Midnight Murder Mysteries: Second Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components and General Rules
  • Very important: general rules that apply to all cases
• A Guided Tour
  • Ship Plans
  • Ship Progression Track (10 spaces)
  • Event Cards (16)
  • Case Booklets
  • Notebook and Deduction Sheet
• Setup
• Player Turn
  • First Player Phase (reserved for the First Player)
  • Player Action Phase
  • Clarifications on the "Investigate" actions
  • Clarifications on the "Move your Detective" action
  • Clarifications on the "Extract information" action
  • Buoy tokens
  • Examples
  • Move a Suspect Phase
• End of the Case
  • Arrival at the Port
  • Revelations
• Player Conclusions
• Solving the Case
• Some Useful Tips
  • Keep an eye on the flap!
  • Unique passengers
  • Properly search the locations!
  • Super buoys!
  • Playing Midnight Murder Mysteries well = observing your fellow detectives!
  • Notes on deductions ... and strategy!
  • For fun and for points: goals of the game
• Solo Mode
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo Player Turn
  • Solo End of the Game
• Player Aid

Overview

Midnight Murder Mysteries: The Immersive Detective Game. 1-5 players, ages 14+, 75 min.

In Midnight Murder Mysteries, each case can be played Competitive, Cooperative, or even Solo! When you start a game, choose one of the 3 game modes, then decide on which Case you will investigate this time.

1. In Competitive mode (2-5 players), players compete to solve the case, and decide if their information is made public or not.
2. In Cooperative mode (2-5 players), players investigate on their own, but share their findings when they reach conclusions.
3. In Solo mode (1-2 players), one player (alone or with a teammate) competes with a crew member to solve the case.

Components and General Rules

This game box contains 27 unique cases. In each case, you can interrogate each of the 12 suspects on 3 conversation topics, and search for clues at 24 locations on various decks of the ship.

This box contains: 1 game board, 3 Case booklets (blue, orange, brown), 24 pawns (10 Detectives, 12 Suspects, 1 Purser, 1 Ship), 1 Last Moved Suspect token, 12 Buoy tokens, 6 Mystery tokens, 1 pad with Notebook & Deduction sheets, 1 Player aid tile, 19 pawn bases, 16 Event cards, 1 rulebook.

Mystery tokens are only used with cases C23 to C27.

Preparation: place the following pawns in their base: the Purser, the Ship, the 12 Suspects (pawns with one initial) and the 1 to 5 Detectives chosen to play (1 extra base provided).

Very important: general rules that apply to all cases

1. The body was discovered in the luxury suite (location 13).
2. The suspicious death occurred the day before, between 11:45 p.m. and midnight.
3. The culprit acted alone (there is never an accomplice) and is the only person capable of lying.
4. The culprit is one of the 12 suspects unless it was an accident (there is no culprit) or a suicide (in this case, the victim is considered to be the culprit).

A Guided Tour

Ship Plans

The ship consists of four decks, divided into ten zones, each consisting of one or more locations.

• On the upper deck, you'll find the VIP cabins of the 12 suspects (zone 1, locations 01 to 12), the luxury suite belonging to the victim (zone 2, location 13), and the wheelhouse (zone 3, location 14).
• On the main deck, are the leisure locations: the pool and the piano bar (zone 4, locations 15 and 16), the beauty parlor (beautician, hairdresser, spa, masseur, etc.), and the shops (zone 5, locations 17 and 18), the casino and the theater, which hosts shows and events (zone 6, locations 19 and 20).
• On the lower deck, we have the restaurant and kitchens (zone 7, location 21), the passenger cabins (zone 8, location 22), and the service rooms: the infirmary, the chief steward's room and the laundry room (zone 9, location 23).
• The hold (deck not represented separately) consists of utility rooms, the engine room and the cargo hold, etc. (zone 10, location 24).

Several access points allow the characters to move from one deck to another:

• zone 4 (main deck) is connected to zone 1 (upper deck);
• zone 5 (main deck) is connected to zone 8 (lower deck);
• zone 6 (main deck) is connected to zone 3 (upper deck).

Important:

1. Zone 2 can only be accessed from zone 1. It's impossible to move from zone 2 to zone 3 and vice versa.
2. Zone 9 (service rooms) is connected to zone 10 (the hold), located under the lower deck.

Ship Progression Track (10 spaces)

The ship's course is divided into several steps on the game board. The game starts when the ship turns around towards the nearest port (space 2-3, 4, or 5, depending on the number of players) and ends when it arrives at its destination (space 10).

Event Cards (16)

Some Event cards will cause the ship to advance on the progression Track. Others will add a bit of spice to the game, for example by changing the movement or access rules. They also indicate the position of the Purser for the round. The Event cards aren't tied to the contents of any specific case.

Case Booklets

Each booklet contains several cases, which you don't have to play in any particular order. We advise you not to try the Expert difficulty level cases until you've played at least one or two cases from the Amateur level. The Amateur cases contain fewer wrong paths and offer more ways to find important clues.

The Case Presentations can be found at the beginning of the booklet. To the left, you'll find the case number, the title, the difficulty level, an illustration, and an introductory text (which may include case-specific rules). To the right, you'll find a correlation table: each of the 60 possible paths you can follow has a number, which points to a specific paragraph for you to read during the game. IMPORTANT: after reading the Case Presentation out loud, show the illustration to all the players and slide the booklet's flap in between the two pages. This way, you won't accidentally refer to the wrong case during the game!

In the middle of the booklet, the paragraphs for all the cases are referenced by a number (without mentioning the name of the corresponding path or case). The paragraphs are out of order, which means that the surrounding paragraphs won't be relevant to the current case.

The Solutions for the cases are listed upside down at the end of the booklet (DO NOT SKIP TO THE END AND READ THEM!).

Notebook and Deduction Sheet

The 60 paths you can follow in any given case are listed on the Notebook page. The boxes to the left are used to mark which paths the other players have taken: this can be very useful during the game. On the right, you can mark the paths you've gained knowledge about (thanks to an action carried out by your detective or by obtaining it as public information). Sometimes you'll be writing down essential information, other times you'll be noting that you haven't learned anything useful.

To facilitate your note-taking, consider using only the initials for each of the 12 suspects when you refer to them (for example, "K" for Katrina), and just "V" for the victim.

Watch out for your opponents: they'll be observing you as the case unfolds! Remember that pencils are more discrete and easier to erase than pens. You can laterally fold their case sheets in half horizontally, revealing the paths column but hiding the notes section. You can also use a steady support for writing on your sheet and hiding it, or slide your sheet underneath the board, or fold it in half again, this time vertically.

The Deduction sheet is particularly useful at the end of the game. The grey frame is for taking notes, mainly when the case is being presented. The "Case Elements Reminder" section can help you keep track of which elements can be dismissed and which are suspicious.

Setup

1. Separate out the NAVIGATIONAL ERROR and the 4 CALM SEA cards from the Event deck. Shuffle the 11 remaining cards face down and form 3 piles of 3 cards and a 4th pile of 2 cards. Add 1 CALM SEA card to each pile and the NAVIGATIONAL ERROR card to the 4th pile. Shuffle each pile separately. Then place the 4th pile at the bottom and stack the other 3 piles on top of each other. Lastly, place the Event deck face down on its dedicated place of the board.
2. Place the Ship pawn on the progression Track according to the number of players: in a game with 2 or 3 players place it on space 1, with 4 players on space 2, with 5 players on space 3.
3. Randomly place the 12 Suspect pawns in zones 4 to 9 (2 pawns per zone).
4. Give each player a Notebook / Deduction sheet. Use pencils and erasers for note-taking.
5. Give each player a number of Buoy tokens: 2 players = 5 tokens, 3 players = 4 tokens, 4 players = 3 tokens, 5 players = 2 tokens.
6. Place the Last Moved Suspect token and the Purser pawn next to the board.
7. The player closest to the Event deck will be the First Player throughout the whole game. You can place the First Player marker in front of that player (Cocktail Glass).
8. Each player chooses a different Detective pawn, among the 5 men and women available. Starting with the last player in player order and going anti-clockwise, each player places their detective in one of the zones (4 to 9) which is not already occupied by another detective.
9. Choose a case from one of the Case booklets and read its presentation out loud. Write down the colors or the initials of the other players on top of your Notebook.

Player Turn

In clockwise order, players will take turns investigating.

First Player Phase (reserved for the First Player)

At the start of the round, just before their action phase, the First Player draws the first card from the Event deck and places it face up on the "ROUND EVENT" space.

He/she places the Purser in the zone (1-10) designated by the number on the Event card. The Purser prevents the detectives from investigating the zone he is in (searching a location or interrogating a suspect). However, the Purser doesn't influence the detectives' movement.

The First Player then reads this round's event out loud (title, flavor text, and effect). The effect is immediate and only applies to the current round.

Example Event card: UNVEILING (Event number 9) – One of the suspects reveals their alibi! Read the alibi of the last moved suspect out loud (if possible).

Player Action Phase

On your turn, you have 3 action points to spend (not physically represented in the game). You can use them as you please to take the actions described below. When you choose the Investigate action, publicly or privately, you get to read the corresponding paragraph in the case booklet.

Competitive mode

Actions for 1 point:

• Investigate publicly (read the paragraph out loud)
• Move your Detective to an adjacent zone (+1 action point when moving to zone 2)
• Move the Purser to an adjacent zone
• Purchase 1 Buoy token (if you have fewer than at the start of the game)

Actions for 2 points:

• Investigate privately (read the paragraph in silence); making it public afterwards gives you 1 point back
• Extract information (not about the luxury suite) from a detective in the same zone; give them 1 Buoy token

Cooperative mode

Actions for 1 point:

• Move your Detective to an adjacent zone (+1 action point when moving to zone 2)
• Move the Purser to an adjacent zone
• Purchase 1 Buoy token (if you have fewer than at the start of the game)

Actions for 2 points:

• Investigate privately (read the paragraph in silence), then share your opinion on how useful it is with the other players (all other players in the same zone may also read the paragraph)
• Extract information (not about the luxury suite) from a detective in the same zone; give them 1 Buoy token

Clarifications on the "Investigate" actions

To search/inspect a location (in order to gather physical clues or testimonies from other people on board) and to interrogate a suspect, the detective has to be in the same zone as the target. To interrogate a suspect, you must also choose one of the three possible conversational subjects and announce it to the other players:

• ALIBI (Where were you at the time of the murder?),
• WITNESS (Do you know something about the death, the victim, or the other suspects?),
• MOTIVE (What was your relationship to the victim?).

Competitive mode only: When you investigate publicly, read the paragraph out loud.

When you investigate privately, after taking a look at the paragraph, announce to the other players whether you want to "keep it to yourself" (by reading it silently) or "make it public" (by reading it out loud).

If the paragraph remains private, other players check off the corresponding box on the left side of their Notebook; if it was made public, all players draw a horizontal line across the boxes, to indicate that everyone knows this information.

Cooperative mode only: Players are not allowed to divulge any information about paragraphs that they obtained, nor to comment on them. Players are allowed to advise each other on how to conduct their investigation (for example: "If I were you, I would inspect the infirmary").

After reading a paragraph and before noting down useful information, the active player shares their opinion on how useful the path is to the investigation. The active player is not allowed to speak but must use one of the following 3 gestures (if necessary, they can first get the attention of the other players by saying "Opinion: ..."). The other players write down this opinion in the corresponding box of their notebook sheets (in the active player's column, on the paragraph's line) using the corresponding symbol (+, /, -).

• Thumbs up: IMPORTANT (+)
• Left right rotation: AVERAGE (/)
• Thumbs down: IRRELEVANT (–)

If another player is in the same zone as the active player during an investigation, they will read the paragraph once the active player finishes reading it but cannot share their opinion.

Clarifications on the "Move your Detective" action

When moving your detective, you must spend 1 action point per zone you cross. The movement is calculated zone by zone, and each newly entered zone must be adjacent to the previous one. The detectives and suspects are always considered to be in a zone rather than a specific location. Once you're in a zone, you have access to all locations in that zone. Exception: you must spend 2 action points to enter the luxury suite (but only 1 to leave it), and there can never be more than one detective inside suite 13 at the same time.

Clarifications on the "Extract information" action

If you and another detective share the same zone, you can use the case booklet to privately read a paragraph this player has already seen (the paragraphs known by other players are checked off on your case sheet). For this, you must spend 2 action points and also pay the targeted player 1 Buoy token. Effectively, this costs 3 action points, so use this expensive action only when you're convinced the paragraph is interesting (for example, during the last turn when a player chose to trigger the end or during the game when two players have visited opposing locations). In practical terms, when extracting information from another detective, first state to the other players which paragraph you're going to read, then take the case booklet and read it privately (it's always better to have direct access to the text rather than having it communicated to you by another player).

Buoy tokens

Each Buoy token gives you an additional action point to spend. You can use multiple tokens on a single turn. Once a Buoy token has been used, remove it from the game. During your turn, you may spend 1 action point to purchase a previously spent Buoy token (even one that was spent during the same turn). You can only purchase a Buoy token if you have fewer tokens than the amount you started the game with. However, the 'Extract information' action may allow you to have more Buoy tokens than the amount you started with.

Examples

• Example 1 - Competitive mode: You spend 1 action point to move your detective to an adjacent zone. Then you spend 2 action points to privately investigate one of the locations in that zone. By making the paragraph public, you regain 1 action point. You spend your last action point to move your detective to another adjacent zone.
• Example 2 - Competitive mode: You spend 1 action point to publicly interrogate a suspect on the subject ALIBI (all other players had already looked at this paragraph privately, which made you want to gain the information as well). You then privately interrogate the suspect for 2 action points on the subject WITNESS. After reading the paragraph, you decide to keep it to yourself.
• Example 3 - Competitive mode: You're in zone 1 and want to search the luxury suite. You spend 2 action points to enter it, then you search it privately by spending a Buoy token on top of your 3rd action point. Of course, you decide to keep this precious paragraph to yourself. Because you're in a hurry, you decide to spend another Buoy token to return to zone 1.
• Example 4 - Cooperative mode: You spend 1 action point to move your detective from zone 5 to zone 8. Then you privately investigate the passenger cabins by spending 2 action points: you read the corresponding paragraph, say "Opinion" and choose to give this path a thumbs up (other players note down a "+" in the corresponding box on their Deduction sheet). Because another detective is present in zone 8, that player may also read the same paragraph.

Move a Suspect Phase

After spending your action points, you may move one (and only one) Suspect pawn of your choice one or two zones for free, following the movement rules. Place the Last Moved Suspect token underneath the moved Suspect pawn, which indicates the next suspect to be moved this way has to be a different one. No more than 4 suspects are allowed to be in the same zone at the same moment. Suspects can't be moved into the luxury suite.

Note: if a suspect is in the zone with the VIP cabins, that suspect is considered to be in their cabin. It means their cabin can't be searched, but it's still possible to interrogate the suspect.

During the game, it can prove to be very useful to draw a suspect closer to you (saving you time), to move them away from your fellow detectives (making them loose time, bluffing?), or even to prevent their VIP cabin from being searched... Try to keep this in mind!

End of the Case

A case can end in two ways: Arrival at the port or Revelations.

Arrival at the Port

If the Ship pawn reaches the final space on the progression Track (the port), the detectives immediately cease their investigations. However, the players can decide to take one final game turn if they all agree to do so.

Revelations

Competitive mode only: If a player's detective is in zone 6 at the end of their turn and they think they've discovered the three case elements, they may trigger the end of the game during any given round. They simply announce "I want to reveal my findings" at the end of their turn.

Nevertheless, the players finish the current round up and until the player sitting to the right of the First Player, so that everyone has had an equal amount of turns. The other players don't need to reach zone 6 during this final turn.

Cooperative mode only: At the end of any round, if the players think they've solved the case and they all agree, they may decide to end the case. It doesn't matter where their detectives are and where the Ship pawn is on its progression Track.

Player Conclusions

Competitive mode only

Ending the case by arriving at the port: The players write down their hypotheses 1 and 2 simultaneously and in secret on their Deduction sheets. After everyone has finished (all players have placed their pencils down), players are no longer allowed to adjust their notes. Starting with the First Player and going clockwise, everyone announces their three answers for hypothesis 1.

Ending the case by making Revelations: The player who triggered the end of the game writes down their deductions first and reads their hypothesis 1 out loud, without explaining their choices. The other players may not react to this information at this point. After listening to the hypothesis, they simultaneously and secretly write down their own hypotheses 1 and 2 on their Deduction sheets. When everyone has finished, the players announce their own hypothesis 1 in clockwise order.

Cooperative mode only

All players review their notes (maximum 3 minutes). Then, they deliberate (maximum 12 minutes): each player may freely explain their theory, share information and contribute details to the case. Finally, all players choose their response to each of the 3 case elements together: the First Player notes down the conclusions on their Deduction sheet under hypothesis 1, as well as the alternative choices for each of the 3 elements of the case (hypothesis 2).

Important: For each of the 3 case elements (culprit, motive, MO), each player must formulate a hypothesis 1 (their favorite) AND a different hypothesis 2 (their second chance). They can never write down the same word in 1 and 2 (they will only score points once!). There are no "sets of hypotheses" to be considered: each element of the hypothesis is read and considered separately.

Solving the Case

One of the players reads the entire solution of the case out loud.

Competitive mode only: Now it's time to calculate the scores. The players each add up their points for the answers they got right: they do this for both hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2 (provided the answers are different).

Modifying scores in case of Revelations:

• Each correct hypothesis 1 of the player making revelations deducts 5 points from the other players' scores (even the players who had chosen the same hypothesis 1 for that element).
• Each false hypothesis 1 of the player making revelations deducts 10 points from their score (you might want to refrain from making revelations if you're not absolutely certain of your accusations).

The player with the highest total score wins the game and is declared the finest sleuth on board! In case of a tie, all players involved share the victory.

Cooperative mode only: Now it's time to calculate the score. The First Player adds up the points for the answers the team got right, for both hypotheses 1 and 2 (provided the answers are different). The final score determines how well the team has performed!

Some Useful Tips

Keep an eye on the flap!

When consulting the case booklet during the game, make sure that you're on the right double page each time before consulting the correlation table (the flap might have slid out by accident). This is the only way to make sure no false information enters the game. Identical first names are used for the same suspects in all cases, which means that potential errors might not be spotted at first glance!

Unique passengers

The cases are completely independent of one another: they only share the setting of the ship.

Even though they have identical first names in all of the cases, the suspects are never the same people. The surnames of the suspects are of no importance to the cases. Passengers they might share their cabin with are never accomplices to the murder. In the case booklets, the first names of the suspects are written in capital letters so the players can easily identify them.

Even when other passengers and staff members (except for the Purser) aren't physically represented on the game board, they are on the ship and might appear in location descriptions, testimonies, or Event cards. Again, be aware that these are never the same characters.

Properly search the locations!

Focusing on the suspects and neglecting the locations is a beginner's mistake, because the locations might reveal important paths... The paragraphs for the locations are potentially just as instructive as the conversations you have with the suspects. What's more, a location can never "lie" to you (keep in mind that only the culprit may or may not be lying to you).

Try to systematically visit suite 13 in all of the cases. After all, the luxury suite is the crime scene and the victim's residence! Other strategic locations include the wheelhouse, where the captain or his second in command might give you information, and the service rooms, where the ship's doctor who examined the body will usually be. The culprit's cabin (once you've identified them) is also usually a key location...

Super buoys!

A good strategy is to spend a Buoy token to gain the second action point you need to investigate privately when you only have one action point left. This is especially useful considering you get your spent action point back in Competitive mode if you subsequently decide to make the newly gained information public. You can then use that action point again to repurchase the Buoy token you just spent.

If you're not sure on how to spend your last action point on any given turn, you may consider purchasing a Buoy token. It could give you more flexibility later on, for example by offering you opportunities to extract information from another player.

Playing Midnight Murder Mysteries well = observing your fellow detectives!

A good detective never allows the mind to wander by simply waiting for their turn to come around. The case is constantly moving forward as the other players take their turns... Observing the actions and reactions of other players is often a very useful strategy! What do they know that you don't?

Keep track of the movements of the detectives and suspects. Write down carefully which paths the other players have taken and analyze their choices: why did they choose this topic of conversation for a certain suspect and not another? Why did they choose to keep a paragraph to themselves and not make it public? Make a habit of observing the other players and their reaction to the paragraphs they've chosen to read privately. Take note of their facial expressions and whether they're writing down lots of information or none at all.

In short, immerse yourself in the game. If you do more than just "hide in your own corner", a whole new dimension will open up! You can gain an enormous amount of information (do I also choose this path, or do I avoid it?) and save yourself lots of time by observing the other players. In Competitive mode, bluffing is of course part of the game: after all, there's a bet to be won! In Cooperative mode, don't miss the precious clues delivered by your colleagues to increase your efficiency.

Notes on deductions ... and strategy!

Each case has 60 possible paths! Choose wisely, because the game was developed in such a way that you'll never discover them all... Besides, time is of the essence! At the start of the game, everyone will leave a bit to chance, but soon you'll be discovering clues that will jump-start your investigation. Trying to hoard information by following lots of different paths is rarely a good approach. You have to try and detect the best paths to follow. To do that, you'll need lots of insight and attention (for the other players' investigations), and a methodical approach to optimizing your movements and carefully selecting the paths you wish to pursue.

During the other players' turns, go over your notes again! This is important in many cases: don't neglect important elements, cross-reference your information, and connect the dots... Planning while you wait for your turn will keep the game running smoothly. If you only start focusing when your turn comes around, you'll slow down the game.

If you find that some players take too much time on their turns, you might use a timer (3 minutes) to keep up the rhythm of the game. However, speeding up the game might prove too stressful for some players...

For fun and for points: goals of the game

The official goal is to achieve the highest score (even if tied with another player in Competitive mode). But scoring points isn't the core element of the game. The most exciting parts lie in discovering the story piece by piece and in trying to understand what happened. Ultimately, you're aiming to avoid the wrong paths and be the best at gathering and interpreting the puzzle pieces presented by the story. In short, before looking at the solution, can you explain the whole story?

Solo Mode

"The detective conference is canceled. And so is the cruise. What a disappointment! You know what, let's call the travel agency and go on a solo cruise!"

Here's how to change the rules for a solo game (either on your own or in a 2-players team, another way of playing together). In the solo mode, you will have to outspeed Simon, the Purser, to solve the case in a maximum of 10 rounds!

Solo Setup

1. Shuffle the Event cards (no special preparation is required), then place the deck face down on its dedicated place of the board. You will use them only for their numerical indication. No Event card effects will be applied during the game.
2. Place the Ship pawn to the left of the leftmost space on the progress Track (it starts off outside the track).
3. Randomly place the 12 Suspect pawns in zones 4 to 9 (2 pawns per zone).
4. Take a Notebook & Deduction sheet and assign a column to Simon, the Purser.
5. Take 12 Buoy tokens.
6. Place the Last Moved Suspect token next to the board.
7. Place the Purser pawn in zone 2.
8. Choose a Detective pawn (only one, even with 2 players), and place it in zone 6.
9. Choose a case from one of the Case booklets and read its presentation out loud.

Solo Player Turn

At the start of each round, move the Ship pawn 1 step towards the port. Do not draw an Event card and do not replace the Purser either.

You have 4 action points (not 3!) to spend on your detective in the Action phase (same actions as in the competitive mode), after which you carry out the Suspects phase. Caution: when investigating publicly, you the player must check off (or mark with a number) the corresponding path in the column attributed to Simon. If you use the "Extract information" action on Simon, put aside the used Buoy token. Nothing prevents the player from using the action "Move the Purser". Do not forget you still can't investigate a zone the Purser is!

You then take a turn with Simon (Action phase only, there's no Suspect phase for him), who also has 4 action points each turn but does not spend any on his movements. The Purser always investigates privately when a path is unknown to the player and always publicly when a path is already known to the player. In any given zone, Simon exhausts all the possible paths. He does so in order: the locations, then the suspects who are present (nevertheless try to optimize his action points objectively). When Simon has exhausted all the paths in a zone, he is moved and continues to investigate if he has any action points left. To move Simon, draw 1 Event card: the number designates the zone where you need to place him; if he has already been there, draw a different card. In practical terms, it's a matter of checking off the paths the Purser has investigated and those made in public by the player in the Notebook, without ever reading the paragraphs in the booklet.

Solo End of the Game

The game can end in 3 ways, the highest score wins:

1. If Simon has gained knowledge of 30 PATHS (Amateur cases) or 36 PATHS (Expert cases), he is immediately placed in the theater (zone 6) together with your Detective pawn for the revelations. In this case, Simon obtains a score of 85 points and you receive 10 penalty points (-10).
2. If the ship arrives at the port, an additional final turn is still played (there is therefore a maximum of 10 turns). In this case, the Purser's score is 85 points.
3. If the player makes revelations at the theater, Simon's score is 100 points but each correct hypothesis 1 of the player deducts 5 points from this total (up to 15 penalty points).

Game tips. Ideally, you should get Simon to finish the game with 29/35 known paths. Play strategically with your Buoys and don't investigate privately too much! Make good use of the paths already known to the Purser, by bringing the suspects he has interrogated closer to you and by searching the locations he investigated, even if it means moving him later if he prevents you from accessing them. Send him suspects to interrogate and then bring them back to interrogate them only for 1 action point! If you are two players, divide up the work: one player reads out the leads and the other takes notes on the notebook sheet.

Player Aid

Assumptions common to all cases:

• The body was discovered in the luxury suite (location 13).
• The suspicious death occurred the day before, between 11:45 p.m. and midnight.
• The culprit is one of the 12 suspects unless it was an accident (no culprit) or a suicide (the victim is then considered the "culprit").
• The culprit never has an accomplice and is the only person capable of lying.

Special rules:

• Zones 2 and 3 are not connected.
• The VIP cabin of a suspect present in zone 1 can't be searched.
• Only one detective can be in the luxury suite at the same time.
• Entering the luxury suite costs 2 action points, but leaving it only costs 1.
• Suspects can't be moved into the luxury suite.
• There can never be more than 4 suspects in the same zone at the same time.

Turn summary (both modes): At the start of each round, the First Player draws a card, then places the Purser and reads the event. In turn, each player spends up to 3 action points and possibly extra Buoy tokens, and may then move a suspect 1 or 2 zones (maximum 4 suspects per zone).

Competitive mode: for 1 point – investigate publicly (read the paragraph out loud); move your detective to an adjacent zone (+1 action point when moving to zone 2); move the Purser 1 zone; purchase 1 Buoy token (if you have fewer than at the start of the game). For 2 points – investigate privately (read the paragraph in silence), making it public afterwards gives you 1 action point back; extract information (not about the luxury suite) from a detective in the same zone, give them 1 Buoy token.

Cooperative mode: for 1 point – move your detective to an adjacent zone (+1 action point when moving to zone 2); move the Purser 1 zone; purchase 1 Buoy token (if you have fewer than at the start of the game). For 2 points – investigate privately (read the paragraph in silence) then share your opinion on how useful it is with the other players (all other players in the same zone may also read the paragraph); extract information (not about the luxury suite) from a detective in the same zone, give them 1 Buoy token.