Death Note Investigation Card Game
Death Note Investigation Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
This Rulebook, 8 Identity Cards, 8 Mission Cards, 8 Placement Cards, 96 Clue Cards, one board, 2 tokens.
Cards
In DeathNote ICG (Investigation Card Game) you will find 3 different types of cards: Identity, Mission and Clue cards. Placement cards are just used to mark players seat positions.
The Identity cards (with a black back) show the image of a character and his/her name. One Identity card is randomly dealt to each player at the beginning of the game. It's essential that only the player knows his/her own identity, and the Identity card should never be revealed to other players during the game. A player can freely look at his/her own Identity card at any time.
The Mission cards (with a bright symbol in the back) give to the players their goal for the current game. One Mission card is dealt randomly to each player at the beginning of the game. The Mission card should never be revealed to any other player during the game. A player can freely look at his/her own Mission card at any time.
Clue cards, (with the black and red pattern in the back) are divided between ID-Clue and Mission-Clue. Clue cards are used to give answers to other players' investigation attempts. At the beginning of the game each player receives a pre-set Clue deck of exactly 12 cards (8 ID-Clue and 4 Mission-Clue, numbered to make easier to split them). The same, identical, 12 cards composes all Clue decks.
Unused cards, regardless of type, are placed back in the box, without looking at them.
Set-up
- Choose the rules for the current game: Light (easier) or Kira (for expert players).
- The player who has most recently viewed an episode of DeathNote (or one chosen at random) receives the Placement card # 1, and the other Placement cards are given in clockwise order (i.e.: the player seated to the left of the starting player will receive Placement card #2, the player to his/her left will get Placement card #3 and so on). Placement cards are always visible to the other players during the whole game. Player #1 turns the Placement card in front of him to the red side; all the other players keep their Placement cards on the grey side in front of them.
- The Player whose Placement card is turned on the "red" side places the 8 Identity cards face down in the middle of the playing area. Starting from the player with the "red" Placement and proceeding in clockwise order, each player draws an Identity card, without showing it to the other players. Keep this information secret! Put back in the box without looking at them the unused Identity cards.
- The Player whose Placement card is turned on the "red" side takes the "Kira" and "L" Mission cards, plus as many other Mission cards (without looking at them) to match the number of players. (i.e.: with six players he adds four Mission cards to the "L" and "Kira" Mission cards). Shuffle the deck and, as for Identity cards, each player draws a Mission card without showing it to the other players. Put back in the box without looking at them the unused Mission cards.
- Each player takes a set of 12 Clue cards. Put back in the box any unused set of Clue cards.
- Put in the middle of the table, reachable by all players, the board and the two tokens.
- The game starts! You are now ready to play.
Goal of the Game
To win a DeathNote game a player must fulfil his/her mission.
"Kira" Mission: to win, you must put out of the game the player with the mission "L". You should discover which player has the mission card "L" and also which is his/her Identity card. Then you put him/her out of the game during the Death Note Phase. "L" is also put out of the game if he/she makes a wrong accusation during the Arrest Phase, so you should also try to drive the investigation into a wrong direction.
"L" Mission: to win, you must put the player with the mission "Kira" under arrest during the Arrest Phase. Putting a player under arrest ends the game in any case.
"Investigation Team Member" Mission: you must help the player with the mission "L" during the investigation, even if you do not know who he/she is. You win if "L" wins, you lose if "Kira" wins. This also means that you don't necessary lose if you're put out of the game during the Death Note Phase (so you can still win even if temporary out of the game).
"X-Kira" Mission: you must help the player with the mission "Kira" during the investigation to drive the investigation into a wrong direction (this includes yourself being accused to be Kira), even if you do not know who the player with the mission "Kira" is. You win if "Kira" wins, you lose if "L" (and the Investigation Team Members) win. Note that you and Kira can even win if "L" puts you under arrest during the Arrest Phase, since that will be a wrong accusation!
Light Rules
Recommended for the players at their first investigations.
Playing the game
After the set-up, each player sets, in order, the Clue cards revealed in front of him/her. Then, the game starts, divided in turns. Each turn is composed by four phases.
Game tip: it's easier if all players place the Clue cards in front of them in the same exact order. You can refer to the numbers in the right-down corner of the card to place them in the same order.
Game Turn
A) INVESTIGATION. In turn order, starting from the Player whose Placement card is turned on the "red" side and proceeding in clockwise order, each player has to choose an opponent and investigate him/her. The player under investigation must cover (by turning facedown the cards) 2 ID-Clue cards that are not corresponding to his/her Identity card.
Game example: Player "A" is under investigation, and only 2 of his ID-Clue cards are still face up. He is forced to turn face down a Mission Card. Next time he will be under investigation he will have to turn face down another Mission card.
If that player can't cover 2 ID-Clue cards without covering the one equal to his/her Identity card, he/she has to cover a Mission-Clue card that is not corresponding his/her Mission card. If that player can't do even this, he/she doesn't have to do anything. After this investigation, the next player can do the same. Is it possible to put the same player under investigation (by different players) more than once in the same game turn. When each player had the opportunity to do an investigation, the phase ends.
Proceed now with phase B) Arrest.
B) ARREST (OPTIONAL). The Player whose Placement card is turned on the "red" side announces the possibility for "L" to arrest a player. If the "L" player wants to, he/she has to reveal his/her Mission card and choose an opponent. The game will immediately end, so the player with the "L" mission must think carefully before declaring the arrest! The arrested player reveals his/her Mission card: if the revealed card is "Kira", the "L" and the "Investigation Team Member" team wins the game. Otherwise, "L" is eliminated and so the "Kira" (and "X-Kira") team wins. If "L" doesn't want to arrest anyone, he/she doesn't reveal himself/herself (so he/she doesn't say anything and bluffs he/she isn't "L") and the Arrest phase ends.
Proceed now with phase C) Death Note.
C) DEATH NOTE. All the players close their eyes and, without looking, wait until the Player whose Placement card is turned on the "red" side finishes to slowly countdown from 8 to 0, at high voice, so everyone can hear the countdown.
During the countdown, the "Kira" player (and only "Kira") can open his/her eyes, and place the two round tokens on the Death Note board covering the image of one of the eight character Identities shown on the DN board and one placement number.
At the end of the countdown, all players open their eyes. Now, check the Death Note board: if the tokens have been placed on it, the Player whose Placement card is turned on the "red" side asks the player whose Placement number is covered by a token, if his/her Identity card matches the Identity covered by the other token. In that case, that player is put out of the game and he/she has to reveal his/her Mission card. If it's the "L" Mission card, the game ends immediately and "Kira" (and "X-Kira") wins. Otherwise, if the player put out of the game had the Mission card "Investigation Team Member" or "X-Kira", or if no player was put out of the game, the Death Note phase ends.
Proceed now with phase D) Red position.
D) RED POSITION. The game turn ends, the player with the Placement card was showing the red side turns it on the grey position and the player to the right turns his/her Placement card on the red side.
The game continues now with another game turn, starting again with phase A) Investigation.
End of the game
The game ends when a victory condition is reached: "L" is put out of the game during phase C) or "L" makes an arrest during phase B).
Players keep on taking game turns (repeating phases from A to D) until one of those conditions is met.
Kira Rules
Recommended for expert players.
Main Change
In the Kira rules, players keep the Clue cards in their hand: when a player is investigated, he/she reveals cards, by playing them from his/her hand face up on the table in front of him/her.
Game Turn
Changes from the Light rules:
A) INVESTIGATION. In turn order, starting from the Player with the Placement card on the red side and proceeding in clockwise order, each player has to choose an opponent and investigate him/her. The active player chooses one the investigation type: Identity or Mission.
The investigated player must reveal, by putting them face up on the table, 3 Clue cards. Before doing this, he/she has to return to his/her hand 2 Clue cards previously revealed, if he/she was previously investigated.
Identity investigation: the investigated player chooses and reveals 2 ID-Clue cards and 1 Mission-Clue card, by playing on the table in front of him/her. At least one of the card must be exactly alike his/her Identity or Mission cards.
Mission investigation: the investigated player chooses and reveals 1 ID-Clue card and 2 Mission-Clue cards, by playing on the table in front of him/her. At least one of the card must be exactly alike his/her Identity or Mission cards. If the investigated player can't do this, he/she doesn't have to do anything. After this investigation, the next player can do the same. A player can be chosen by more then one player as a target for the investigation, even in the same phase (this will make very hard for her/him to deceive other players about her/his Identity and Mission). When each player had the opportunity to do an investigation, the phase ends.
Other turn phases are unchanged from Light Rules.
End of the game
Winning condition are exactly the same as in the Light Rules.
Optional rule
Shinigami eyes: Special ability for the X-Kira player
During the Investigation phase, the "X-Kira" player can, at the end of his/her investigation, reveal his/her Mission card to all players to look the Identity card of the investigated player. From now on, the "X-Kira" player must play with the Mission card revealed and every time he/she does an investigation he/she can look the Identity card of the investigated player. He/she cannot show the card to another player, but can openly speak about it.
During the investigation phase, any player can choose to pass his/her investigation turn to chase X-Kira. If the "X-Kira" player has his/her Mission card revealed and he/she hasn't done yet an investigation during this phase, he/she has to pass, without doing any investigation (and so without using the death god's eyes).
Game designer notes
In DeathNote ICG the 8 Identity cards show images of some of the main DeathNote story characters. The game will allow you to experience the feeling of the DeathNote animated series, but is not a reproduction of the same exact story. This will allow every game to be different, ensuring you and your friends an enduring fun. Have fun and thanks for choosing this game!