MicroMacro: Crime City is a cooperative[2]tabletop crime-solving hidden object game designed by Johannes Sich and published in 2020 by Edition Spielwiese.[3] The game received positive reviews and won the Spiel des Jahres in 2021. Three sequels released after the game's success, like MicroMacro: Crime City – Full House in August 2021.[4]
The team of players unfolds a poster-sized map about 45 by 30 inches (114cm ×76cm) with an illustrated urban area depicting characters performing ordinary daily tasks such as eating, working, or attending events.[3] However, other characters engage in criminal activities, ranging from petty theft to murder, and it is the goal of the players acting as detectives or private investigators to solve those crimes.[3]
The victim of the crime is depicted, but the crime is not.[3] Each crime is associated with a case that consists of a deck of 5–12 cards with clues, the first of which describes the scene of the crime and victim.[3] Each of the 16 cases have a difficulty rating ranging from one to five stars,[3] and all clues for a case are labeled with a unique icon representing that case.[1] These clues lead to different parts of the map, tracking the victim and potential perpetrator backward and forward in time.[3]
Details such as clothing, decoration, and directionality depicted in the map can be important clues in the game, which may require a "deductive leap" at times.[1]
Sequels
MicroMacro: Crime City has spawned three sequels, each following the same basic format, but with a new city map and new cases to solve. Each sequel subtitle takes its name from a term in poker. A final product, MicroMacro: Crime City – Bonus Box was published in 2023, which utilises all four city maps simultaneously, and includes four cases which take place across all of Crime City.
MicroMacro: Crime City – Full House was published in August 2021.[4] It included a new 75-by-110-centimetre (30in ×43in) map with 16 new cases to solve.[4] The game was described by the publisher as "more complex, sophisticated and, of course, a bit more criminal", but also included icons with each case indicating the appropriateness of the case for younger children.[4]
MicroMacro: Crime City – All In was published in 2022. Although once again a stand-alone package, several storylines from earlier editions continue in All In.
MicroMacro: Crime City – Showdown was published in December 2023.
Instagram Specials are cases available on the game's official Instagram account, available since December 2022 to users while they await future publications.[5]
Reception
MicroMacro: Crime City received positive reviews. Dicebreaker described the game as blending features from puzzle books such as Where's Wally? and mystery-solving board games such as Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective.[6] In a review for ICv2, William Niebling commended the box cover art implementing a "sample mini-mystery" as a "brilliant idea" that would enable potential customers in a shop to "experience what the game offers before buying".[3] He also stated that the game would benefit from having included its own tokens for marking sites on the map, for example tiddly-winks, instead of players having to source their own.[3]
The game was also commercially successful, and print runs repeatedly sold out for eight months after its release.[7] From late 2020 to mid-February 2021, shipments of the game were delayed or halted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]
Awards
MicroMacro: Crime City receiving the Spiel des Jahres award in 2021.
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