This is a collaborative event, not a go-it-alone event!
While the hidden object gameplay and sector completion is largely a solo experience, there are numerous ways in which you collaborate and help your fellow club members.
Collaboration is important, as if you communicate and strategize with your club, you will have more fun, complete the event faster and more efficiently, and potentially save Diamonds.
Drinks collaboration
It’s a good idea to share Badge drinks during your Meeting Time, as you get a bigger benefit from the Diamonds you spend on each beverage. The more club members that consume it, the more valuable it becomes.
Remember that the Badge drinks have a much longer expiration time, which gives you more time to plan and strategize.
Decide which drink you would like to share. Similar to most other drinks, the cost and output of Badges from the drinks increase with every subsequent round.
Call for backup (time help)
Provided you’ve collected enough Badges, start the sector and immediately ask for help. Don’t forget to check for requests for help from your fellow Detectives!
Even if just three or four other players help you, you will have more than enough time to play a sector, earn some Badges if you fall short, and comfortably finish the sector.
To make the most of the collaboration, you might want to plan ahead and decide on starting and call for backup (time-help) strategies with your clubmates before you begin searching the sectors.
Help requests from other players can be seen on the map. If you zoom out, you will see a speech bubble atop a fellow Detective.
Regaining access to police-restricted sectors
If you or a fellow Detective didn’t manage to finish a sector in time, it will be restricted by the police. Someone will then have to regain access to that sector.
A sector restricted by the police is similar to a Detective losing their search license. No search progress can be made until the sector is claimed back by your club.
The good news is that if you regain access to a previously lost sector by spending Diamonds, the sector becomes available to finish for a much longer period.
Either you or one of your clubmates can spend Diamonds to regain a lost sector.
Whoever spends Diamonds to regain access also receives Badges as a thank you.
On-map strategy
There are 15 “starting sectors” on every map. These are reserved for your clubmates to start their search, and can be occupied by only one Detective during the event.
So if you’ve already started playing the event, you will not be able to get access to the remaining 14 starting sectors, even if they are next to one of your completed sectors.
On every sector available to you, you’ll see the sector coordinates as shown in the image. These coordinates are the same for you and your fellow Detectives, so when chatting with others, you can decide who will take what sector and who wants to leave what sector alone.
Image caption: (1) These are the coordinates of the sector. The letter is the row, and the number is the column
If your searched area shares common borders with a searched area of a fellow Detective, then these areas combine. You will gain access to all the bordering sectors, therefore increasing the sector options for you and your fellow Detective.
When you are deciding which sector to play, it can be helpful to tap on every available sector to see how many phases it has and what reward is offered for that sector.
Remember that the rewards you see in a particular sector are not the same as those seen by your fellow Detectives for that same sector. This is to prevent inadvertent competition between fellow Detectives.
Rushing through the search area might lead to unnecessary police intervention and restricted sectors, so take your time and pace your progress. The idea is to take one sector at a time, and crack the case in five to seven days. So take your time, and advise your teammates to pace themselves too.
Non-participants can help too
We understand that all players have different motivations and playstyles, so you can contribute to your club’s (and your own) success in a way that suits you best.
Some club members may not have the time or inclination to participate directly, but such players can still make very valuable contributions to their clubs during the event.
They can gift Badge drinks to their club members during Meeting Time.
They can help others by giving additional time when a backup request comes along.
They can unblock other members by helping them regain access to restricted sectors.
They can start and finish just one sector (which is very easy to finish), and this earns them the ability to claim all evidence rewards that their fellow club members find before the end of the event.