Overview

• P.I. (Private Investigator) is a simple deductive game consisting of 3 mini-games.

Objective

• Each player has three cases that they need to solve.
• You win by getting the most points for solving the three cases.
• To solve a case you need to show the following elements: the criminal, the location of the crime and the type of crime.
• Each player solves their own unique case each in round.
  • The player on your right has your Case Cards, which show the elements of the case you are solving.

Second Edition Changes

BoardM Factory's Second Edition updates P.I. with new artwork throughout, several terminology changes, a reworked scoring system, and a dedicated two-player Duel mode. The underlying rules of deducing your case across mini-games by placing investigators, collecting clues, and comparing them to the board are unchanged. This section covers what's different.

Terminology

Several things were renamed for clarity. They play the same role as before, just under a new name.

Several location names and some suspect names have also changed. The set of items, suspects, and locations themselves is different from First Edition, but the number of each and how they function is the same.

Rounds and Scoring

Mini-games are now called rounds.

Each round has its own fixed point schedule based on solve order within that round:

An incorrect solve attempt still costs the player 2 points.

Each player has a single score marker on a shared track, ranging from -5 to 21. Points are tracked cumulatively and live.

Any attempt at solving, right or wrong, flips your score marker over on the track. Once every player has flipped their marker (or all but one have), the round ends as soon as play comes back around to the first player.

Duel Mode (2-player only)

Duel mode is a separate, faster variant with its own win conditions. It's played on the board's night side. Each player starts with 2 investigators and gains 2 more at the start of each following round, up to a maximum of 5 held at once.

Each round has a single winner, at mose, who gains 1 point:

• If the first player to attempt solving their case is correct:
  • If they have the first player marker, their opponent has one more chance to solve their case.
    • If their opponent also correctly solves their case, the round ends in a tie. Otherwise, the first player wins.
  • If they do not have the first player marker, they win immediately.
• If the first player to attempt solving their case is incorrect, their opponent wins the round.

After each round, the winner places one of their new investigators on the round winner space (which reduces their available investigators for the next round). For tied rounds, no investigator is placed on the round winner space. The game ends when one player has won 2 rounds.

Actions

Each turn you choose only one of the following actions:

1) Use an investigator on a location (you only have 5 for the entire game)

2) Pick an evidence card

3) Attempt to solve the case

Using an Investigator

• Each Location Card consists of a criminal tile, a location tile, and a crime tile.
• Using an Investigator on a Location Card tells you the number of tiles matching your Case Cards elements (the criminal and/or the location and/or the crime) in or near that location, as well as the number of elements.
• Discs and cubes are placed by the Investigator as follows:
  • •Disc: An element is in this Investigator's location.
  • •Cube: An element is in a location that is adjacent to this Investigator's location. It does not tell you what that element is.
• Note: You only have 5 Investigators and they are 'one use' only for all three rounds of the entire game.

Using Evidence Cards

• Using an Evidence Card allows you to investigate one particular element of your case.
• It will only tell you the matching tiles that are the same type as the selected Evidence Card.
  • •Disc: If the Evidence Card matches one of your Case Cards, a disc is placed on the matching tile.
  • •Cube: If the Case Card's tile is in an adjacent location to the Evidence Card's tile, then a cube will be placed on the tile.

Additional Rules With Using Evidence Cards

• If you already have a disc/cube on one of your Investigator Counters and it corresponds with the selected Evidence Card then the disc/cube is moved from the Investigator Counter to the tile matching the selected Evidence Card.
• If a disc/cube is placed then it must be placed on the tile.
• If no disc/cube is placed then you place the Evidence Card in front of your position to remind you that no information was gained.
• If you do place a disc/cube then you discard the Evidence Card.

Attempt to Solve the Case

• Finally you can attempt to solve the case, click on a criminal, a location and a crime type.
  • If you're right, then you get points according to how many players solve their cases before you. (7 for first, 5 for second, 3 for third and 1 for fourth.)
  • If you're wrong, then you lose 2 points. Next turn you can try again, but you accrue the VP penalties (and lose time).
  • If everyone has solved but you, you get 0 points (and penalties you have accrued).

Phases

• The game consists of 3 rounds, players are attempting to solve one case in every round.
• Each round is composed of phases where each player takes a turn playing one action.
  • Beginning with the starting player.

Solving a case

• Once a player solves a case for the first time in that round, (in phase 6 of the current round for example,) they get 7 points, and each subsequent player who solves their case in the same phase (phase 6 in our example) also gets 7 points.
• Once the phase ends, if there are at least two players who didn't solve the case yet, then the game continues, but on the phase the next player solves the case, they get 2 fewer points--and that goes for all players who solve the case in that same phase.
• This continues on and on, until only 1 (or 0) player remains.
  • If one player remains at the end of a phase, that player won't gain any points for the round, and the next round starts.

Tiebreakers

• In the case of a tie, the winner is the tied player who has the:
  1. Most Investigator pieces.
  2. Fewest penalty points.