echoes: Mord auf Ex Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What is it about?
• Contents
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Listen
  • 2. Solve
• End of the Game
• Tips for Scanning with the App

What is it about?

You take on the role of investigators who can hear mysterious sounds and voices from the past. Using this ability, you try to put the events into the correct order.

Can you find out what happened in this true story?

Contents

6 Object Boards (chapter markers)

18 Object Cards

Setup

1. First download the free Ravensburger echoes app to 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 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 grey diamond symbol. Set these 9 marked cards aside face down. Play first with only 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 (the ones with the diamond symbol) to solve the rest.

5. Start the app and select Mord auf Ex. As soon as you click "Start Game", the prologue begins and you immerse yourself in the story.

* For reasons of readability only, the generic masculine is used. It is meant gender-neutrally in all cases.

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. Using conversations and sounds in the echo, you try to work out how the individual parts fit together. The graphics also give you occasional hints, so do not overlook any details.

With the help of the app you can scan the cards and boards and hear the sounds connected with them. If your device does not support image recognition, or an object is not recognized? Then you can enter the codes on the back of the objects 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.

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

Tips:

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

If, while listening, you have found some objects whose echoes you think 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. It is always followed by 3 Object Cards. When solving, you therefore always check objects of one chapter for their order.

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

If you are wrong, you receive one of the following hints from the app:

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

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

If you are right, you immediately have the option of listening to the entire chapter again in one go. It is worth doing, because new, additional hints can be heard then.

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 diamond symbol that you had set aside beforehand. With these you can now solve the remaining chapters in the same way.

End of the Game

Once you have solved all 6 chapters, one last challenge remains: bring 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 so, scan the 6 Object Boards one after another in Solve mode of the app, in the order you consider correct. If this 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 to hear the entire story again.

By the way: even though this case is based on real events, some details are invented to make the case playable.

Tips for Scanning with the App

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

• Make sure that the scanned card or board is clearly recognisable to the app and that no other game material is visible in the picture.
• 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 for scanning, or hold your device very close above them. This can help the camera find the right focus.
• Further tips and information can be found in the FAQ at ravensburger-echoes.de.