
- BGG rank
- BGG #9,009
- BGG rating
- 6.3
Ghost Chase
- 2–5 players
- 60 min
- Complexity 1.7/5
- 2001

2009
Rules assistance for Polizei-Alarm!
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Polizei-Alarm! is a board game released in 2009 for 2–4 players, 25 minutes per game, and ages 6 and up. It was designed by Kai Haferkamp and Markus Nikisch and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling and Secret Unit Deployment.
One player is the band of thieves, attempting to break into safe deposit boxes. The other player is the police, trying to hunt them down before they escape. While the police scoots around a magnetic board looking for the thieves, the criminal rolls the dice attempting to break open the safe deposit boxes. Polizei-Alarm! is an action/dexterity game for 2-4 players (although only two sides play against each other).One side plays a gang of safe-crackers who try to throw the correct combinations for the safes with some special dice under time-pressure. The other side is the Police, who try to find the the hideout of the gangsters. In order to achieve this they steer a police car through a labyrinth-like city plan on the game board by holding the board at an angle, so that the the police car slides on the surface (similar to the classic wooden labyrinth-games where you have to navigate a metal ball through a maze with holes in it - but without the holes). When they find the correct hideout before the safe-crackers succeed with the combination, the latter walk off empty-handed.
Polizei-Alarm! supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Polizei-Alarm! is 25 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Polizei-Alarm! for ages 6 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Polizei-Alarm! has a complexity rating of 1.1 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Polizei-Alarm! belongs to these categories: Children's Game, Dice, and Action / Dexterity. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling and Secret Unit Deployment. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Polizei-Alarm! are: Kai Haferkamp and Markus Nikisch. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Polizei-Alarm! as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.