What began as just another educational title by gaming powerhouse Broderbund sparked a sensation nobody could have foreseen. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego became an overwhelming success. So much so that it could not be contained in video games alone. TV shows, theater productions, comics, cartoons. Just like in her debut video game, Carmen Sandiego was everywhere.

In the game you play as a rookie detective, tasked with opposing the international band of thieves known only as VILE. An organization headed by the enigmatic Carmen Sandiego. A thief and spy so notorious for double crossing, nobody knows whose side she is really on.

Each assignment begins with the theft of another national treasure. It then becomes your work to identify which VILE member committed the crime and trace their path all around the world as they try to shake you off. How this works is quite simple—a lot simpler than the confusing manual made it seem. Each city on the world only has so many different connections, one of which the thief must have used. You can then click a button to interview various informants. These will give you clues about the criminal and their whereabouts. A bank teller might tell you what money they picked up or a librarian may remember what subjects the villain was reading up on. Even random onlookers may recount conversations or the colors of a flag on the thief’s vehicle.

Using this information you deduce where to travel to next. Either by drawing on your own knowledge of the world or by comparing the information you got in the World Almanac. Though those playing the game today may not have access to this physical extra anymore. When you’ve made your choice, you can hop on the plane and repeat the cycle. Until you’ve finally reached your quarry’s final location.

Before you can make an actual arrest though, there is something else. You first have to gain a warrant, which is done through the Interpol Computer system. This again sounds complicated, but really isn’t. Besides providing clues on the criminal’s whereabouts, your informants may also share info on what the person looked like or talked about. Hair color, notable features, you name it. These you have to collect as well and then enter into the computer system. If you got enough clues to narrow down which VILE member you’re dealing with, you automatically get the warrant. When you then show up to the VILE hideout, coppers will immediately move in to make their arrests. Job’s done.

What makes this difficult is the element of time. You only have a week to make any arrest and everything you do burns time. Each interview takes a few hours, flying across the world can eat entire days, and of course you need to sleep. You have enough time to solve any case, but it gets tight in the later ones. Which makes it incredibly punishing if you ever make a mistake. If you fly to the wrong country, you’ll find your informants very confused as to what you are doing there. That al0ne wastes a bunch of time, but you also can’t just fly to whatever other country you were considering. There is no connection between that and your current city. Meaning you need to fly all the way back to your previous point and only then can you hop on the correct plane. These are mistakes you can not afford even early on in the game.

This is made even trickier nowadays because the information you get isn’t always relevant anymore. It’s not just testing your knowledge of the world. It’s testing your recollection of the world as it was in 1992. So clues you acquire from your informants may reference currencies that no longer exist or landmarks that are long gone.

Even then, I found the gameplay to be very satisfying. It’s fun to puzzle together a possible destination based on indirect clues. Trying to remember where Mt. Hekla is because an informant overheard the thief talk about climbing it. Or what countries other than England use the pound as their currency. You’ll also know that you’re on the right track because VILE henchmen will pop in to keep an eye on you. These cute guys star in a variety of fun animations, but they will get vicious if you get too close.

The game’s systems are also easy to work with. Whether you’re playing on a computer or consoles, the interface is kept straightforward and easy to navigate. The inputs it expects are similarly simple. To the point where every face button on the SNES controller basically does the same and the shoulder buttons aren’t used at all.

It’s also a game that respects your time. In fact, it’s one of the earliest games that I know of that lets you “skip” cutscenes. Tired of seeing those goofy animations play out? Press a button and you fast-forward through it. Same with the travel animations whenever you perform interviews or fly between countries. It’s not really skipping the scene, but it cuts the wait time down significantly. Should you need put the game away for a while, the password system is also uniquely simple. Every password is just a combination of 3 (case-sensitive) letters. You start up the game again, type in those 3 letters, and BAM. You’re back on the case.

Unfortunately, repetition does set in before long. The sleuthing gameplay is super fun, but it just doesn’t have enough content to work with. You start seeing the same clues repeat, so you don’t have to think about the puzzles anymore. And the same few criminals get recycled over and over again also. The thing is, I noticed this repetition setting in around case 8 or 9. To have your final confrontation with Carmen Sandiego, you need to solve 30 cases. That is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. I appreciate they wanted to make the game last players a while, but it needed way more puzzles for that to work.

Replaying it today, it’s not hard to see why Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego became so big. Tracking criminals all around the world by putting together cryptic clues really makes you feel like a proper detective. And while there were other games that provided such a thrill, this one made it uniquely accessible. The interface and systems are so easy to understand, it’s entertaining to play for young and old alike. Not to mention the cuteanimations adding a lot of charm to a genre that was usually presented as overly serious.

Following its success, many more Carmen Sandiego games were made for years to come. Games that centered exclusively on North America and Europe. Even some hyper-specific ones like Where in Japan is Carmen Sandiego or the Apple II exclusive Where in North Dakota is Carmen Sandiego. Yet none of these beat the appeal of a worldwide chase for me.