Detective Charlie: A Cooperative Crime-Solving Game for the Family
Last week we picked up a few new family games from LOKI - the children’s division of IELLO USA - because they have a great track record with producing board games that our family loves. They also make a lot of cooperative games, which you know we’re crazy about, and their target audience is always very close to our kids’ ages - now 5 and 8.
If you’re a regular reader, you’ve no doubt seen us talk about LOKI games before. In the past we’ve featured SOS Dino and Kraken Attack!, and we even named Monsieur Carrousel our favorite game for 3-year-olds. And each one is really an entirely different genre. And now, out of this newer batch, another completely different kind of game stands out as something special to us - Detective Charlie. It’s a cooperative family deduction game with a lot of personality, and it’s been a big hit with the kids.
Basically you move Detective Charlie around talking to different witnesses, and trying to eliminate potential suspects based on clues and testimonies. When you think you’ve figured out the culprit of the case you’re working on, you just open the secret envelope and see how you did. There’s also an adorable little detective notebook for writing down the names of the detectives playing, who the culprit was, and how you did on each case - the type of special artifact our son always appreciates very much in games.
There is one major difference between Detective Charlie and other board games, however. Much like an escape room in a box, it’s really only designed to play through once. You’re trying to identify a culprit, after all, so you’ll need a big break between playthroughs so that you forget everything. But the good news is that there are 6 different cases to solve, each with increasing difficulty - so it’s not like you only get to play one single time.
The age recommendation is 7+, and I think that’s pretty accurate - right in the middle of our kids’ ages. Our 8-year-old loves the concept of solving these cases, and it wasn’t too difficult or too easy for him. In fact, our 5-year-old consistently connected certain clues that he overlooked, so our experience was actually a great collaborative experience for the whole family.
Sometimes she can feel left out if her older brother solves things too fast for her in other cooperative games, but it was a lot of fun to see several moments where she literally saved the day and figured things out for us. She is laser-focused, trying her best to help any way she can. And I think that’s a testament to the engagement of the game.
But the potential for older kids to answer everything too quickly also got me thinking of a helpful house rule to make everyone feel a little bit more involved. The game is designed for taking turns. You roll the dice, move the detective, and talk to the witnesses that you land on. And often the witnesses’ clues allow you to eliminate potential suspects. So a very simple house rule could be to always allow the person whose turn it is plenty of time to eliminate suspects first without being interrupted. Teammates can offer their input afterwards.
Like I mentioned before, the cases you’re trying to solve get progressively more difficult. As an example, you might start with witnesses simply eliminating suspects with an alibi. But later you might need to pair together the statements of multiple witnesses to rule someone out. In this way the game is not only a deduction game, but also a memory game. Not only do you need to remember the clues you receive, but you even need to try to remember which witnesses you’ve talked to already (another job our 5-year-old is extremely helpful with).
If there’s one thing about the quality of LOKI games that consistently stands out - it’s the amazing art. Detective Charlie is certainly no exception. The eponymous cat detective is adorable - as are all of the animal suspects and witnesses in the game. The charm of their games is no doubt something that draws the kids to them and certainly helps with the immersion.
It’s nice to have an adult around to moderate things and do some of the reading of the clues if need be - although our son was a very big fan of reading everything out loud. And if they’re able to read, kids could really probably handle the game by themselves. As an adult it’s nice to play a little naive sometimes and let the kids do the heavy detective lifting. But since it’s a cooperative game, it’s really nice to have the freedom to judge how much help you need to provide - based on the kids and the difficulty of the case.
Despite the fact that you can only play through each case one time, I love games like this. We’re also really big fans of escape room experiences that only give you one playthrough, so I suppose it’s no surprise we’re used to the concept. But it is important to know that Detective Charlie is an investment in a one-time experience (or technically a 6-time experience). And at that point you could give it to a friend, donate it to a library or a classroom, or maybe even put it back on your shelf for a year and forget all the answers!
But don’t loan it out too soon, because I’ve also heard word that LOKI has 2 expansion packs in the works for Detective Charlie, which my kids will be very excited to know. The first pack with 4 new cases should be available by Holiday 2021, and a second pack of 4 cases will come in 2022. As a dad I’m excited to see the continued support for this game that the kids enjoy so much.
When it comes to family game night, it’s hard to beat experiences that call for full family cooperation in solving a mystery. For the sake of variety, it’s fun to see game companies experiment with different types of experiences. And Detective Charlie is definitely something new for us. It’s a wonderful addition to the world of logic and deduction for kids.
You can find Detective Charlie and other great family picks in the Dad Suggests Amazon shop, the LOKI shop, or at your friendly local game store.
Have you tried Detective Charlie yet? How do you feel about games you can only play once? Let us know in the comments!
