Game summary:
A game for 1 – 4 players
Play time 60 – 90 minutes
Designer: David Cicurel, Wojciech Grajkowski
Artist: Matijos Gebreselassie, Karolina Jędrzejak, Mateusz Komada, Katarzyna Kosobucka, Aleksandra Wojtas
Publisher: Lucky Duck Games
Unboxing
This game box contains the following components:
1 Rulebook
1 Evidence board
30 Character cards
38 Evidence category cards
15 Special item cards
20 Puzzle cards
7 Double-sided location Boards
1 Newspaper Office location board
Beside the box, this game requires an app to play à Chronicles of Crime and you can find this in the Google Play or the App Store.
Here you see an example of a beautiful location with 3 persons that you can find here. Please not, these are an example.
Here you see the Newspaper Office location board with Charlotte.
Let’s get it to the table
In Chronicles of Crime:1900 you’re Victor Lavel and you work as a young ambitious journalist for a newspaper called “Les Nouvelles de Paris”. It’s the year 1900, the middle of the Belle Époque, the Summer Olympics and the opening of the first metro station. But as a Lavel, a famous family for solving crimes since the Middle Ages, you are so much more interested in murders, kidnappings and robberies. Having a police commissioner as an uncle helps you to be among the first ones to know about them, and your wits often make you the first one to find the perpetrator.
In Chronicles of Crime:1900 you got 4 scenarios , if it is your first time playing Chronicles of Crime I recommend you start with the Tutorial.
But before we choose a scenario, let’s set up the game.
Place the Evidence board in the middle of the table. On this board there are 20 Evidence slots and 3 Unlocated slots.
Place the Newspaper Office location board on the table and keep the other location boards nearby, also make sure that you got enough space around it. Place on the Newspaper Office also Character card 01 on it.
Place the Character cards and Special items cards face down to the side of the Evidence board.
Place the Evidence category cards face up on the table. During the game you have to search through these cards freely and sort hem face up to find the one you need at that moment.
At least you place the deck of the Puzzle cards face down on the table in reach of the players. They shouldn’t be revealed until the app tells you to do.
Now we’re ready to play!
Once you’ve launched the game, choose the scenario you want to play.
Progress in the game is tracked in the app, sometimes you have to scan a location or a character card to get more information. Of course you always do this in consultation with the other players. The scanning is done by scanning the QR code on the card via the app.
When you have scanned a location card and you can investigate somewhere, it may be that you have to scan a number of evidence category cards afterwards. This is how you can find evidence. Sometimes at a location, you can also find a person. Find this person in the character deck and place it on one of the free character slots on that location. When you’ve found evidence, you have to place it on the evidence board
When searching for clues on a specific location, press the Search the Scene option. This time you can see the location and search for evidence. You have the option to do this in panoramic view or in 3d, for this last option you need the 3e glasses and place it on your phone. You got now 40 seconds to look at the scene and describe it to other players so they can search the Evidence Category cards.
In Chronicles of Crime: 1900 you also have to solve puzzles. This are some escape room style puzzles and I must say that some of them are really though to crack. Look at the information hidden on the puzzle cards and some Special Item cards, in the Character’s dialogues or even on the scenes. Are these puzzles unsolvable then you can ask Charlotte, at the Newspaper Office location, for help. She’s going to give you some hints, but when that’s not enough she can give you the solution. But remember, this will cost you points at the end of the game. Per hint given, you will be deducted 10 points and for the full solution, it will cost you another 10 points.
In the world of Chronicles of Crime, you don’t have unlimited time to solve the case. Time is of the essence!
The time is also shown in the app, after scanning a map 5 minutes are added. When you change locations it takes 20 minutes. The time that has passed also affects the final score, the faster you solve the crime, the better score you will get.
A few examples of some locations that you must visit. Really some iconic places but also amazing pictures.
End of the game
When you and you’re teammates believe that you have solved the case, in 1900 you’re a journalist so you can’t arrest the suspects but you have to write an article about your findings and help the police.
Go to the Newspaper Office location and press the button Solve the Case. Your team has to answer a couple of questions. To answer them you have to scan the cards that support your deductions.
Your score will depend on your answers. After checking the score you can press Solution to read the whole story or you can play the scenario again.
The Eiffel Tower meeple, you are going to use it at some point during the game but you don’t receive it with the base game but just with the expansion box. This doesn’t come with the base game but I wanted to show it to you.
Final Conclusion & rating:
Weight: 2 / 5
My rating: 🎲 🎲 🎲 🎲 🎲 🎲 🎲 🎲
Set up of the game
Setting up the game is very easy because of the insert. The cards are all separate and when you play the game for the first time everything is already neatly arranged, so I would recommend cleaning up as much as possible.
Quality of the components
The quality of the parts are really very good! The maps and app are really great, everything is incorporated in great inlays.
The artwork is really cool both in the game in the app and with the cards. I think they are very nice paintings that you can look at for a while.
The explanations in the rules are clear, but at some points I think you miss some extra explanation how you know for example when you are almost at the end of the game. But overall, the explanation is good, all possibilities are well explained.
Overall impression of the game
Chronicles of Crime I really liked a lot of the game. Anyhow, the century in which this game is set already attracted me greatly. So I had initially backed this game through Kickstarter. Besides the fact that it takes place a lot more recently, what makes it that much more enjoyable? Quite honestly, it’s not a whole lot different than 1400 or the earlier Chronicles of Crime. But they’ve added puzzles in this game, which makes it really fun. The puzzles can be quite challenging at times, if you can’t figure it out you can ask for help from Charlotte. If you still can’t figure it out, she can also help you by giving you the solution. This actually makes the game more of an escaperoom-type game, but don’t get me wrong it certainly is not!
If you are looking for a Chronicles of Crime that plays a little differently than the other Chronicles of Crime editions, then this is definitely a must play!
I received this version of Chronicles of Crime also from Lucky Duck Games for testing small parts in the scenarios these 3 editions (1400 / 1900 & 2400). My opinion is not affected because of this.
