The last none FFP game I played

[D. Boon's Ghost]

Since getting it late last week, we've played a lot of games of Police Precinct.

I missed it at the time, but the game is a spawn of kickstarter.

Design-wise, it is a fun and engaging board game version of Hill Street Blues. Each person (1-6 players, 13+) takes the part of a uniformed officer or detective on the hunt for a murderer. You need to investigate the crime scene, interview witnesses - essentially gather enough evidence to put the bad guy away. While trying to do so, the players must also work together to keep ever emerging emergencies at bay; traffic accidents, bank robberies, abusive spouses, rioting street punks, stolen cars - you name it. Fail too many of them, or allow the more urgent emergencies to expire and the crime tracker drops one step closer to end game.

At its core, the game is a pure card and dice driven co-op. But to spice things up (when playing with at least 4+), they provide an optional secret 'Dirty Cop' mechanic. The Corrupt Cop hinders the investigation in various ways, much like Shadows Over Camelot.

Overall, the game is clever and a lot fun.

Production wise... holy cow. Everything in the box is nice; the cards are decent, the artwork is functional, the cardboard bits nice and sturdy. However there are some grievous printing errors in this first edition that I assume will result in some deserved bashing.

* The city map/game board compass has East and West reversed.
* Specific Event cards actually reference these split mirror universe directions!
* On the murder investigation board, an important piece of the game used to track gathered evidence, they spelled it 'AUTOPOSY'.

A year in development; a kickstarter project that met its goals; Tom Vasel reviewed it to high heaven; game art was up at the Geek for however many months. And still, not one person pointed out these errors.

Either the game is so incredible to play that no one cares, or my standards for printed material is too damned high anymore. I am not too sure.

Check it out. Police Precinct from Common Man Games.