Four Suspects
Four Suspects Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 16 alibi cards
- 22 interrogation cards (with a coin on the back side)
- 6 helper cards
- Player sheets
Preparations
Put the 6 helper cards face up on the table.
Shuffle the interrogation cards and put them in a face down deck in the middle of the table. Reveal the top two cards and put them face up next to the deck.
Shuffle the deck of alibi cards. Take one card and put it unseen back into the game box. This is the missing alibi that the players must identify in order to win the game.
Distribute ALL remaining cards among the players.
Note: In a 4 player game, one player will receive one card less than the other players. Before the game begins, this player gets to look at a random card from the hand of the player sitting to their left. This other player (sitting left of the player with only 3 cards) will be the start player.
In a game of 3 or 5 players, the starting player is determined randomly.
For a 2 player game, see special rules at end of this booklet.
The Game in Short
Players take turns in a clockwise order around the table, interrogating each other about the cards they hold in hand. Once a player manages to identify the missing alibi card, they win the game.
On Your Turn
Choose one of the two face up interrogation cards and give it to one of the other players. You must then interrogate this player (see below). The interrogated player takes the card given to them and keeps it in a face down stack in front of them. Each card in your stack represents a coin. Coins can be used to acquire the help from one or more helpers (see below).
Interrogating Another Player
The chosen interrogation card indicates the type of question you can ask. The category (time/place/person) indicates what type of characteristic you can ask about, while the number (1, 2 or 3) indicates how many different characteristics you can ask about.
Examples of legal questions:
- Place - 3: "How many alibi cards do you have picturing either the restaurant, the bar or the library?"
- Time - 2: "How many alibi cards do you have for either 6 or 12 o'clock?"
- Person - 2: "How many alibi cards do you have picturing either Rita or Lloyd?"
The player being interrogated must answer truthfully.
If the answer is 2 or more, the interrogated player must also show one card secretly to the player carrying out the interrogation. The card must be one of those that were just asked about.
Example: Player A takes an interrogation card ("Place 2") and gives it to player C. Player A must then ask a question about places, and asks: "How many cards do you have showing either the Restaurant or the Deck?" Player C answers 3. Since the answer was 2 or above, player C must now show one of these cards to player A. She shows a card showing a suspect in the restaurant.
End of Turn
At the end of your own turn you cannot have more than 4 coins in front of you. If you have more than 4 coins at this time, return any excess cards to the bottom of the interrogation deck.
Finally draw a new interrogation card and place it face up next to the deck, so that there are 2 face up interrogation cards available for the next player.
Then the next player (seated to the left of the active player) takes their turn.
The Helpers
You may spend coins to buy help from one or more of the helpers. Some may be bought when you are the active player, some when you are being interrogated (as described below). The prices of helpers are indicated on the helper cards. When paying for help, return the shown number of coins (cards) to the bottom of the deck of interrogation cards. Then place the hired helper card face up in front of you. You are not allowed to buy help from a helper card that is already in front of you.
Note that even if the card remains in front of you, its effect is only applied once (when you buy the card). To buy this particular helper again, you must wait until another player pays for this helper and takes the card away from you. A player may have any number of helpers in front of them, and may buy help from several different helpers on the same turn.
Helpers That Can Be Bought When You Are the Active Player
Trip magazine editor - Price 1: Ignore the symbols on the interrogation card, and ask a question as if it had any category and/or number. You must still give one of the interrogation cards to the interrogated player.
Nakai (hotel maid) - Price 1: The player being interrogated must give you their answer in secret, so only you get to know the answer. The interrogated player indicate their answer by showing a number of fingers. However, since the interrogated player must still show a card if the answer is two or more, the other players will know if the answer is either less than 2, or 2 or more.
Banto (hotel manager) - Price 3: After having taken a turn, you may immediately take another turn. Pick a new interrogation card and interrogate any player.
Helpers That Can Be Bought When You Are Being Interrogated
Novelist - Price 1: You must add or subtract 1 from the true value when answering. Note that you only show a card if your answer is 2 or more, no matter what the true value is.
Gardener - Price 2: When your answer is 2 or more, you can buy this assistant to avoid having to show a card.
Note: This assistant will not help you avoid showing a card if someone uses the "Show one alibi card to another player"-card.
Geisha - Price 3: When you show a card to another player, they must show you one of their cards that matches at least one aspect (time, place or person) of the card you showed. If they don't have any such cards, they don't show you a card.
Winning the Game
At any time during the game (even during another player's turn), a player may shout out that they want to make a guess at the missing alibi. The player must then clearly mark on his sheet which card he believe is the missing alibi. Without revealing his guess to the other players, the player must now look at the alibi card that was put in the game box at the beginning of the game.
If the guess is correct the player wins the game!
If the guess is incorrect the player returns the missing alibi card to the box. The player do NOT tell the other players which card they guessed. The player is now out of the game and must return his money cards to the bottom of the deck. His future turns are skipped, but the player can still be interrogated by the other players, so he has to remain at the table and truthfully answer the other players' questions about his alibi cards.
If several players want to make a guess at the same time, they all mark their guess on their own sheet. Then they look at the missing alibi card, and if more than one player guess correctly, they share the victory.
If only one player remains in the game because everyone else have made an incorrect guess, the one remaining player wins.
Changes to a 2 Player Game
Set up: Remove the Nakai (maid) assistant from the game.
At the beginning of the game, return TWO alibi cards to the game box. To win, you must identify BOTH these cards.
Deal the remaining 14 alibi cards to the two players. Each player look at their 7 cards and must then distribute them into two decks ("rooms"): The left room must have 3 cards, and the right room must have 4.
When players interrogate the other player, they must specify if they ask about cards in their left or right room. When being interrogated, your answers must only concern the cards in the room that is being asked about (left or right).
Even though you have two rooms, you keep your coins in only one stack.
When making a guess, the player must mark TWO missing alibis. If BOTH guesses are correct, the player wins the game. If one or both guesses are wrong, the other player wins.
Beside these changes, the game is played as a 3-5 player game.