P.I.

Three rounds of pure deduction: gather evidence from the city and solve the case your neighbor cooked up for you.

Designer: Martin Wallace
Published by: Treefrog Games
Editions by: Phalanx Games Polska

P.I. is a pure deduction game made of three mini-games, and in each one you are both the detective and the puzzle-setter. Secretly you receive a suspect, a crime and a location, which together make up the case the player on your left has to solve. The board has fourteen locations, each with room for one suspect and one crime tile, and nine evidence cards are revealed. On your turn you place an investigator, take an evidence card or try to solve your case. The deduction comes from reading clues, planning what to reveal and guessing what others are narrowing in on. Two to five players, around an hour, best with three. A cousin of Clue, with sharper reasoning.

Three consecutive mini-gamesSuspect, crime and location triosEvidence cards drafted openly

Who it's for

You enjoy pure deduction games like Clue but with more structure, and you have a group that likes reasoning without bluffing or luck.

Not for you if…

You want story, bluffing or a quick light game. This is cerebral, quiet and demands careful note-taking.

Vibe's take

Cool, analytical and tense. Everyone narrows down a puzzle while keeping a poker face about their own, and the best moments are when someone realizes they have been given an almost impossible case.