Black Stories Investigation Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Idea
• Contents
• What You Need to Do Before You Can Play
• How to Play
  • 1. Play a Murder Case Card
  • 2. Attempt to Solve the Case (Optional)
    • How Many Point Chips Do You Get?
    • A New Murder Case for Your Opponent
  • 3. Draw a Murder Case Card
• End of Game

Game Idea

As hired BSI detectives, you have to solve murder cases. Each murder case is characterized by 4 pieces of evidence: murder victim, time of death, crime scene and murder weapon. For each piece of evidence there are exactly two possibilities:

• Murder victim: man or woman.
• Time of death: day or night.
• Crime scene: inside or outside.
• Murder weapon: knife or gun.

It’s your job to solve the murder cases of the other players. To do this, you have to figure out the correct 4 pieces of evidence for each case. Give the other players leads that they have to investigate. Collect clues for each murder case in your investigations. The more clues you collect, the easier it will be to solve a case, but also the fewer point chips you will be able to collect. Whoever has the most point chips at the end of the game wins.

Contents

• 28 murder case cards (containing 2 to 4 pieces of evidence)
• 12 investigation cards (in 4 different colors and each with 1 to 3 drops of blood)
• 16 investigation chips (in 4 colors)
• 4 evidence grids
• 35 point chips
• 4 investigation files

What You Need to Do Before You Can Play

Everyone picks up an investigation file and lays it down in front of him on the table. Put the remaining investigation files back into the game box. Shuffle the murder case cards and place them face down as a draw pile. Everyone takes a card from the pile and looks at it. Each murder case card shows different pieces of evidence pertaining to the case. What pieces of evidence and how many there are can be seen on the symbols on the lower edge of the murder case card. Now you have two options:

• Did you pick up a murder case card with 4 pieces of evidence on it? Great! This is the murder case that the other players have to solve. Put the murder case card in your investigation file. You can hold it in place with the flap.
• Did you pick up a murder case card with 3 or less pieces of evidence on it? You cannot begin with this card. Slide the murder case card face down under the draw pile and keep drawing card after card until you pick up a card with 4 pieces of evidence on it.

Note: The murder case cards are the most important element in the game. They have a dual function. On one hand, they determine the concrete murder cases that you have to solve in the game (the murder case cards are in your investigation files), and on the other hand, the remaining murder case cards are used to collect the clues that you need to be able to solve the murder cases of the other players.

Each player then takes an evidence grid and places it in front of him on the table so that everyone can see the numbers on it. Select a player color (red, black, gray or white) and lay the 4 corresponding investigation chips in a pile and the 3 investigation cards face down in front of you. Put the point chips into a pile within reach. Reshuffle the draw pile and place it in the middle of the table. And finally, each player draws three murder case cards from the draw pile which make up the player’s respective hand. Now the game can begin.

How to Play

The last one to read or watch a murder mystery goes first. The game is played in turns in a clockwise direction. Each turn consists of up to three steps:

1. Play a murder case card
2. Attempt to solve the case (optional)
3. Draw a murder case card

1. Play a Murder Case Card

To begin your turn, lay one of your three murder case cards from your hand in front of one of the other players. This player then compares your murder case card with the concrete murder case in his investigation file and checks to see how many pieces of evidence match. Depending on how many matches there are, he lays your murder case card next to the corresponding field of his evidence grid.

If there is already a murder case card there, he lays the new card underneath so that both are visible.

If the player lays your murder case card below the field 0/1, that means either one or none of the pieces of evidence match those of the murder case he is investigating. If he lays your murder case card below the fields 2 or 3, exactly 2 or 3 of the pieces of evidence, respectively, are a match. 4 matches are not possible, since each murder case card occurs only once in the game.

That means, with each new murder case card that is laid below the evidence grid of one of the players, the more clues you will have to solve his murder case. Draw your conclusions. As soon as you think that you have collected enough clues, you can attempt to solve the case.

2. Attempt to Solve the Case (Optional)

Do you think there are enough murder case cards next to the evidence grid of one of the other players? When it’s your turn, you can attempt to solve the case. Point to the player whose murder case you want to solve and say: “I want to solve your murder case.”

Note: You can attempt to solve any one of the murder cases; it doesn’t have to be from the player where you played your murder case card in this round.

Take your investigation chips and indicate the exact 4 pieces of evidence that, in your opinion, match those of the player’s concrete murder case. Then lay one of your investigation cards next to it, face up. Depending on how sure you are, choose your investigation card with the 1, 2 or 3 drops of blood on it. For example, if you are very certain, you would do well to use the investigation card with the 3 blood drops on it, as you receive one point chip for each blood drop on your investigation card, provided that your suspicion was correct. But choose wisely, because you are allowed to use each investigation card only once in the game.

The player then compares your investigation chips with his concrete murder case:

• Does at least 1 piece of evidence not match? That’s unfortunate. Your attempt has failed. The player reveals neither which pieces of evidence nor how many of them were incorrect. You do not receive any point chips. Your investigation card is taken out of the game. With a little luck, you can try again in the next round—that is, if none of the other players has already beaten you to it.
• Do all 4 pieces of evidence match? Congratulations! You have solved the case. The player reveals his concrete murder case and you receive point chips.

How Many Point Chips Do You Get?

Was your attempt to solve the case successful? Then take one point chip for each drop of blood on your investigation card. Remove the investigation card from the game. You also get point chips for solving the murder case. The number of point chips you get depends on how many murder case cards were lying below the corresponding evidence grid. The fewer the murder case cards, the more efficient you were in solving the case and therefore the more point chips you get. Count how many murder case cards there are and subtract the number from the value 6. The result is the number of point chips you are entitled to.

Special case: Is the result zero or even negative? Then you do not receive any point chips for solving the murder case. However, you do get to take point chips for your investigation card.

Example: It is Emil’s turn. There is already one murder case card below the field 0/1 of Eva’s evidence grid. This murder case card shows the pieces of evidence: woman, night, outside and gun. From this, Emil knows that either none or one of these pieces of evidence are a match with Eva’s concrete murder case. Emil lays a murder case card with the pieces of evidence woman and knife in front of Eva. Eva puts the new murder case card below the field 2 of her evidence grid. That was lucky! Now Emil knows that both pieces of evidence of the new murder case card are matches. That means that only the piece of evidence woman matches on the first murder case card. Emil points at Eva and says: “I want to solve your murder case.” Then, using his investigation chips, he indicates the combination of woman, knife, day and inside. He is quite certain of his suspicion and therefore plays his investigation card with the three blood drops. Eva checks her investigation file: Emil’s suspicion was correct and he successfully solved the murder case. He receives 3 point chips for the investigation card and 4 point chips (6 - 2 murder case cards) for correctly solving the murder case.

A New Murder Case for Your Opponent

Have you successfully solved another player’s murder case? Then lay all the murder case cards that are lying below his evidence grid face up on the discard pile. The player also discards his solved murder case card.

Now he needs a new murder case: He picks up one murder case card after the other from the draw pile until he has one with 4 pieces of evidence on it. This is his new concrete murder case, which he puts into his investigation file. If he also picked up murder case cards with 2 or 3 pieces of evidence on them, then he puts these face up on the discard pile.

3. Draw a Murder Case Card

Do you want to end your turn? Then draw a murder case card from the draw pile. You should now have 3 murder case cards left in your hand. Then it’s the next player’s turn to your left.

Has the draw pile run out of cards? Then shuffle the discard pile and put it into a new draw pile with the cards facing down.

End of Game

The game is over when someone has played his third investigation card. But continue playing until the round is over. That is to say, each player takes his last turn in the round until it is the start player’s turn again. Each player then counts his own point chips. The player with the most point chips wins the game. There can be more than one winner.