List of running gags

A Running Gag, or Gag Reel, is a series of jokes and/or cliches that runs throughout Criminal Case and happens frequently. The purpose of this is to make the players of the game to have a laugh or have a "déjà vu" feeling.

We are working very hard to bring in as many gags as we can. If you think a gag is praiseworthy, then either comment or edit. Our staff will see if the gag is praiseworthy and if it is, it will be kept and maintained.

Better to Not Love Again
On some occasions, the player's respective partners—David Jones, Amy Young, and Frank Knight to be specific—will fall in love with or have a crush on a suspect during some point of the game. Later, however, the person whom they fell in love with would either have something wrong with them or end up in a tragedy as described herein:
 * Jones fell in love with Alice August, but later discovered that she was guilty of Trixie Velvet's murder.
 * Jones had a strong liking of Rachel Priest and cared for her as a friend, but her attempt to expose a criminal endeavor cost Rachel her life.
 * Jones somehow had a liking of Madison Springer, who was later killed upon being crowned queen of the Prom Ball.
 * Jones fell in love with Isabella Fairchild, who eventually admitted her wrongdoings at the climax of the murder investigation of Andrew Ashworth.
 * Amy had a crush on Zack Taylor until she found out that Zack was gay.
 * Frank had deep feelings for Veronica Blade, who was ultimately found guilty of the premeditated electrocution of Peggy Pascal, the unlawful utilization of Colonel Spangler's weather-controlling machine, and the willful destruction of property through Hurricanes Yves and Zelda, thus confirming her as the person liable for the largest crime spree in Jazz Town.

Caught Drinking
While Chief Marquez is not watching, Frank will try to drink while on duty, even though Chief Marquez is smart enough to catch Frank red-handed in doing so.

The following items are Frank's drinking gag reels as herein:
 * Frank attempted to drink out of his flask and even offered the player a little bit of his favorite whiskey before they had to go back to the scene of the murder during Carlos Antonio's murder investigation, in which Chief Marquez suddenly got mad at Frank for drinking in the job and told the team to backtrack before City Maintenance removed the murder weapon from the scene.
 * Frank was ordered to do civic duty in the forest after he was caught drinking in court by Judge Dante during the trial of Steve Bundy.

Roxie's Twisted Jokes
Roxie Sparks often makes jokes about the victim's death. These jokes often are a twist on how they died, or something relating to them. For instance:
 * In Death on Wheels, Roxie got excited to the fullest after having to autopsy the above-mentioned Carlos Antonio, and even commented that his murder was a "masterpiece".
 * When Valerie Green drowned in What Dies Beneath, Roxie made a comment about the irony of divers drowning.
 * Roxie stated that Becky Walden's death was "cooler" than the "Tiki Shack" bar, mocking the fact that Becky was frozen with liquid nitrogen.
 * In Death by Moonshine, Roxie said that there was a "happy hour" in the morgue after having to autopsy Sammy Duncan's head and body.
 * After having to autopsy Ling Zhang in Heartless, Roxie exclaimed how her heart moved in excitement due to the body's state—making fun of the fact that Ling's heart was literally removed.
 * When Clifford Grady bled out from having his neck sliced open in Cloudy with a Chance of Murder, Roxie joked how it was a "cut-throat" murder.
 * After successfully autopsying the corpse of Dinah Cooper, a cabaret dancer who was found hung up like a puppet in Hanging by a Thread, Roxie clearly intended a pun when she remarked, "our victim must have really been hung up about something before she died".
 * After Anjulie Cruz was sliced in half in Leap of Death, Roxie said that "this was the best thing since sliced bread".

Breaking the Fourth Wall
Sometimes, your partner will say something that they know they are fictional as displayed herein:
 * When the broken webcam is found in the Grimsborough University Library in At the End of the Rope, Jones will show distraught and say how everything can break easily in Grimsborough.

You've Just Got Served!
On some occasions, your partner (Jones in Grimsborough or Amy and Frank in Pacific Bay) may become victim of (sometimes dangerous) jokes by different suspects. Here are some instances:
 * Jones was subject to several jokes after he mistook costumes when assisting to the Grimsborough Sci-Fi Festival, dressing himself as a superheroine reminiscent of Wonder Woman.
 * Taylor Kirby threw a bucket of blue paint on Jones' head while he and the player were summarizing details about Aaliyah Banks' death.
 * Jones was hit in the head by a brick thrown by Opera Phantom whilst standing in the Opera in Snakes on the Stage.
 * Shawna Knox made fun of Frank's Hawaiian shirt in Bayou Blood after he questioned her tobacco-chewing habits.
 * Shelly Dulard deliberately littered Amy when she stood near the steamboat in Easy Prey.
 * Veronica Blade opened fire on Frank and the player in the Civil War Reenactment in Open Wounds.

Internet Memes and Other Symbols
Throughout the game, players may occasionally encounter many references to Internet memes. Some of the instances are the following: In various crime scenes, players can find the preeminent and most widely recognized symbol of a real-life secret society known as the Illuminati. For instance:
 * Grumpy Cat has been spotted three times in the game—the first time in a crime scene of Anatomy of a Murder, the second in a crime scene of All the King's Horses, and most recently in a crime scene of Easy Prey.
 * A poster of Uncle Sam can be seen in a crime scene of All the King's Horses.
 * Becky Walden's "trollface meme" picture of Eva Sanchez, in which she swapped Eva's face with the popular meme face known as "trollface".
 * You can encounter the symbol at the middle-right area of the "Workshop Window" crime scene of The Ghost of Grimsborough.
 * You can spot the same symbol in the "Showcase" crime scene of The Poisoned Truth and the "Military Bootcamp" crime scene of The Root of All Evil.

References to Grimsborough
There are several references to characters from Grimsborough, especially Grimsborough PD members, in Pacific Bay:
 * If you observe Shark Attack!'s crime scene "Ice Cream Kiosk", you can spot "Jones" written on the star embedded in the sidewalk.
 * There are two easter eggs in The Ice Queen's crime scenes featuring Grimsborough Police Force members. In the "Beach" crime scene we can find a seaplane with a "We miss you Jones" banner, and in the "Gift Shop" crime scene we can find a US Postal Stamp with Samuel King's face.
 * Judge Hall is mentioned during Ray Westman's trial by Judge Dante, suggesting that he could impress her with that murder trial in the Annual Judge Convention.
 * After the player recovers Ramirez's notebook for him in the Additional Investigation of Spineless, a drawing of Jones eating cookies can be spotted on the bottom of the page at the right-hand side.
 * In the "Looted Station" crime scene of Of Rats and Men, a portrait of Jones can be seen.
 * Also in the aforementioned crime scene, a poster of Freddy Stewart's corpse can be noticed.

References to Other Games
Throughout the game, players may find references to popular games in either the scenes or during the cutscenes. Here are a few examples:
 * There are references to two other Pretty Simple's games—Magical Ride and My Shops—in the "Square's Entrance" and "Square Steps" crime scenes of The Kiss of Death.
 * In the "Festival Main Hall" crime scene of The Reaper and the Geek, there is a head that resembles a Creeper from Minecraft.
 * In the "Bridge Entrance" crime scene of Blood and Glory, there is the famous symbol of the science fiction video game series Half-Life.
 * After analyzing Vito's phone in Killing Time, Hannah Choi mentions that Vito was addicted to "a game with all the sweets", which is an obvious reference to Candy Crush Saga.
 * Andre Roche is shown to have a tattoo on his neck featuring a dotted line and the words "cut here", which is a rip-off of the popular tattoo sported by Trevor Philips, one of the three protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V.

References to Other Media
Throughout the game, players can find various references to famous media titles. Here are some instances:
 * The video Jones is watching in the opening cut-scene of The Wollcrafts' Creature is a reference to Charlie Bit My Finger, the 2007 Internet viral video famous for formerly being the most viewed YouTube video of all time.
 * In the "Festival Main Hall" crime scene of The Reaper and the Geek, there is a poster in the background which says "The God of the Rings", which is an obvious parody of the popular book/film series The Lord of the Rings.
 * Also in the aforementioned crime scene, there's a blue police box resembling the TARDIS, which is the time-travelling space ship used in the British Sci-Fi television series Doctor Who.
 * There are various references to the popular American crime drama television series Breaking Bad.
 * In the "Students' Desks" crime scene of Spring Break Massacre, the "Mysterious Man" on the projector screen strongly resembles Heisenberg from Breaking Bad. Plus, the subtitles on the projector screen, "Robbing a train", may be a reference to "Dead Freight", the fifth episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad.
 * In the "Gas Station Shop" crime scene of Burying the Hatchet, on a unit is a sticker of the element abbreviations "Br" and "Ba", which is the logo of Breaking Bad.
 * During the events of Death on Wheels, you can see a magazine cover which advertises a TV show called "Burning Mad" and features a parody of Heisenberg on the cover.
 * In the "Saloon Terrace" crime scene of Open Wounds, there is a wanted poster which features the portrait of a man bearing a striking resemblance to Heisenberg.
 * The "Mining Shaft" crime scene of There Will Be Blood is full of references to the Indiana Jones movie series.
 * In the "Deep Coral" crime scene of What Dies Beneath, you can spot a clownfish and a blue surgeonfish; which are references to Marlin and Dory from Finding Nemo.
 * There are several cases whose titles pay homage to popular songs, novels, or movies. For example, Ashes to Ashes is a reference to David Bowie's famous song "Ashes to Ashes".
 * During the trial of a notorious serial killer known as "The Puppeteer", Judge Dante sarcastically remarks that he thought the Puppeteer was "some toy that came alive at night and killed people, but turned back into a doll by day." This is a reference to the popular horror movie franchise Child's Play featuring the fictional living doll, "Chucky".

"Pretty" Interesting References
The game features several references to Pretty Simple, the developers of Criminal Case. Here are some examples:
 * In the "Third Floor" crime scene of Good Cop Dead Cop, there's a pizza box marked "Pretty Pizza".
 * In the "Main Street" and "Hot Dog Stall" crime scenes of The Last Supper, a license plate with the text "PRT - SMPL" can be spotted.
 * When the player is piecing back a library webcam in At the End of the Rope, the words "Pretty Webcam" can be spotted.
 * In the "Festival Main Hall" crime scene of The Reaper and the Geek, there is a T-shirt which has the logo of Pretty Simple.
 * The gymnastic beam in the "Training Facility" and "Training Mats" crime scenes of Marked for Death is created by a company called "Pretty Strong".
 * When the player is piecing back Odette Kamarov's mobile phone in Murder-Go-Round, they can find out that the mobile brand's name reads "PrettyPhone".
 * In the "Temple Interior" crime scene of Under the Skin, a rock displaying a "Pretty Simple" graffiti can be spotted at the right-hand side.