Case File #1 "The Witch Cult Murders"

Components

• 50 Clue cards
• 6 Victim cards
• 4 Reference cards
• 1 Professional Contact card
• 3 Player Aid cards
• Instructions

Object of the Game

Score 5 different types of Clue cards with the puzzle attribute before the game ends.

Setup

1. Place the four Reference cards on the playing area, as pictured. Use the sides without an asterisk (*) for a standard difficulty game.

2. Shuffle the Victim cards. Return one to the box, unseen, and place the others in a face-down stack to the right of Reference card 1. Draw two Victim cards and place them face up below Reference card 2. These are your open cases.

3. Shuffle the Clue cards. Place them in a face-down stack to the left of Reference card 1. This is the draw stack.

4. Draw 5 Clue cards and place them face up, from right to left, in the five spaces to the left of the draw stack. This forms the Leads row. The first card on the left of the main row will now be referred to as the First lead card.

5. Draw 3 Clue cards and hold them face up. This is your hand.

6. Place the Professional Contact card to the left of your open cases. If you have more than one Professional Contact card (from other cases in this series), you can choose any of them to play this case.

Game Elements

Clue Cards

Clue Types

Investigative Techniques

Attributes

Game Play

The game is played over a series of turns until one of the three game-ending conditions is met.

One turn consists of 2 phases:

1. Action Phase: You must take the First lead card and perform one of the five actions, which are described in detail in the following section.
2. Maintenance Phase: Perform all four end-of-turn maintenance actions and check the three game-ending conditions.

1. Action Phase

A. Take the first lead card in hand

Take the First lead card and add it to your hand. Your hand size is limited to 3 cards. If you ever have more than 3 cards in hand, you must immediately discard until you have only 3 cards left.

Discarding Clue Cards / Time Penalty

Whenever you discard a Clue card for any reason, put it in the Time penalty area if it has the icon. Otherwise, put it in the discard area.

B. Play The First Lead Card To An Open Case

Take the First lead card and play it to an open case. Each open case starts with a

Victim card and forms its own line of investigation, with Clue cards added to the right of previously-played cards.

You can play the Clue card to an open case if the investigative icon on the left edge of the card matches one of the icons on the right edge of the last card in the line of investigation.

The Clue cards with the ANY icon can be played in any open case and can be combined with any other research method.

Locks, Keys and other Requirements

Some Clue cards have a lock or card minimum attribute on their top left edge. In order to play these cards, the open case must meet the additional requirements described below:

• To play a Clue card with the attribute to an open case, there must be a Clue card with the attribute already in that line of investigation. Each card allows you to play one card. The cards do not have to be played consecutively.

• To play a Clue card with the attribute to an open case, there must be at least that many Clue cards already in that line of investigation.

Mental Strain Rule

Long investigations are draining. Each Clue card played to an open case after the seventh (which lines up with the Reference card 1) requires a Stability check before you resolve that card's printed effect(s).

Stability Check

To perform the Stability check, draw the top card of the draw stack. If the card has the icon, place it in your Stability penalty area. Otherwise, discard the card.

Card Effects

As soon as a Clue card is played to an open case, you must resolve the card effects printed at the bottom of the card, in order from left to right. These effects are described in detail in the card effects reference (black effects are mandatory and brown effects are optional).

C. discard the first lead card and play a card from your hand to an open case

Discard the First lead card and play a Clue card from your hand, using the same rules described previously.

D. Discard the first lead card and close an open case

Discard the First lead card and close one of your open cases.

An open case can be closed if its line of investigation consists of at least five different types of Clue cards. The Victim card is not a Clue card.

You can score any Clue cards with the attribute in that case if, when these are removed, there are still at least 5 different types of Clue cards remaining in the case. Place the scored Clue cards in the Big picture area, and all other cards from the closed case in your Closed cases area (above Reference card 3).

If you have no more open cases, reshuffle all cards in the discard and Time penalty areas into the draw stack, then draw a new Victim card.

Stability Bonus

If you close a case which contains all 6 types of Clue cards (before scoring the cards), you may draw one card from the Stability penalty area.

E. Discard the first lead card and pass

Discard the First lead card and proceed to the maintenance phase immediately.

2. Maintenance Phase

Before starting your next turn, you must perform each of these steps in the following order:

A. Check victory condition

If you have five or more Clue cards of different types in your Big picture area, you win. Otherwise, continue playing.

B. Check stability penalty area

If the number of cards in your Stability penalty area is equal to or greater than 5, you lose.

C. Check time penalty area

If the number of cards in your Time penalty area is equal to or greater than 5, you must:

• Draw a new Victim card and start a new open case below the others. If there are no Victim cards when you must draw one, you lose.

• Place all cards currently in the Time penalty area in the discard area.

D. Refill leads row

Move all the Clue cards in the Leads row to the left, closing any gaps. Draw cards from the draw stack to fill the empty spaces in the Leads row, from left to right.

Running out of leads

At any point during the game, if you must draw a card from the draw stack but find it empty, you must:

• Draw a new Victim card and start a new open case below the others. If there are no Victim cards when you must draw one, you lose.

• Take all cards from the discard area, shuffle them, and form a new draw stack with those cards.

• Draw the necessary card(s) and continue with your turn.

Professional Contact

At any time during the game, as a free action, you can use the card effect listed on either side of your contact. Remove the card from the game once used.

• Side 1: Key. Play a Clue card with the attribute as if you had a card with the attribute in that open case.

• Side 2: Exchange. Exchange a card from your hand with a card from the Time penalty area or the Stability penalty area.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when any of the following conditions is met:

1. The number of Clue cards of different types in your Big picture area is at least 5 during your maintenance phase. You win.

2. The number of Clue cards in your Stability penalty area is equal to (or greater than) 5 during your maintenance phase. You lose.

3. There are no Victim cards remaining but you must draw one. You lose.

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