echoes: Ever & After Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Listen
  • 2. Solve
• Game End
• Tips for Scanning with the App

Contents

• 6 object boards (chapter markers)
• 18 object cards

Setup

1. First, download the free Ravensburger echoes app onto your smartphone or tablet. You need the app to play.
2. Take all the game material out of the box.
3. Lay out the 6 boards (with glowing frames) in front of you.
4. Choose a difficulty level and lay out the object cards accordingly:

Difficulty: Professional Investigators

Lay out all 18 object cards (with black frames) face up in front of you.

Difficulty: Amateur Detectives

Turn the 18 object cards (with black frames) face down and look for the cards marked with a four-pointed star symbol. Set these 9 marked cards aside face down.

Play at first only with the 9 unmarked cards, which you lay out face up in front of you. With these you can already solve parts of the story. Only once you have managed that do you take the set-aside cards (marked with the star symbol) to solve the rest.

5. Start the app and select The Glass Coffin (German: Der gläserne Sarg). As soon as you tap "Start Game", the prologue begins and you dive into the story.

For readability only, the generic masculine is used throughout; it is meant in a gender-neutral sense.

Gameplay

Your task is to bring the 24 parts of the story into the correct order together. Each part is represented by an object (board or card) and its associated echo. Through conversations and sounds in the echo, you try to work out how the individual parts fit together. The graphics also give you occasional clues – so do not overlook any details.

With the app, you can scan the cards and boards and hear the sounds linked to them. If your device does not support image recognition, or an object is not recognised? Then you can enter the codes on the backs of the cards into the app.

Use the Listen mode in the app to play the sounds:

1. Listen

Both the 18 object cards and the 6 object boards each have their own echo. Together these make up the 24 parts of the story. Scan any object with the camera to listen to its associated echo.

Tips:

• You can listen to every echo as often as you like and repeat it.
• Time jumps are possible in the story. The echoes therefore do not always flow smoothly into one another.

Want to hear the prologue of the story again? Then enter the following code into the app in Listen mode: PRL

Once you have found some objects whose echoes you believe belong together, you can at any time use the app to try to solve parts of the story:

2. Solve

The story is divided into 6 chapters. Each chapter begins with a chapter marker, one of the 6 object boards. Three object cards always follow it. When solving, you therefore always check the objects of one chapter for their order.

To do this, switch the app to Solve mode. Then scan first a board and then 3 cards, in the order you believe they belong in that board's chapter. The app then tells you whether you have solved the sequence of these cards correctly.

Are you wrong?

Then the app gives you one of the following hints:

• 0 – None of the 3 cards you scanned belongs in this chapter. Perhaps they fit together in another chapter?
• 1 – Only 1 of the 3 scanned cards belongs in this chapter. It is uncertain whether it is already in the correct position.
• 2 – Exactly 2 of the 3 cards belong in this chapter. Their positions are still uncertain.
• 3 – All 3 scanned cards belong in this chapter. However, the order of the cards is not yet correct.

If you have set the difficulty to "Easy" in the app, or you tap "Hint", you receive additional help. Using the colours and symbols, you can then see which cards do not belong in the chapter (A: red X), which are in the wrong position (B: blue arrow), or which are already correct (C: green tick).

Are you right?

Then you can immediately listen to the whole chapter again in one go. It is worth it, because new, additional hints can be heard.

To listen to a solved chapter again later, scan the corresponding board in Listen mode.

DIFFICULTY: AMATEUR DETECTIVES

Once you have solved three complete chapters with the 9 object cards laid out at the start of the game, take the cards marked with the star symbol that you set aside earlier. With these you can now solve the remaining chapters in the same way.

Game End

Once you have solved all 6 chapters, one last challenge remains: put the chapters into the correct order so that the whole story makes sense. Only then have you solved the puzzle and won the game. To do this, scan the 6 object boards one after another in Solve mode of the app, in the order you believe is right. If it is correct, you have solved the case together! In the epilogue that follows, you learn how the story ends.

In the main menu of the app you have the option of listening to the entire story again.

By the way: even though we name real places, all events and actions are entirely fictional.

Tips for Scanning with the App

If the app has difficulty recognising the game material, try the following:

• Make sure the scanned card or board is clearly recognisable to the app and that no other game material is visible in the image.
• Provide good lighting for the material. If you are sitting between the playing surface and your lamp, move slightly to the side so that you do not cast shadows on the cards.
• Hold the cards and boards in your hand when scanning, or hold your device very close above them. This can help the camera find the right focus.
• You will find further tips and information in the FAQ at ravensburger-echoes.de.