Hot Lead Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Objective
Game Set-up
Play
Game End
2 Player Rules
Optional Features
- Back Alley Cards
- Promotion Stars
Credits

Components

55 Investigator Cards (1-55)
55 Evidence Cards — 5 Criminal Activities (1x 0 points and 2x 1-5 points)
5 Promotion Stars (optional)
10 Back Alley Cards (optional) — 5 Informants (1-5 points) and 5 Dead Ends (-3 to -7 points)

Objective

Simultaneously reveal cards to collect evidence on 5 different criminal activities. Collect exactly 3 cards of the same criminal activity or cards of all 5 different criminal activities for bonus points. After 10 rounds, the player with the most points wins.

Game Set-up

Shuffle the investigator cards. Deal a hand of 11 investigator cards to each player. Discard any remaining investigator cards, unseen, into the box.

Shuffle the evidence cards and place them as a face down deck in the middle of the playing area.

Play

The game is played over 10 rounds. At the start of each round, reveal as many evidence cards from the deck as there are players. Display these cards face up, one after another, in one column below the facedown deck.

Each player selects one investigator card from their hand and places it facedown in front of them. These cards are revealed simultaneously. The player with the highest value investigator card wins the topmost evidence card, which lies closest to the facedown deck. Then, the player with the second highest investigator card wins the next evidence card, and so on. Discard the revealed investigator cards face down into the box.

Each player displays the evidence cards they win face up in a tableau in front of them, using a separate column for each criminal activity. Then continue with the next round.

Attention: If you win a 4th evidence card of one criminal activity, then you have investigated too aggressively. The criminals smell a rat and go dark: you lose all 4 of your cards of this criminal activity and must discard them face down into the box.

You may still collect more cards of this criminal activity in future rounds.

Game End

The game ends after 10 rounds. The players do not put their 11th investigator card into action. Now each player counts their points:

Each evidence card is worth its printed value.
If you have evidence cards of all 5 criminal activities, receive 10 bonus points.
For each criminal activity of which you have exactly 3 cards, receive 10 bonus points.

The player with the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, all tied players share the victory.

Example: Shawn receives 18 points from the values of the cards, 10 bonus points for exactly 3 Money Laundering cards, 10 bonus points for exactly 3 Grand Theft Auto cards, and 10 bonus points for having all 5 criminal activities. Shawn's total score is 48.

2 Player Rules

With 2 players we recommend the following special rule: At the start of each round reveal 3 evidence cards (instead of 2). The player who reveals the higher investigator card chooses between the topmost and the second evidence card. Thereafter, the other player chooses one of the 2 remaining cards. The leftover card is discarded face down into the box.

Optional Features

There are 2 additional features you may include in your play of Hot Lead, if you wish. You may choose to include one or both. We always like to include both!

Back Alley Cards

Shuffle the informant and dead end cards into the deck of evidence cards. When you reveal cards from the deck at the start of a round and a back alley card appears, immediately reveal more cards until an evidence card appears.

All these revealed cards — the one or more back alley cards plus the subsequent evidence card — form a single set and fill one position of the column. Ensure the identity of each card is still visible, but partially overlap the cards to save space.

When a player wins a set, the player adds all of these cards to their tableau.

There are 2 different types of back alley cards:

Informant: Place this card into the same column as the evidence card of the set. The informant counts as an additional card for this criminal activity and contributes points (1 to 5). Because it counts as an additional card for this criminal activity, it contributes to earning 10 bonus points for exactly 3 cards or losing those cards (including the informant) with 4 or more.

Dead End: At the end of the game, each dead end is worth negative points (-3 to -7). These do not count as an additional card for any criminal activity, they are instead placed in their own unique column. If you collect 4 dead end cards, they are not discarded.

Promotion Stars

During preparation, display the 5 promotion stars face up in the middle. Each star represents an early investigation success on a specific criminal activity, leading to a promotion.

The first player who wins 2 cards of the same criminal activity (e.g. first to win 2 Forgery & Fraud cards, first to win 2 Armed Robbery cards, etc.) claims the matching promotion star. If multiple players qualify for the same star in the same round, the star always goes to the qualifying player who played the higher investigator card that round, taking their card earlier.

Players keep their promotion stars in front of them. At the game end, each promotion star is worth 5 points (the 5-pointed star is a helpful reminder of their value). Promotion stars cannot be lost, even if a player loses the matching cards.

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