Two thousand logic-puzzle cases in a box that slips into a coat pocket. That is the promise of A Carnivore Did It!, a cooperative deduction game from Italian studio Horrible Guild, and The Gaming Circus puts it among the demos you shouldn't miss at UK Games Expo this weekend. And yes, the title is exactly what it sounds like.
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See how it worksYou and detective Fox Banner are investigating crimes in the animal town of Furrow Heights, where the suspects are the likes of Panther, Shark, Bear and Iguana. Each case lays out a handful of them, every one making a statement, and your job as a table of detectives is to work out who is lying, who is telling the truth, and who is guilty. A magnifying glass and a dossier sheet set the rules for the round, and cracking the case bumps you up the difficulty ladder.
That ladder runs 20 levels deep. Easy cases give you three suspects and a single culprit; the nastier ones throw in all seven suspects, conditional statements and up to three guilty parties at once. There is a one-shot mode for a quick brain-tickler and a campaign if you want it to stretch out. Designed by Urtis Sulinskas and Daumilas Ardickas, it plays 1 to 5, suits ages eight and up, and most cases take around ten minutes.
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Set up your group for freeAt roughly 18 dollars for 2,000 cases, it is about as much puzzle as money can buy, and it plays just as happily solo. If you like the logic grids at the back of a newspaper, or you have worn out your Cluedo, this scratches the same itch without the faff. It is on shelves now, so you can rally your group and start pointing fingers this week.
Sources: Horrible Guild | The Gaming Circus | Meeple Mountain
