"The streets are dark and lonely. But so's my apartment. The name's Frank Darrow. I'm a Private Eye." In Shamus, players compete to solve cases in semi-historical Los Angeles, circa 1939. Characters are drawn from famous noir archetypes and ranked for their respective skills in drinking, fighting, and shooting. Each character has a special ability that helps mold their ideal strategy. Mechanically, Shamus is designed to make use of the cubes and Battle Tower from Queen Games' Shogun. Players select cubes they want by placing Detective Markers (DMs) on the various locations that they must travel to via car, cab, trolley, or good ol' fashioned shoe leather. The cube drop determines if they draw cards, solve cases, or sling lead with Bugsy Siegel.