Components

• 60 Clue cards
• 5 Player boards
• 5 Card stands
• 18 Paw Print tokens
• 2 Furriarty/Award tokens
• 1 Rulebook

Object of the Game

Each round, Furriarty commits a new crime and escapes one space further through the streets of London. As a team, you must catch Furriarty before he reaches the end of the trail and escapes.

If you collectively solve enough Investigations before Furriarty escapes, you will catch him, and the player with the most victory points will be declared the winner and promoted to Scotland Pound's Chief Inspector.

If you are too slow and allow Furriarty to complete his dastardly plans and escape London, no one wins, and the player with the fewest victory points will be demoted to Litter Box Inspector.

Throughout the game, each of you will be using deductive reasoning to guess details about your Investigation, a Clue card that is hidden from you but visible to the other players.

This card contains two details: a Suspect (one of five) and an Hour (one of twelve).

By guessing one or both details correctly, you'll follow Furriarty's trail and gather up Paw Print tokens he left behind, giving you victory points and getting you closer to catching him.

To narrow down the details of your Investigation, you will be choosing Clue cards from your hand and asking the other players whether those cards are Leads or Dead Ends.

Leads mean your Clue card has the same Suspect, the same Hour, or an adjacent Hour to your Investigation, while Dead Ends will have none of these.

Setup

1. Set up the trail. Randomize the Paw Print tokens by mixing them facedown.

   Then, line the Paw Print tokens and the Furriarty token with a number on it, in a row to make the trail, as shown in the diagram below (Furriarty side face-up). Return all unplaced Paw Print tokens to the box, keeping them facedown.

   2 players:

   3 facedown tokens, 2 face-up tokens, Furriarty token, 6 facedown tokens

   
   

   3 players:

   4 facedown tokens, 3 face-up tokens, Furriarty token, 6 facedown tokens

   
   

   4 players:

   5 facedown tokens, 4 face-up tokens, Furriarty token, 5 facedown tokens

   
   

   5 players:

   6 facedown tokens, 5 face-up tokens, Furriarty token, 4 facedown tokens

   
   

2. Choose first player. The player with the most cats will become first player. This player will take the Furriarty token without a number on it and place the token to their right, setting it between the first and last player.

   This is Furriarty's spot and indicates when he will take his turn.

   
   

   Note: The awards on the backs of the Furriarty tokens only matter when the game ends.

   
   

3. Distribute Card stands and Player boards. Give 1 Card stand and 1 Player board to each player.

4. Draw Investigations. Shuffle the 60 Clue cards to make the Clue deck and deal 1 Clue card facedown to each player. Each player, without looking at it, will place their dealt card in the Card stand with the Suspect and Hour side facing towards the other players. This is your Investigation.

5. Seed Investigations. Each player draws 2 Clue cards from the Clue deck, and then performs the Investigate action on these 2 cards. For how to perform an Investigation action, read Investigate Action (pg. 5).

6. Draw hands. Deal 4 Clue cards to the first player and 2 Clue cards to all the other players.

Game Play

Purrrlock Holmes: Furriarty's Trail is played over a series of rounds. In each round, each player will have a turn, starting with the first player.

Your turn consists of two phases:

1. Action Phase: You must Investigate once and you may Guess once, in either order.
2. Cleanup Phase: Pass 2 Clue cards and then draw 2 Clue cards.

When your turn ends, play advances clockwise to the next player.

Furriarty's Turn

When every player has taken a turn, Furriarty makes his move: advance the Furriarty token along the trail, revealing the Paw Print token he passes, and check if he escapes.

1. Action Phase

During the Action Phase, you must perform the Investigate action once and you may perform the Guess action once. You may perform these two actions in either order.

1. Investigate Action (mandatory)

Choose 2 Clue cards from your hand and reveal them one at a time. The other players must state truthfully whether each Clue card is a Lead or a Dead End:

• A Lead means the Clue card has the same Suspect, the same Hour, or an adjacent Hour as your Investigation. The Hours wrap around like a clock, so 12 is adjacent to 1.

• A Dead End means the Clue card does not have the same Suspect, same Hour, or adjacent Hour. You will need to rethink your investigation to see where you were bamboozled.

  If a Clue card is a Lead, place it face-up to the left of your Player board (next to the green pipe symbols). If it is a Dead End, place it face-up to the right of your Player board (next to the red fish bones symbol).

2. Guess Action (optional)

First, declare which details of the Investigation you want to guess: only the Suspect, only the Hour, or both. Then, make your guess. The other players must tell you truthfully whether you are correct or incorrect.

If you are incorrect, the other players cannot give you any details about why you are incorrect.

If you guessed both details, the other players can only tell you that you are correct if you correctly guessed both details. Otherwise, they must tell you that you are incorrect.

Guessing Correctly

If you correctly guessed only the Suspect or Hour, then you collect the single Paw Print token furthest to the left on the trail, closest to the start.

If you correctly guessed both the Suspect and Hour, then you collect the 2 Paw Print tokens furthest to the left on the trail, closest to the start.

Take your Investigation's Clue card, place it face-up above your Player board, and place your collected Paw Print token or tokens on it. Keep any facedown Paw Print tokens facedown. You may look at your facedown tokens, but do not reveal them until the end of the game.

Then, discard all of your Leads and Dead Ends (i.e., the Clue cards placed to the left and right of your Player board) into a face-up Discard pile next to the Clue deck.

Finally, draw and seed a new Investigation. To do so, draw 1 Clue card and, without looking at it, place it in the Card stand with the Suspect and Hour side facing towards the other players. Then, draw 2 Clue cards and immediately perform an Investigate action revealing these 2 cards.

Guessing Incorrectly

If you guess incorrectly, you will not draw 2 Clue cards at the end of your current turn.

Catching Furriarty

The Furriarty token along the trail is collected exactly like a Paw Print token. If you use the Guess action to collect the Furriarty token, you've caught Furriarty and the game immediately ends.

2. Cleanup Phase

First, pass the 2 Clue cards remaining in your hand clockwise to the next player. If you have no Clue cards in your hand to pass, the next player immediately draws 2 Clue cards instead.

Then, you draw 2 Clue cards. However, if you guessed incorrectly on your Guess action, you do not draw these 2 Clue cards.

At the end of the Cleanup Phase, your turn ends. Play passes clockwise to the next player.

End of Round/ Furriarty's Turn

When every player has taken a turn, the round ends and it is now Furriarty's turn. As a reminder the second Furriarty token was placed between the last and the first player during setup.

Advance the Furriarty token one space towards the end of the trails and flip the Paw Print token that the Furriarty token passes face-up, revealing the victory point value of the Paw Print token.

When the Furriarty token reaches the end of the trail, meaning there are no Paw Print tokens for the Furriarty to move along, the players will get one last round to catch Furriarty.

At the end of that round, if nobody has received the Furriarty token, Furriarty escapes London and the game immediately end.

Calling "Paws"

Once per game at any time, you may call upon the aid of Purrrlock Holmes to help ensure you will be the top Inspector to catch Furriarty. Simply flip your Player board and call "Paws".

If you do, you get to immediately perform the Guess action once. You may call Paws even while it is not your turn. Even in the middle of another player's action.

If you call Paws, you will lose 1 victory point at the end of the game.

End of the Game

The game can end in one of two ways:

• If Furriarty is caught, by a player performing the Guess action and collecting the Furriarty token from the trail.
• If Furriarty escapes, by the Furriarty token moving off the trail end.

Determining a winner:

Furriarty is caught

Congratulations, you've busted the bewhiskered baddie that's been bullying all of Baker Street! Reveal any facedown Paw Print tokens the players have collected, and count up each player's victory points from Paw Print tokens and the Furriarty token. Any player who called Paws during the game loses 1 victory point.

The winner is the player with the most victory points, who is promoted to Scotland Pound Chief Inspector. Flip the Furriarty token showing the Scotland Pound Chief Inspector rank and give it to that player.

In case of a tie, the winner is the player with the fewest completed Investigations (the best Inspector scored more points with the fewest cases).

Furriarty Escapes

Condolences, Furriarty has completed his plans and escaped London! As a result, count up each player's victory points from Paw Print tokens. Any player who called Paws during the game loses 1 victory point.

There is no winner. However, the player with the least victory points is demoted to Litter Box Inspector. Flip the Furriarty token showing the Litter Box Inspector rank and give it to that player.

In case of a tie, the Litter Box Inspector is the player with the most completed Investigations (the worst Inspector took on too many cases and didn't get anywhere).

Continue Reading