Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game – Season One

The Case Won't Solve Itself

There's a moment in every good detective story where the threads start connecting — where a name from one report surfaces in a photograph from another, and suddenly the fog lifts. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game puts you inside that moment, repeatedly, across five interconnected cases that build into something much larger than any single crime scene. This isn't a game you play and put away. This is a game you work.

What It Is

From Portal Games, the team behind Neuroshima Hex and Imperial Settlers, Detective drops players into the roles of criminal investigators at the Antares National Investigation Agency. The year is 2013. The cases are cold, warm, and bleeding — sometimes all at once. Over five scenarios, you'll dig through physical case files, search a live online database called ANTARES (a real companion website included with the game), cross-reference witness statements, and follow leads that don't always go where you expect. The cases are connected by an overarching conspiracy that only reveals itself if you're paying attention.

What sets it apart is the commitment to immersion. You can look up real-world information if it helps. The game doesn't fence you into its own universe — it trusts you to behave like an actual investigator. That trust makes the victories feel earned and the dead ends sting in the best possible way.

Who It's For

Detective is built for one to five players, and it plays best with two to three — enough minds in the room to catch what one person misses, few enough that everyone stays actively involved. The age recommendation is fourteen and up, which is a reasonable floor for the subject matter and the cognitive load. This is a medium-to-heavy cooperative experience: the rules themselves aren't complicated, but the thinking required is sustained and demanding. Budget two to three hours per case, and plan to play the full campaign across multiple sessions. This is the game for your group that finishes escape rooms early and still wants more.

Features & Highlights

This is Season One — the complete five-case campaign — and it arrives as an open-box, never-played copy in complete condition. The production is exactly what you'd want for a game built around physical evidence: sturdy case folders, well-produced cards, and a design that makes spreading everything across a table feel purposeful rather than chaotic. The ANTARES online database integration remains a genuine design achievement — it adds a layer of verisimilitude that few games attempt and fewer execute this well. If your group has already been eyeing the Detective line, Season One is the essential entry point, and this copy is ready to go straight to the table.

Specifications