LogFAQs > #961302738

69. MicroMacro: Crime City

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/318977/micromacro-crime-city

Category: Cooperative
Key mechanics: Novelty, mystery-solving, art-parsing, campaign-based
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 0
Game length: 5-20 minutes
First played: 2021
Experience: 1 play, 3 players
Previous ranks: N/A

So, this is a really fascinating game. It's more actually a piece of flat artwork than a straight-up game - you've got this massive, massive sheet of paper, illustrated with a really minutely drawn map of a city, including the activities of its residents - think Where's Waldo. The catch is that the map doesn't show the city at one point in time; instead, you can find one character walking down the street, then getting ice cream, etc.

The "game" doesn't really consist of any mechanics. It has you draw a card with a scenario on it. In our case, for example, it said something to the effect of "please locate Mrs. Fritz, who is dead in someone's front yard." It then asks you to piece together what happened to cause this situation, with a series of questions that you should follow only once you've answered the previous questions. For example, in this case, we were supposed to discern how she was killed (poison), then where she ate at that day, then who poisoned her, and why. You solve the case by basically going over the character's footsteps; shortly up the street from our hero's dead body is her a few minutes before keeling over, walking up the street to this spot.

The difficulty of the game comes from just how much stuff is going on in the city. There are hundreds of illustrated people across a truly massive map (one that you need to be very careful not to tear). Lighting is key, since the drawings are simple black lines on white paper, and you'll need to squint or stare really hard to focus your eyes on the character you want. Stepping backward in their footsteps is pretty fun and satisfying.

That said, while we were able to find basically the entire route that Mrs. Fritz took that day, we were still relatively blindsided by the conclusion of who the murderer was. We inferred a motive, but even then, it felt a little unsatisfying to be unable to solve the case when we'd figured out where she actually came from. I don't think this is particularly a sign of the failure of the game; maybe you just need to be better at mystery-solving to appreciate it. After all, another mystery-solving game will be on the list.

Hint for 68 - hope you've brushed up on muppets and fruit