Mission Calaveras
Mission Calaveras Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 board: Innocent zone (green) on the left, Suspect zone (red) on the right
- 24 Suspicion tokens (values 1 and 3)
- 48 Location / Twist cards
- 6 Character cards (3 teams of 2)
- 1 Nicole figure and its wooden base
Goal of the Game
The winning team is the one that wins Nicole's trust by the end of the game, when one of the players is definitively named as the murderer. This trust is represented by the Nicole figure, which moves as the game progresses.
Setup
- Place the board in the centre of the table so that all players can reach it easily.
- Take the Character cards and form teams of two players (each team takes the characters belonging to the same organisation).
- Players sit so that each team has played once before a team plays a second time. With 4 players, partners sit diagonally opposite each other; with 6 players, they sit as shown in the example below.
- Shuffle the 48 Location / Twist cards and deal three to each player. The remaining cards form the draw pile, placed on its space on the board.
- The player who looks the most innocent is the first player. They receive the Nicole figure and place it in front of them.
- Keep the Suspicion tokens within reach.
Example setup for 6 players.
Games with 3 or 5 players: the player without a partner plays with a "ghost" player. They set out the Character card of the ghost (their partner) as if it were a normal player. The ghost player receives no cards. However, when it is the ghost player's turn, their partner plays a card from their own hand. That player therefore plays twice per round of the table.
Turn Structure
On their turn, a player must play one of the cards in their hand and announce their action, then play passes to the next player in clockwise order.
The cards represent locations that are part of the story and where the agents may have been seen. These locations will sometimes clear players, and sometimes cast suspicion on them, until a culprit for the murder is determined at the end of the game.
The different locations are: the Carnival, the Hotel, the Airport, the Telephone Booth and the Laboratory.
Cards showing Nicole surprised are Twist cards (see page 10).
To play a card, the active player chooses one of these four options:
Play a Location card in front of yourself
The player places a Location card face up in front of them and adds it to any cards they already have. If they place a card identical to one already in front of them, both cards are removed and go to the discard pile. A player can therefore never have more than five different Location cards in front of them.
Example 1: Nicolas places a card in front of himself and announces: "I went to the Laboratory today."
Example 2: Julie places a card she already has in front of her, discards both, and announces: "You are talking nonsense, I was not at the Carnival."
Play a Location card in front of another player
The player places a Location card face up in front of another player (a partner or an opponent). If they play a card that the player already has, both identical cards go to the discard pile. It is perfectly possible to place cards in front of a "ghost" player.
Example: Aurélia places a card in front of Nicolas and announces: "I saw you in the Hotel lobby today!"
Play a Location card on the Innocent or Suspect zone
The player places a Location card face up on one of these two zones. Cards placed on the left of the board clear the players who have those same cards in front of them, while cards placed on the right make them suspects (see "Designating a Suspect" below).
Example: Benoît places a Laboratory card in the Suspect zone and announces: "I know from a reliable source that the killer went through the laboratory before the murder."
The same clue cannot be present more than once in the centre of the table. If a player plays a Location card on one of these two zones while the same Location card is already present on either zone, both identical cards are discarded.
Example: It is Arnaud's turn, and he also places a Laboratory card in the Suspect zone. Both cards are therefore discarded: "You're lying, you have no proof that the killer went to the laboratory."
Play a Twist card
When a player plays a Twist card (a card without a location symbol, showing Nicole surprised), they may move any card currently visible on the table to another play area: from one player to another player, from a player to a zone of the board (and vice versa), or from the Suspect zone to the Innocent zone (and vice versa). If there is already an identical card in the destination, both identical cards are discarded. The Twist card is then discarded.
Example: Arnaud plays a Twist card and moves the Hotel card in front of Benoît so that it lies in front of Nicolas. "You really have poor eyesight, it was William who went to the Hotel, not Elena!"
End of Turn
When a player has finished their turn, they draw a new card to complete their hand. If the draw pile is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.
Players then check whether the card just played allows a suspect to be designated. If it does, see "Designating a Suspect" below. In all cases, play then passes to the next player in clockwise order.
Designating a Suspect
The Innocent and Suspect zones are used to advance the investigation.
- Playing a card on the Innocent zone (left of the board) means that all players who have that Location in front of them are considered innocent.
- Playing a card on the Suspect zone (right of the board) means that all players who have that Location in front of them are considered suspects.
Presumption of innocence: a player may have in front of them Location cards that make them both innocent and suspect. In that case, innocence always prevails and the cards that make them suspect are ignored.
Several times during the game, the clues accumulated by the players, as well as those on the Suspect and Innocent zones, will be used to designate a suspect.
A player is declared a suspect if one of the following situations occurs:
All players are declared innocent except one
If all players except one have Location cards in front of them that clear them, the one player who is not cleared becomes a suspect by default (even if they have no Location card in front of them that marks them as a suspect).
Example: Aurélia is the only player without a card that clears her. She went neither to the Airport nor to the Telephone Booth, so she is declared a suspect.
A single player has more suspect-marking cards than the others
If a player is the only one to have a Location card in the Suspect zone (whether they are truly the only one, or the other players holding that same card are cleared), or if only one player has more Location cards in the Suspect zone than the other players, that player is designated a suspect.
Example 1: The agents seen at the Hotel are the only ones who are suspects. Aurélia becomes a suspect because she is the only one who went there.
Example 2: The agents seen at the Hotel, the Telephone Booth and the Laboratory are suspects. Some agents went to one of these locations, but Arnaud, having been to more suspect locations than any other player, becomes a suspect.
Important: for a player to be declared a suspect, there must be at least two cards on the Innocent and/or Suspect zones (either at least two cards on one of the two zones, or at least one card on each zone). If the clues point to only one suspect but there are not yet two cards in the centre, the game continues until there are at least two cards in the centre and only one player is designated a suspect.
Suspicion Points
When a player is designated a suspect, they take as many Suspicion points as there are Location cards on the Innocent / Suspect zones.
Example: when the suspect is designated there are 2 cards in the Innocent zone and 1 card in the Suspect zone. The designated suspect therefore takes 3 Suspicion points, which they place on their Character card. These points must always be visible to everyone.
The Location cards that were on the Innocent / Suspect zones are then discarded. However, players keep the Location cards placed in front of them. Play then passes to the next player (unless a player reaches 7 Suspicion points, see "End of the Game" on page 15).
Note: since a ghost player may have Location cards in front of them, they can perfectly well be designated a suspect. Their Suspicion points are then placed on their Character card.
Example: Julie is a suspect, because she went to the Carnival and has no card that can clear her. Since there are 3 cards on the board (2 in the Innocent zone and 1 in the Suspect zone), Julie takes 3 Suspicion points, which she places on her Character card. The 3 cards on the board are then discarded.
Nicole's Trust
The players' objective is to win Nicole's trust, represented by her figure.
At the start of the game, the figure is given to the first player. Thereafter, Nicole always moves to the most trustworthy player: at any time she automatically goes in front of the player who has the fewest Suspicion points. In case of a tie between several players, she goes to the one of them who has the most Location cards in front of them. If there is still a tie, Nicole does not move and stays in front of the player she trusted before.
Note: Nicole may well move in front of a ghost player.
Example 1: Logan, with only 1 Suspicion point, is the one who has the fewest. He therefore gains Nicole's trust and places the figure in front of him.
Example 2: Logan and Aurélia both have 1 Suspicion point, but Aurélia has 2 cards in front of her against only 1 for Logan. Aurélia therefore gains Nicole's trust and takes the figure, placing it in front of her.
End of the Game
When a player reaches 7 Suspicion points, there is no longer any doubt: they are definitively guilty in Nicole's eyes. The Nicole figure may move one last time, then the game ends. The player who then holds the Nicole figure extracts her to her country and wins the game together with their teammate, even if it is that teammate who was declared guilty. It is noble to sacrifice yourself for your country!
If it is not possible to break a tie when the game ends, and the player designated as definitively guilty holds the Nicole figure, then all players have failed: Nicole truly cannot trust anyone here!
Summary of a Turn
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Play a Location card from your hand:
- in front of yourself;
- in front of another player, whether a teammate or an opponent;
- beside the board, either in the Innocent (green) zone on the left or the Suspect (red) zone on the right.
Or play a Twist card: the player may move any card already in play to another place. The Twist card is then discarded.
Important: if a Location card is played or moved to a place where an identical Location card already is, both Location cards are immediately discarded.
-
Designate a suspect: this step applies as soon as there are at least 2 cards on the board (Innocent zone AND/OR Suspect zone). If there are 0 or 1 cards on the board, skip this step.
A player is designated suspect in either of these two cases:
- they are the only one with more cards in front of them designating them as a Suspect than the others;
- they are the only one without a card that clears them.
A player designated as Suspect takes as many Suspicion points as there are cards on the 2 board zones. These cards are then all discarded.
Note: if it is impossible to designate a single suspect, nothing happens and the game continues.
Important: if a player has in front of them cards that both clear and suspect them, innocence prevails and the suspect cards are ignored.
Summary: End of the Game
As soon as a player has 7 Suspicion points, they are declared guilty. Nicole may move one last time, then the game stops. The player who has Nicole's trust wins the game together with their partner.