Bakerstreet
Bakerstreet Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Materials
- 2 x 30 detective cards (5 each of the values 0 - 5)
- 40 evidence cards (2 each with the letters A – T)
Preparation
Each player receives the 30 detective cards in one colour, which are then shuffled well and placed face down in front of the player. Each player takes the top 3 cards from their stack and holds them in their hand, making sure the other player cannot see them.
The detective cards are numbered between 0 and 5. Some of the cards also have one of the three following symbols: a hand (Stop), a "x2" (Double), and an arrow (Arrow). The symbols are explained under "Evaluation" below.
The 40 evidence cards are also shuffled well, then placed face down, in a circle, in 5 stacks of 8 cards.
(Diagram in the rulebook: "player A" and "player B" areas; "Stack of unused detective cards (player A)", "Place for the detective cards", "Stack of evidence cards", and "Used detective cards (player A)" are labelled.)
The game
The game is played in several rounds, each round consisting of one or more turns. The younger player goes first, and the two then continue playing in turn. The player whose turn it is must either play a turn or question the opponent's last bid.
A turn is played in the following order:
- Play one of the cards in hand
- Add to the cards in hand
- Make a bid
Tip: It's a good idea to try and remember where which cards are!
1) Play a card in hand
The player whose turn it is first places one of the three cards in hand face up next to any one of the 5 stacks of evidence cards (see diagram). If the stack already contains a detective card from an earlier round, then the new card is placed in such a way that all of the cards beneath it are completely covered.
This means that the players will only ever see the top cards on the 5 stacks of detective cards; players are not permitted to look through these stacks of cards!
2) Add to the cards in hand
In the second move, the player takes the top card from his stack of unused cards so that he again has three cards in hand.
Note: If there are no unused cards left, the player shuffles the stack of used cards created during the course of the game and uses these as the new stack.
3) Make a bid
Finally, the player must make a bid. This bid tells how high the player estimates the total of all six cards in hand to be (that is to say, the values of both players' cards in hand). The symbols on the cards are ignored.
The player who starts the round can choose the amount of his first bid; all further bids must then be at least 1 point higher than the one given by the co-player in his last turn.
Note: It is possible that a player might just give a bid that is too high or too low (for the 3 cards in his hand) to deliberately mislead the co-player ...
Example: Anna goes first. She places one of her cards in hand face up next to a stack of evidence cards. She then takes a new card from her unused stack so she again has 3 cards in hand. She then makes a bid – "13". Now it's Ben's turn. He too puts one of the cards in his hand next to any stack of evidence cards, takes a new card so he again has 3, and increases Anna's bid – he says "16". Now it's up to Anna – she can either put down a card, take up a new one and make a new bid (which must be higher than "16"), or she can dispute what Ben said…
Tip: Bluffing is a key feature in BAKERSTREET!
Tip: Try and remember the cards the other player has used – it's then easier to estimate whether the cards in his hand are high or low!
The players continue in this fashion, with each turn ending with a (constantly increasing) bid. Then, sooner or later, someone will ...
Dispute
If a player cannot or does not want to increase the other player's bid, then he can dispute it. In this case, though, this player must forfeit this turn and reveal the 3 cards in hand. Then the other player does the same. The actual sum of the cards is calculated by adding together the six cards (remember: the symbols are not included at this stage):
- If the total really is lower than the disputed bid, then the disputing player wins.
- If it is the same or higher then the player who made the bid wins.
Reveal all 6 cards in hand when one player disputes:
- total < bid: disputing player wins
- total >= bid: bidder wins
Both players then put their 3 cards face up on their own stacks of used cards.
Note: Only the top card on these two stacks is revealed; the players are not to go through the stacks of cards!
Evaluation
A dispute ends the current round and an evaluation occurs. The player who won the dispute chooses one of the 5 stacks of evidence cards. The detective cards on either side are now added up. To do this, they are sorted into the two player colours – this is done from top to bottom, card by card – until the stack has either been used up or a stop card (see below) is revealed.
The players count the point values of their detective cards, including the symbols (see below). The player with the higher total wins the evaluation. As a reward he may choose one evidence card from the stack in question (see below).
The players then put their evaluated detective cards face up on their stack of used cards.
Note: Even if there is no detective card next to a stack of evidence cards, this stack can still be chosen. In this case the winner of the dispute is also the winner of the evaluation, and may choose one of the evidence cards. This also applies if both players achieve the same total in the evaluation.
Tip: The winner of the dispute decides which stack of detective cards will be evaluated.
Tip: If there is no difference the winner of the dispute chooses (also if the total is zero).
The symbols
The symbols on the detective cards have the following meaning for the evaluation (and only then!):
- Stop (hand symbol): This card still has to be evaluated, and the value will be added to the player's total; that is then the end of the evaluation. If there are any more detective cards underneath the stop card, they are left where they are; this does not affect the evaluation.
- x2 (Double): This card in the evaluated detective cards doubles the total sum of the player in question. Even if a player has more than one x2 card in the evaluation, the total is only doubled once.
- Arrow: If there is at least one arrow card in with the ten evaluated detective cards (irrespective of which player has it), then the next stack (moving in a clockwise direction) along is also evaluated. If another arrow turns up during the evaluation of this stack, then a third stack is evaluated and so on.
Note: This means it could be possible that one stack is evaluated more than once in a round.
Sample evaluation
Anna has successfully disputed and chooses a stack of evidence cards to be evaluated. The cards are placed face up, one after the other, in front of the appropriate player. The fifth card is a "stop" card. It is also placed in front of its owner, and then the evaluation stops. Any remaining detective cards are just left next to the stack of evidence cards.
This means that Anna ((3 + 2) x 2) and Ben (5 + 3 + 2) each have a total of 10 points. In the event of a draw the last player to win a dispute and choose the stack of evidence cards is the winner, and so Anna may choose one of the evidence cards. The players put the evaluated detective cards on their stacks of used cards.
As at least one of the evaluated cards had an arrow, the next pile is then evaluated ...
Collecting evidence cards
The winner of an evaluation may look at all of the evidence cards in the stack in question. This player then chooses one card and places it face down in front of him. The remaining evidence cards then go back where they were.
This way, the players gather more and more evidence to help them solve the case ...
Notes: The evidence cards consist of the letters A to T (2 of each). There is no link between A and T. A player may hold only one card of each letter. The players may look at their collected evidence cards at any time.
A new round begins after the evaluation/s (if an arrow was evaluated): both players take the top 3 cards of their stack of unused cards in their hand. The player who lost the dispute in the previous round goes first.
End of the game
The game ends when one of the players has at least seven consecutive letters. The player turns over his evidence cards, and has won.
Example: Anna has just won an evaluation and taken an evidence card with the letter F from the stack. This means she now has a row of at least 7 successive letters (the illustration shows her evidence cards B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, N, with a bracket spanning D through K). She turns her evidence cards over and ends the game as the winner.