Pista: Detective Chase

A fugitive left the bakery at 21:40 and was in hiding by 22:30. Somewhere in this city is the one route they took. Rebuild it ride by ride, by bike, metro, taxi and ferry, then make the arrest at the safe house where they hid. No guessing, ever.

A City Full of Clues
Every case opens as a file on your desk: the caper, the fugitive's portrait stamped On the Run, where they set off and when, and the time they were in hiding by. Then the evidence. Nonna Pia saw them at the market at 22:05. The camera at the station saw nobody all night. Their dropped glove turned up at the lighthouse. The travel card shows exactly two taxi rides. Every card is a fact, and together they leave exactly one route.

Build the Trail
Tap a place linked to the start and the trail grows one ride at a time, a red string across the map. The game does the arithmetic: every ride's minutes, every wait at the ferry pier, every arrival on the clock. The thinking is yours. Pinch to zoom, cross out the places they never passed, tap a card to light up its places, and tick it once you have used it.

The Rules of the Road
They never rest: each ride leaves the moment they arrive. Ferries keep a timetable, so a rider waits at the pier. They never visit the same place twice. They hide at the first safe house they reach, by the deadline. And every time in the notes is the moment they arrived somewhere. That is all there is to know, and the game tells you all of it.

Every Clue Is True
A case is dealt only after the game has walked every legal route through the city and checked each one against every card. Exactly one route fits, and every card you are given is needed to find it. If you are stuck, the way forward is on the map: cross one more place off and watch the rest fall away.

Four Ranks to Earn
Rookie is nine places, bikes and one metro line, with sightings that put a time on them. Detective brings taxis, and traces with no time at all. Inspector adds a river with ferries on a timetable, and evidence about order and the clock. Chief is eighteen places, two metro lines and the whole evidence locker: ride counts, departures and the minutes between two places. Solve ten cases at one rank and the next one opens.

A New City Every Case
Every case builds its own city, with its own streets, metro and safe houses, and often a river with a few bridges, so there is always a next chase. And case 12 on your phone is case 12 on every phone: same city, same clues, same safe house, so you can compare notes with a friend.

A Fair Chase
A wrong arrest gets a nudge, never the answer, and the map stays yours to fix. No countdown on you, no penalties, no failing: a case stays open until you close it. When you are truly stuck, a hint cuts the trail back to where it went wrong and confirms the next true ride. Hints come from short ads you choose to watch, or from hint packs in the store; no case ever needs one.

Ten Special Case Packs
Follow a gingerbread getaway through a snowy village, a count's missing cloak through a haunted hollow, a goat with a plan along a mountain line, and the treasures that take the metro after closing time. Seven packs climb from Rookie to a Mastermind finale with 22 places and four safe houses. Three extreme packs are 32 Mastermind cases each: a canal masquerade, the Mastermind Files and Storm Harbour. Every pack brings its own cities, places and capers, and a cast to match.

Light-hearted by design: a prize cake gone missing, a mustache painted on the mayor's statue, a parrot that gives the game away by singing. Nobody gets hurt.

Portrait play, hand-drawn characters, sixteen languages.

Pista is free, funded by a full screen ad between some cases. Optional extras stay optional: ten special case packs and hint packs, plus a free hint for every two short ads you choose to watch. No subscription, and no account to create.

Recent changes:
New: remove the ads. Subscribe monthly or yearly from the store and the ads between games are gone, while the videos you choose to watch for a reward stay. Plus minor improvements and fixes.