Detective Rummy Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Detective Rummy, a set collection and hand management board game published by WizKids Games. In Detective Rummy, players are using the rummy card game engine to solve a mystery.

The suspect photos were taped haphazardly to the wall, their eyes watching me uncap my bottle of whiskey, their condemnation truly my own. I stubbed out the cigarette, took a swig, and stumbled to my ramshackle desk. Times have been tough at the Rummy Detective Agency. All these suspects, all these crimes, yet no leads and lots of alibis. Maybe I’ll just rest here for a while. Think things through. Consider if this is truly the line of work for me. And finish this bottle before one of us expires.

Detective Rummy is a card game with area control and story-telling elements that features seven cases, a campaign mode, as well as standalone options. It plays two to four players in approximately an hour. It was designed by Mike Fitzgerald and Ralph H. Anderson and published by WizKids.

After choosing to play either a campaign (recommended for first timers) or a case, players select a detective board that features a signature skill to start with. Players are dealt ten cards and the central play area is determined based on which case is selected. Each game is called a Hand in keeping with the rummy card mechanism that powers the game’s engine.

Typically, the central area is populated with locations that players can visit and multiple suspects that can be investigated (or you can pin evidence on). On a turn, players ready any items acquired the previous round and then choose to either Recuperate or do Detective Work. Recuperate is the way to heal and draw more cards into your hand, whereas Detective Work is the main action.

There are four