Guide 12 · Rookie
Crack your first case in World Deluxe
≈ 2 min readVideophone briefings, Crime Net, and Warren the Warrant Robot: the original loop with a CD-ROM coat of paint.
The Deluxe Edition rebuilds the 1985 original for newer hardware: VGA art, digitised National Geographic photography, Smithsonian Folkways music, and the series' first spoken dialogue. The 1990 floppy release covers 45 locations; the 1992 CD-ROM reissue expands that to roughly sixty countries, sixteen maps, twenty villains and over three thousand clues. The loop and the warrant rule are unchanged.
01
Sign in and read the Detective Brief
You check in through the in-game Videophone. The Detective Brief that follows gives you the case number and deadline, your name and current rank, and what was stolen and from which country. The deadline is blunt: you have six days to solve each case.
02
Pick your method at each stop
Deluxe gives you three ways to work a location: question a bystander, search the scene, or call Crime Net. Witnesses and Crime Net both hand you the villain's next destination and their appearance and character traits; searching the scene gets you the destination only, so don't rely on it alone if you still need traits.
03
Keep the Note Pad current
Log every trait as you go, sex, hair colour, eye colour, hobby, favourite food, a distinguishing feature, and vehicle are all tracked in the Evidence Database behind the Note Pad. The fuller that record, the faster Warren can narrow the field.
04
Apply for the warrant through Warren
Warren, the Warrant Robot, works the Acme Warrant Department. Click the SEND/RECEIVE button to submit your evidence, and Warren scans every gang dossier for a match. As always, no valid warrant means no arrest even if you catch up to the crook in person.
05
Study for the Qualification Quiz
Rank advancement is gated the same way the original was: a Qualification Quiz drawn from The World Almanac and Book of Facts, three chances to pass. You start as a Gumshoe and climb through eight more ranks to reach Super Sleuth, so treat the almanac as required reading, not a backup.