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1 Little Detectives
An observation game for 3 - 5 players ages 4+.
Aim of the Game
Who will be the best player at observing and putting two and two
together and thus be the first to collect four decorations?
Preparation of the Game
Place the game board with the farm face up in the center of the table.
Take the search cards with the green backsides and shuffle them. Then
put them in a pile face down next to the game board.
Also place the decorations next to the game board. Finally each player
gets a magnifying glass.
The remaining material is not needed to play “Little detectives” and is
kept in the box.
How to Play
Play in a clockwise direction.
Whoever discovers something which is green in the room may start. If
you can’t agree, the oldest player starts.
This player is the secret witness and takes the searching card on top of
the pile and secretly looks at it.
Each card shows either a person, an animal or an object. An identical
illustration exists on the game board.
The other players are the detectives and have to find out what is de-
picted on the card of the secret witness.
The secret witness
Each round the secret witness gives a clue to what is on their card.
The clues can be given in the following way.
• it is a person/ an animal / an object …
• it is red / yellow / green / blue …
• it is very small / big …
• it has two arms / four legs …
• it is a man / a woman / a child
• it is of fabric / wooden …
• we have this at home / I have seen it in the zoo …
collect four
decorations
game board “farm”
on table, shuffle
green search cards
and pile them up,
get decorations
ready, distribute
magnifying glasses
secret witness
draws top card
detectives guess
search card: secret
witness gives a clue
ENGLISH
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Before Starting to Play:
Every detective has had to start from scratch!
Therefore the degree of difficulty of the game must be agreed to by
the players prior to play.
The degree of difficulty depends on the following game material:
• The game board
the game board has two sides. On one side there is a farm, on the
other a city.
The farm is meant to be used as a simpler game as it is less detailed.
The city is suited for older and more experienced players.
• The search cards
Each side of the game board has its own set of cards:
The 30 cards for the farm with a green backside;
the 30 cards for the city with a blue backside.
Hint: At the beginning you can sort out some of the more difficult
cards. Any unknown illustrations can be explained beforehand
and discussed.
• The hour-glass
The hour-glass brings speed to the game and avoids lengthy decisions.
It can be used both in the “Little detectives” and “Big detectives”
variations.
• The die
The die is for older players with a special interest.
For example it is used to search for persons, animals or objects with
a specific first letter.
It will be used for the second game variant “Big detectives”.
These four elements: game board, search cards, hour-glass and die may
be adapted and combined in various ways according to the specific
group of players.
