Charlie character artwork and the stand provided appealed to the children as they both liked Charlie.
How does the game play?
The setup and layout of the game is pretty straightforward. However initially, when the die landed on either the clock or clock +? we did have to refer back to the rules just to double check we were playing it correctly.
Overview & thoughts
- Sienna (11) found the game both interesting (suspects and clue cards) and exciting (clock) and it was a good family game because everyone had to work together to work out the suspect (co-operative). She also liked the fact there was multiple cases and that Charlie was a good detective! However, everyone should get a note book so they can share all their ideas on who the suspect is.
- Will (7) liked everything about the game apart from the clock he would have preferred more numbers on the die rather than the opinions provided by the clock. When it landed on the (clock) he did not like missing a turn and he also did not like (clock +?) because he sometimes selected a clue card that had already been played. Overall, they gave the game 5/5
- Elaine (adult) this clearly is a beautiful and well thought out game drawing on problem solving, literacy skills and memory recall (remembering which clue cards have been used especially when you have the option of selecting your own clue card when the die lands on the (clock +?) . However, although the game is aimed at 7+ Will (7) did get frustrated that he couldn’t read out some of the words on the card and needed help from both me and Sienna (11). Sienna (11) thought maybe the game should be aimed at the age range 9-11 for the single player option. The RRP for this game is £21.99 however, I would question the long term playability factor of this game. Once you have completed all 6 case cards you would remember who the suspects were from each case making it less appealing and highly unlikely you would play it again.
Overall, I would give this game 4/5
