Components

• 16 suspect cards
• 16 thief cards
• 12 clue markers
• 4 detective hat pawns
• 3 custom dice
• 1 fox figurine
• 1 clue decoder
• 1 game board

Object of the Game

A wily fox has stolen Mrs. Plumpert's pot pie and is high-tailing it to the foxhole!

Work together as a team of detectives, gathering clues and eliminating possible suspects. Figure out who is the guilty fox before it escapes.

Setup

1 Place the board in the center of the playing area.

2 Each player takes a detective hat and places it on a space in the center of the board.

3 Place the fox pawn on the start space (lox icon) on the edge of the board.

4 Scatter the 16 Suspect cards face down around the perimeter of the board (4 per side) and then choose any 2 to turn face up.

5 Shuffle the 16 Thief cards and without looking, insert into the top of the Clue decoder, The easiest way to do this is to hold the decoder with the window-side down and slider closed.

Then slide a Thief card into the decoder with the red "Gamewright" logo sticking up out of the back. Place the Clue decoder within reach.

6 Place the rest of the Thief cards back in the box.

7 Stack the 12 Clue markers in a facedown pile near the board.

8 Place the 3 dice within reach of play.

Game Play

The player who most recently ate pie starts the game and play continues to the left.

On your turn, take the three dice and, before rolling, say out loud whether you "Search (or Clues" or "Reveal Suspects'. II you choose Search for Clues, you wan to roll all three dice to show footprint symbols. If you chose Reveal Suspects, you want all three dice to show eye symbols.

You may roll the dice up to three times, setting aside any that match after each roll.

If all three dice show the icons that match your choice by your third roll, take one of the following actions:

A. Search For Clues

Count up the footprint icons on the dice and then move your detective pawn up to that number of spaces on the board. You may The game can end in one of three ways: move horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally.

1. 

   If you land in a space that contains a paw print, draw the top clue marker and place it in the Clue decoder. Then slide open the decoder and look whether the color ' showing through the hole on the marker is green or red.

   If it's red, that means that you have found a clue, as the thief is wearing that particular item. If it is green, that means that the thief is not wearing it.

2. Then look carefully at all of the face up suspects around the board. If any are wearing this particular item and it was marked "green", you can eliminate them from the game. (Place the Suspect card back in the box). If it was marked "red" - note that you may have a possible guilty suspect on your hands! (Remove any suspect that is NOT wearing the item).

3. Close the slider and then end your turn by placing the Clue marker face up on the space where you landed.

Notes:

• You may move on any square on the board, including the fox's path.

• You may exit a paw print square from a different location than where you entered.

B. Reveal Suspects

Reveal two face down Suspect cards that are around the board. Then look at all of the face up clue markers that are on the board and check whether or not the suspects are wearing any of the items.

Use your memory to remember whether or not those items were marked "red" or "green" in the Clue decoder.

Discard any suspects who are not wearing any item that was marked red. This ends your turn.

If all three dice do not match the action that you chose by your third roll - uh ohl - the thief moves closer to the foxhole! Move the lox pawn 3 spaces forward on the fox path. This ends your turn.

End of the Game

1. You have a strong suspicion of who is the guilty fox. In this case, name the suspect out loud and then reveal the Thief card from the decoder.

   If the name matches, Otherwise, the guilty fox dashes to the foxhole and escapes from your clutches.

2. You eliminate all but one suspect card from around the board. When this happens, remove the "Thief" card from the decoder and make sure they match, If they do, congratulations sleuths, you cracked the case and won the game!

3. The fox reaches the foxhole space on the board. If this happens, that wily fox also escapes. Better luck next time, detectives!

Variant

Once you get good at the base game, step up the challenge by moving the fox pawn 4 spaces instead of 3. And for experts, move it 5 spaces!

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