Cops 'n' Robbers Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setting Up the Game
• Using the Cards
• Moving the Police Cars
• Arresting the Suspect
• Variations on the Game

Setting Up the Game

1. Lay out the game board, then choose the playing colour. The players now place their police station and police car on the board at the matching colour. (The station goes on the white square and the car on the "gravel" parking area.)
2. Sort the cards into three piles: a) There are 5 hunt cards that show the type of hiding place the suspect is using: church, boat, construction site, warehouse and café. b) The five fingerprint cards in red, orange, yellow, purple and green show the colour of the hiding place where he is. c) The 45 radio message cards contain various tips, route assignments and clues from police headquarters to the cars. Shuffle each of the three piles separately and place them face down beside the game board.
3. The players roll the die to decide who starts. Play then continues clockwise.
4. The first player rolls the die and moves their police car down the garage driveway, which counts as one step, and then on out onto the road for as many steps as the die shows.

Note: A "six" on the die gives no extra throw.

Using the Cards

5. At the start of the game nobody knows where the suspect is hiding. You must therefore get to a telephone as quickly as possible, the only places where you can get hold of the important radio messages, and see whether you can get a clue there. Until you get a radio message, you simply patrol back and forth along the streets.

6. When you have come to a telephone and received a message there, you must follow the card's instructions. After use, place the card face up in a special pile for used radio messages.

7. When you take a card showing that the suspect has moved to a new hiding place, you immediately turn up a new card from the hiding place pile. This card is placed face up so that everyone can see which type of hiding place they must now watch, for example the church (cross symbol on the card).

   Exactly where the suspect is hiding remains unknown until a fingerprint card is also turned up showing the colour.

   Example: You have received a radio message showing that the suspect is in a church. Until a fingerprint card has been turned up, nobody knows which of the 5 churches it is. Everyone must therefore keep ready for a quick dash to one of the churches, depending on the fingerprint colour that will soon appear.

   When a radio message shows that the suspect has moved to a hiding place of another colour, you immediately turn over the top card of the fingerprint pile to find out where he now is.

8. When both the type and the colour of the hiding place are known, everyone knows exactly where the suspect is, and the players race to get there first to try to be the one who catches him.

   Beware! If you or anyone else on the road receives a radio message, you must also follow that card's instructions, which may mean an extra assignment or new important information that the suspect has moved to another hiding place again!

   Example: The two clue cards show that the suspect is in the green church. Before any of the cars arrives, someone stops at a telephone and turns over a radio message showing that the suspect has moved to a new hiding place. You must now turn over a new card from the hiding place pile and place it on top of the old church card. The new card shows a boat, and everyone now knows that the new hiding place is the green boat.

Moving the Police Cars

11. Cars may be moved in any direction on all streets, except those marked as one-way with an arrow. On these streets the cars must be moved in the direction of the arrow. If you land on a one-way street and another car blocks the road, you may not overtake it. The longest distance you may go is (if the die allows) to the square directly behind the other car, where you must wait until the road is clear.

12. In one move you may pass through the same square only once. Your car may overtake another car, but two cars may never stand on the same square. On the few moves where you cannot move without landing on an occupied square, you have nothing else to do but stay where you are.

Arresting the Suspect

13. To reach the specially marked square outside the suspect's hiding place, you must roll an exact number that takes you there directly. When you stand on this square, you must roll the die once more during the same move to try to roll a 1. If you roll a 1, you go in and arrest the suspect. You have won the game! If you do not roll a 1, you must move away from the hiding place by as many steps as the die shows. On the way out, if you land on a telephone square, you must pick up a radio message. This may be important: the suspect may have moved again!

Variations on the Game

14. When there are only 2 or 3 players, players may use more than one car each. If you use more cars, you must decide the order in which they are moved, because each roll of the die applies to only one car at a time.

15. If all the radio message cards have been used before the suspect is caught, the game may be extended as follows: a) Skip points 10 a) and b) of the rules above. b) Shuffle the radio message cards again and place them face down. c) Shuffle the hiding place cards and the fingerprint cards again, and turn over the top card of each pile, so that the suspect's new hiding place is revealed. Then continue the game as above until you reach the point where the suspect can no longer flee. The game then ends according to the rules above.

Enjoy your new Joker game.