Black Sonata FAQ
102 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Components
- What are the clue cards in Black Sonata?
- How many Dark Lady cards are in the base game?
- How many deduction tokens does Black Sonata include?
- Which side of a stealth card do you look at during play?
- Can you skip the clue mask and just flip the top clue card as you gain clues?
- Can you draw a clue from the bottom of the clue stack in the base game?
Set Up
- How many paths can the Dark Lady take through the stealth deck?
- Do you get the location key for your starting location at setup?
- Why does the Dark Lady seem to skip locations when the stealth cards are sorted alphabetically?
- Can you cut the stealth deck several times during setup without breaking the Dark Lady's path?
- Where do the matching-suit clue card and the location keys go at setup?
- How many stealth cards should the deck have for a sequence?
- Should you avoid looking at the clue cards during setup?
- Which way should the stealth deck letters run during setup, with A on top or A at the bottom?
Game Play
- How do fog cards get into the stealth deck, and what happens to the card you search?
- How do you search for the Dark Lady, and where can you search?
- After an unsuccessful search, do you still advance the stealth deck and make the Dark Lady flee?
- How many stealth cards does the Dark Lady flee past after a search?
- After a search, does the Dark Lady still make her normal move on your next turn?
- How far can the Dark Lady move in one turn?
- Can the Dark Lady move straight back to the location she just left, or stay where she is?
- Does a fog card stop the Dark Lady from moving, make her jump, or change her path?
- What if the next stealth card does not show a location next to the Dark Lady's current spot?
- Is there a marker that moves across the board to show where the Dark Lady is?
- Can you move and search for the Dark Lady in the same turn?
- When a fog card is on top of the stealth deck, what can you do on your turn?
- What happens on the Dark Lady's turn when a fog card is on top of the stealth deck?
- After you use a fog card's action, is the fog card discarded or kept for reuse?
- What if you cannot carry out a fog card's instruction, such as drawing a clue from an empty deck?
- If a fog card says to discard the top card of the fog deck and the fog deck is empty, do you lose?
- What happens if you try to use a fog card or search when no fog cards are left?
- If a fog card moves as part of a block during a search or flee, do you use its ability?
- When a card lets you look ahead at the next five stealth cards, do fog cards count among the five?
- How do you resolve a fog card that says to advance the stealth deck by two cards?
- Do you reset the location key cards after visiting every location?
- Can you move directly between Clerkenwell and Shoreditch in one move?
- What location does a fog card stand for when the Dark Lady reaches it?
- When a fog card says to discard a clue card of your choice, which clue cards can you discard?
- Do you advance the stealth deck during your first turn of the game?
Identifying the Dark Lady
- When a fog card changes the Dark Lady, does the matching-suit clue card change too?
- Does memorising the Dark Lady cards spoil the game?
- How do you narrow down the Dark Lady's location when a stealth card fits several locations?
- When can you take the clue card under the location keys, after visiting every location?
- Can you search for the Dark Lady at a location that lacks the matching home symbol shown in the rulebook example?
- Does a symbol shared by two clue cards have to be the Dark Lady's symbol?
- If a search at one of your tracked locations fails, can you remove that location's token?
- Can you look at the clue cards you have collected at any time, including after a fog card changes the Dark Lady?
- Why is the clue card of the same suit needed to identify the Dark Lady?
- When you draw a clue card, do you take the top card from under the clue mask?
- Can you use information from a location a fog card replaced, or a clue you discarded, to deduce the Dark Lady?
Confronting the Dark Lady
Scoring
- How many passes through the stealth deck does the countdown card allow?
- How is your score calculated after you identify the Dark Lady?
- Does the Dark Lady flee before end-game scoring after a successful confrontation?
- Does a longer stealth sequence raise your score, since cards left on the stealth deck count?
Adjusting the Difficulty
- Why is there a 3 on the countdown card?
- Can you combine the easy-mode suit removal and discarding fog cards, or are the difficulty options all-or-nothing?
- What do the clue-suit removals in easy and advanced modes do to the clue deck?
- In easy mode, do you discard both suits joined to the Dark Lady's suit by a dotted line?
Additional Stealth Deck Sequences
- Are there errors in the Hard stealth deck sequences on page 18 of the rulebook?
- How do you identify each stealth card in the additional sequences?
- Can the Dark Lady stay in place on the extra sequences at the back of the rulebook?
- If a sequence always moves her, can you remove a marker that would require her to stay?
- Are the extra stealth deck sequences at the back of the rulebook the same as the sequences printed on the cards?
General
Black Sonata: The Fair YouthExpansion
- Does asking a bystander about the Fair Youth, or seeking the Rendezvous, use up your action for the turn?
- Does confronting the Fair Youth use up your action for the turn?
- Does catching the Elusive Poet count as an action?
- Do you need to find both the Dark Lady and the Fair Youth to win?
- How do bystander hints work, and can they be ambiguous?
- Can you unmask the Fair Youth in the same location as the Aggressive Poet?
- When do you get a tracer token back after the tracer card returns?
- Where does the Rival Poet start?
- Can the Rival Poet move into the Dark Lady's location?
- When does the Aggressive Poet fail to follow you?
- If the Aggressive Poet catches you, what happens on the next round?
- When the Aggressive Poet cannot get any closer to you, does he stay put or step sideways?
- How does the Elusive Poet move when you step next to him?
- How do you count steps to the Rendezvous?
- Must the Rendezvous location match where you catch the Lady and the Fair Youth?
- Are all clue cards kept in the stack when you use the Darker Ladies setup?
- How do you read a Darker Lady clue card marked with a less-than sign next to a number?
Black Sonata: Strange ShadowsExpansion
- Do you insert a Blazonry card every time you search for the Dark Lady?
- Can you collect clues before cracking the Blazonry?
- Does the position of the shared symbols matter when solving the Blazonry shield?
- Is a Blazonry card treated like a fog card when the Lady flees?
- If a Blazonry card is on top when she is at your location, can you search that location?
- How does the Rival Poet move when the stealth card is an Indirection compass rose?
- Does the compass card show where the Lady is, or the direction she travelled?
- For a new fog card with a delayed effect, do you keep the card until the effect happens?
- When do you choose which side of a Darkest Lady clue card to use?
- Are all Darkest Ladies the same difficulty?
- At game end, do unrevealed Blazonry cards left in the stealth deck get replaced with fog cards for scoring?
- In Cat and Mouse, can the Dark Lady discard all stealth cards when she has no matching location, and does she lose if stuck?
- In Cat and Mouse, does shuffling the stealth deck mean a real shuffle or just a cut?
- In Cat and Mouse, after the Dark Lady refreshes her hand, does she discard a matching card again?
- Which stealth deck order is the normal one that Indirection compass cards work with?