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.
• Z-Man Games has been releasing info about Christian Marcussen's Clash of Cultures in bits and pieces – and the latest info relates directly to the game's bits and pieces, specifically the construction of cities within the game. Everyone starts with a Settlement, the round piece in the image below, and they can increase the size of their City to gain special advantages from what they add:
Academy: This will generate 2 Idea resources when built. Its construction requires the Writing advance.
Temple: This will generate 1 Mood token or 1 Culture token when built. To build a Temple, you will need the Myths advance.
Port: With a port, you may have ships, without it you cannot. You must build your port in a city that is adjacent to a Sea space and must place your port so it extends into the Sea. Building a port requires the Fishing advance.
The tricky part, however, is that a City can contain only as many pieces as the number of Cities you own. Thus, before you can enlarge your Settlement, you need to found another City, and with two Cities, each of them can have one addition – ideally fueling your expansion toward City #3 and the possibility of further additions.
• In July 2012, German site Cliquenabend posted a video of designer Uwe Rosenberg explaining (in German) the forthcoming two-player title Le Havre: Der Binnenhafen from Lookout Games. Shots of the game in a bare-bones prototype start at the 4:00 mark.