IQ Files: Escape Room – Sins Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Symbols on the Cards
• Riddles
• Combinations
• Wounds and Death
• Moving to Another Room
• QR Codes and Hints
• Game End
• Scoring

Components

96 cards: characters, rooms, riddles and traps.

The game rules you are reading now.

Setup

Take decks 1 and 2 and set aside the top "Stop" cards. Without shuffling and without looking at the cards, sort them into piles:

1. Character cards. Place them in front of you, colour side up. The characters do not belong to any player; you control all of them together.
2. Code card. You will use it to solve puzzles. How exactly is explained below.
3. Reference card. The main rules of the game are summarised here, so you can quickly check them during play.
4. Letter cards. These are the rooms you will have to pass through. Place them in a stack face down, without looking at them and without shuffling.
5. Number cards. These are the cards that stay at the end of the sorting. They contain riddles, puzzles and events that can help you survive and win. Do not look at them and do not shuffle them; place them face down on the table.

Once you have sorted all the cards into piles:

1. Read the information on the character cards and look at the characters themselves.
2. Turn the CM card face up. This is the first room. In it, the characters come to their senses after being sentenced to prison.
3. You may take a pen and paper to solve riddles and record clues.
4. Decide how long you want to play.
   • If you want the tense atmosphere of a dangerous trial, set a 90-minute timer on your phone at the start of the game. When time runs out, the game ends.
   • If you want to drag out the characters' suffering, then first, you are cruel sadists (fine, you probably just want to enjoy the game, right?), and second, you will not need a timer: play until the end. If a card tells you to spend extra time (for example, "lose X minutes" or "start the timer for X minutes"), nothing happens.

Symbols on the Cards

The front of a card may show one or several symbols:

1. Card number. Shown on the front of the card in the bottom right corner, and matches the number on the back of the card. Character cards have no number.
2. Number in a black circle. Means you may take the card with the matching number from the number stack, turn it over and place it face up.
3. Letter or number in a black circle with a red character symbol. Means you may take the card with the matching letter or number from the stack, but you must assign a character to that card. What this means for play is explained under "Wounds and Death".
4. Number in a yellow circle. Means a combination. Details are under "Combinations".
5. Number in a yellow circle with a red character symbol. Means a combination, but once you have made it, you must assign a character to it. What this means for play is explained under "Wounds and Death".
6. Numbers next to a rubbish bin symbol. These are the numbers of cards you may remove from the game (in this example, remove cards 6 and 97).

Plaque. Each room has a plaque with a number in a black circle. Sometimes it gives additional hints or a description of the room, so it is worth reading before you take cards from the stacks.

Riddles

Over the course of the game you will solve riddles:

1. If the answer to a riddle is a one-, two- or three-digit number, take the card with the matching number from the number stack. Example: the riddle's answer is 839, so take card 839.
2. If the answer is a four-digit number (or if you have made a combination), find this number on the code card (on side A). Example: the riddle's answer is 4257, so find the number 4257 on the code card.
3. If the answer is a letter, take the matching card from the letter stack. Example: the riddle's answer is K, so take the card with the letter K.

If you have taken a card and realise it has nothing to do with what you are doing or have done, this means you have solved the riddle incorrectly.

If the number or letter is found neither on the code card nor in the stacks, this means you have solved the riddle incorrectly, or that this number or letter is meant to be used for something else.

When designing the game, we tried to reduce the chance of such errors as much as possible. However, the course of a game may be unpredictable.

Combinations

Numbers inside a yellow circle are used only for combining items (sometimes characters with items). To make a combination:

1. Choose two numbers in yellow circles on face-up cards.
2. Arrange them from smallest to largest so that they form a four-digit number. For example, if one card has 47 in a yellow circle and another has 29 in a yellow circle, the combination is 2947.
3. Take the code card and, on side A, find this four-digit number. It gives you a code made of the letters СМ and two digits (for example, СМ39).
4. Turn the code card over and, on side B, find the code you obtained. It gives the number of the card you must take.

Instead of a code on side B, you may find the following notations:

• ОШ (error): the combination you made is meaningless in the game. Perhaps you made the combination incorrectly, or it was a false trail that we invented to make you lose time (yes, we are the baddies).
• РАН (wound): the character assigned to this combination receives a wound.
• СМЕ (death): the character assigned to this combination dies. Read about wounds and death in the section below.

Example

Step 1: Anya and Borya combine two items: one has 13 in a yellow circle, the other has 38 in a yellow circle. In ascending order this gives the code 1338.

Step 2: Anya and Borya find the code 1338 on side A of the code card. This leads them to the code СМ14.

Step 3: On side B of the same card, the code СМ14 corresponds to the number 806. So Anya and Borya may take card 806 from the stack and use it in the game.

Wounds and Death

During the game, characters may receive wounds and die.

• If a character receives a wound, turn the character card over to its black-and-white side. As soon as a character receives a second wound, they die immediately.
• If a character dies, remove them from the game. You may still read the information on their card, but you may not assign that character to cards or combinations, and you may not make combinations with that character.

A character may receive a wound or die if:

1. You assign a character to a card with a red character symbol ( ). Some such cards wound or kill the character, and sometimes the harm can be avoided in advance with certain items or actions. If the black circle with a number has no character symbol, that item or card is safe.

2. You combine cards incorrectly, and the code card gives РАН or СМЕ. For example, you combined a character card with a container of acid (horrifying, who would even think of that!).

   • Do not assign a character. Nobody is hurt for sure. (shown with the number 25)
   • You must assign a character to this card. There is a risk of receiving a wound or dying. (shown with the number 911)

3. You scanned a QR code on the back of a card and received a hint with the word РАНА (WOUND) or СМЕРТЬ (DEATH). We will explain QR codes in more detail below.

4. Other special circumstances arose. Some events cause a wound or death, but the card will warn you about the consequences in advance. For example, it may offer a choice of three cards, two of which can wound characters and a third that is safe.

Moving to Another Room

You may take a letter card and move to another room if:

1. While solving a riddle, you get a letter as the answer. However, if you see the letter separately from a riddle (for example, it is written on a wall), you may not take the letter card.
2. You see a letter in a black circle (the same kind of circle in which the numbers that let you take a card from the number stack are shown).

QR Codes and Hints

Your characters wear collars with a red light. Using the notorious criminal Zhora as an example, we will show why they are needed. If Zhora does something wrong or solves a riddle incorrectly, he receives an electric shock (thanks to the world government for its cutting-edge technology). The same thing happens if Zhora asks us for a hint. And if he dares to ask for the ready-made answer, the electric shock may prove fatal for him. Pity Zhora: solve the riddles correctly and without hints!

The back of the number cards has two QR codes: one with hints for the riddles and one with ready-made answers. You may scan them at any time (if your phone's camera cannot read QR codes, install any QR code reader app).

• A QR code in the upper part of the card is always a hint.
• A QR code in the lower part of the card is always an answer.

What you need to know:

• Not every QR code gives a hint or an answer. Some simply report that there is no hint or answer for the card. These are false codes, so that the quest is not too simple (yes, we are certainly terrible people).
• Some hints and answers are dangerous for the characters (as a rule, they are linked to fairly complex riddles). If, after scanning a code, you see the words "РАНА" (WOUND) or "СМЕРТЬ" (DEATH), choose the character who will receive the wound or die. However, not all codes are dangerous: some honestly show a hint or answer without any consequences.
• If you want to make the game easier, ignore the words "РАНА" and "СМЕРТЬ" in hints and answers.
• If you cannot scan the codes, you may download a file with hints and solutions at this link: clck.ru/rnka5. This option may slightly spoil the experience of the game, since while reading one hint you may accidentally see another.
• If you cannot solve a riddle, you may read the walkthrough for your room (it includes a description of the solution): clck.ru/rnkpx. We advise doing this only when you have done everything possible to solve the riddle and are close to despair.

Game End

The game ends immediately if:

• A. All the characters have died. You lose, and you may start again or continue playing without scoring.
• B. Your time has run out (if you set a timer). All characters still alive die (the world government kills them with an electric shock through their collars). You may start again or continue playing without scoring.
• C. The surviving characters leave the last room through the exit card, which announces that the game is over. Then proceed to scoring.

Scoring

1. Score 2 points for each living character without wounds.
2. Score 1 point for each living character with a wound.

Dead characters score no points.

Find your result:

• 10 points: a real brain! The world has lost a genius, but once you leave prison, great deeds await you. If, of course, you do not stumble again.
• 7–9 points: very good. You have the potential, after prison, to integrate into society and do something useful.
• 4–6 points: well... at least you will be safe for the next few years.
• 1–3 points: you were hanging by a thread. The last thread of a balding old man.
• 0 points: we don't even know what to say. Besides, what is the point of talking to corpses.