Crooks
Crooks Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
104 Cards:
- 32 Crook cards
- 8 Target cards (2 to 9)
- 8 Master Criminal cards
- 9 Hangouts (A to I)
- 47 Bank Note cards ($1 and $3)
Players: 2-4. Age: 10+. Playing time: 10-20 minutes.
Objective
As a cunning master criminal, you search the city's Hangouts for Crooks to send on missions of burglary and theft. Whoever sends the best crook to each target wins that target's pay out. The city contains three criminal gangs - the Northside, the Westside and the Outfit - and additional points are awarded to the player who rises to the top of each gang by hiring the most of its members.
Set Up
Arrange the Target cards in order from 2 to 9 in a row.
Each player chooses a colour and places a Master Criminal card of his colour in front of him.
The players then use the other Master Criminal cards of their colours to form a column below and to the left of the target cards.
Arrange the Hangouts alphabetically in a row. Shuffle the Crooks and deal them randomly into face-down piles below the Hangouts.
- In a 2-player game use Hangouts A to E and deal Crooks in piles of 2, 2, 3, 4, 5.
- In a 3-player game, use Hangouts A to G and deal Crooks in piles of 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5.
- In a 4-player game, use Hangouts A to I and deal Crooks in piles of 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5.
Each player gets $18. Place the unused money in a common supply (bank).
Randomly choose a player to start.
(Illustrated set-up example for a 3 player game: Targets 2 to 9 in a row at the top, the three Master Criminal cards in a column to their left, Hangouts A to G in a row below, each with its face-down pile of Crooks beneath it.)
Game Sequence
Play proceeds clockwise in turns until each player has passed, at which point the game ends and final scoring is carried out.
Each turn is divided into two actions: recruitment and robbery. A player may instead choose to pass. Once you've passed, you are out of the game and may not take another turn in future.
Recruitment
You search the city's Hangouts for new Crooks to carry out your plans.
The active player chooses a Hangout and pays $1 per card currently below it. The money goes to the common supply. He looks at the cards in this pile, chooses one and takes it into his hand, without showing any cards to the other players. He puts the others back, face down.
Example: Below Hangout D are 3 cards. The active player pays $3. He looks at the three cards, chooses one and places the other two back.
Note: If you don't have enough money to recruit, you must pass.
Robbery
You send a Crook to a Target to rob it at the end of the day.
Place the Crook card you just acquired face-up at a Target of your choice. The Crook must be placed in your Master Criminal's row. Each Target can only contain one Crook per player (with the exception of the Accomplice).
Place the card face-up at the Target or pay an extra $1 to place it face-down. You, and only you, may look at your face-down Crooks whenever you like.
Special Cards
Some Crooks have special actions. These are denoted by an icon at their top corners. When these Crooks are placed face-up at a Target, the action is triggered.
Actions do not trigger if the Crook is placed face-down. You can only trigger the action when the card is placed at a Target from your hand. You can't save the action. You can choose not to trigger the action (exception: Kingpin).
- Pickpocket: Take $2 from the bank.
- Accomplice: You may place this Crook at a Target at which you have already placed a Crook. Place this card on top of the card already present. Their ranks are summed during scoring.
- Switch: You may place this Crook at a Target at which you have already placed a Crook. If you do, move the original Crook to another Target at which it could be placed legally. If the original Crook was face-down, leave it face down. The original Crook does not trigger any special abilities a second time. If you play a Switch Crook to a Target at which you already had more than one Crook (thanks to Accomplices), move all the original Crooks to the same new Target.
- Killer: Discard all Crooks belonging to one player already at this Target. Discarded Crooks are removed from the game and go back in the box. You may discard your own Crooks this way. If you do, the Killer replaces them.
- Kingpin: You must place this Crook face-up at a Target. Important: You may only recruit this Crook if it is the last Crook at its Hangout!
- Spy: Look at either all face-down Crooks at any one Target or all the cards at any one Hangout (without taking one of them).
Scoring
When all players have passed, final scoring is carried out. Reveal all face-down Crooks.
Targets
Score each Target one by one. Start with the lowest-value Target. The player with the highest ranked Crook there earns that Target's points. In case of a tie divide points evenly (rounded down).
The number of points for a Target is equal to the number at the top of the Target card increased or decreased by any modifiers on the Crooks at the Target.
Some Crooks have modifiers beside their rank. These modifiers adjust the Target's score, whether or not the player who placed that Crook won that Target and whether or not they were originally placed face up or face down.
Note: The points for a Target can't be less than zero.
Example: Tom sends a 7(+2) Crook to the 6 Target. Pim follows with an 8(-1) Crook. At the end of the game Pim wins this Target as 8 is higher than 7, and he earns 7 points (6 +2 -1).
Gangs
Some Crooks have a coloured circle at the top of the card to show that they are members of a gang. The city's three gangs are the Northside (red), the Westside (blue) and the Outfit (yellow).
Score each gang one by one. The player with the most members of that gang controls that gang and gets points. In the case of a tie nobody gets points.
In a 2-player game, control of a gang is worth 5 points, in a 3-player game 4 points and in a 4-player game 3 points.
Note: Crooks that are members of more than one gang are counted for each.
Example: In a three-player game, Tom has three Northside Crooks, Pim has two and Suzanne has none. Tom gets the Northside 4 points. Tom also has two Westside Crooks, Pim has one and Suzanne has two. As no player has more Westside Crooks than anyone else, nobody gets points.
Winning the Game
The player who earns the most points from Targets and Gangs this way wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the most cash wins.