Mord im Arosa
Mord im Arosa Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Idea and Object of the Game
The players arouse suspicion: they throw their clues (in the form of little wooden cubes) into the shaft of the hotel tower. If you prick up your ears, you'll be able to guess on which floors the suspicious clues come to rest. With this knowledge, you can denounce other players and cover your own tracks.
The culprit is the one who has left particularly suspicious clues in the vicinity of the scene of the crime. Whoever attracts the fewest suspicious facts, wins.
Game Materials
- 1 hotel (8 parts): the ground floor (floor 0) plus 7 upper floors
- 120 clues in 6 colors (little wooden cubes)
- 2 victims (red)
- 1 investigation sheet
Setup
Stick the 7 floors one on top of the other above the ground floor (floor 0) of the hotel so that a building is erected. Put the investigation sheet next to it. Each player puts the 20 clues of his color as a "supply" in front of him.
PROLOG: 2 Dead at the "Arosa" Hotel—and Clues Everywhere …
The player who was the last to have a knife in his hand throws both victims into the shaft of the hotel. After that, players in turn throw two each of their own clues, one after the other, into the shaft.
Attention: All players should listen carefully in order to discern onto which floors victims and clues might have fallen.
MAIN PLAY: The Investigation
Course of the Game
The main play is divided into two acts: only when both victims have been found in Act I does Act II begin. Now players suspect one another and try to cover their own tracks.
Act I: Searching for Victims
Whoever was the last person inside a hotel begins. The other players follow clockwise.
On your turn, you act as an investigator. You inspect a floor by carefully lifting it, thus affording a view of the area inside the floor.
Note: You should always lift the desired floor with both hands, one of which holds the lower floors. If, in spite of that, clues fall out of the hotel, throw these clues back into the shaft at the end of the turn.
Now one of two things might occur:
Case 1: The investigator doesn't find a victim on the exposed floor.
But if the investigator finds clues, he takes these out. Then he puts the lifted parts of the building on again and throws all clues he took out back into the shaft, one after another.
Sloppy investigation: since the investigator looked for a victim in the wrong place, now he himself leaves an additional clue: he throws (another) one of his own clues from his supply into the shaft.
Case 2: There is indeed one victim on the exposed floor.
The investigator places this victim on the corresponding space of the investigation sheet, thus marking this floor as a crime scene. If both victims are on the same floor, they are both placed on the same space of the investigation sheet. In this case, there is only one crime scene.
In this example, the two victims are on floors 3 and 5, so the two crime scenes are located on floors 3 and 5.
Are there clues from other players at the crime scene? Very suspicious …!!! Note that down on the investigation sheet immediately: for each of their own clues at the crime scene, the "caught" players have to put one clue each from their supply on the corresponding floor of the investigation sheet. However, the investigator "overlooks" his own clues: he doesn't lay any of his own clues on the investigation sheet.
Example: Exposed 5th floor — Victim. Yellow places the victim – but no clues – on the investigation sheet. Blue has to place two clues from his own supply on the investigation sheet.
After that, the investigator takes all clues out of the hotel floor that has been inspected, closes the hotel again, and throws all clues he took out back into the shaft, one after another.
When both victims have been found, the search for victims is over.
Note: Whoever throws clues into the shaft always names their color, so that the other players can follow the events without difficulty.
Remember: Just clues from the players' supplies are put on the investigation sheet. All clues that have been found in the hotel are thrown back into the shaft at the end of the turn.
Act II: Suspecting Other Players or Covering Your Tracks
Players continue playing in turn. On your turn, you, as the investigator, choose one of these two actions:
- Suspecting other players
- Covering your tracks
The investigator always calls out loud the action he chooses before carrying it out.
Suspecting Other Players
The investigator names one or more players whom he suspects. Then he exposes one floor on which he expects clues from the suspects.
Now this floor is inspected:
- Each suspected player – for each of his own clues that are lying on the exposed floor – has to put one clue from his own supply on the respective floor of the investigation sheet.
- Now the investigator takes all clues from the exposed floor, closes the hotel, and throws all clues he took out back into the shaft, one after the other.
- Sloppy investigation: for each suspected player who did not have any clues on the exposed floor, the investigator has to throw an additional one of his own clues from his supply into the shaft.
Example: Investigator Yellow suspects Gray and Blue on the exposed 3rd floor. In fact, two of Gray's clues are lying there; but none from Blue. Gray puts two clues from his supply on the 3rd floor space of the investigation sheet. Yellow wrongly suspected Blue. For this false accusation, Yellow has to throw another one of his own clues from his supply into the shaft of the hotel that has been closed again. Good for Brown: he was not suspected and doesn't have to put a clue on the investigation sheet.
SPECIAL CASE "Ground floor": If you want to successfully investigate on the ground floor, at least one of your own clues must be present there. If this is the case, the ground floor is handled like all other floors. If the investigator has none of his own clues on the ground floor, the following occurs:
- No clues from suspects are put on the investigation sheet.
- The investigator throws clues from his own supply, one for each suspected player, into the shaft.
- As usual, he throws all clues he found on the exposed floor (ground floor) back into the shaft.
Covering Your Tracks
If there are any of your own clues on the investigation sheet, you can remove them as an investigator.
- The investigator exposes a floor of his choice. He counts his own clues there. Then he may remove as many of his own clues (not more) from the corresponding floor on the investigation sheet as he has found on the exposed floor of the hotel tower, and put them back into his supply.
- Now he takes out all clues from the exposed floor, closes the hotel, and throws the clues he took out back into the shaft, one after the other.
- Sloppy job: if none of his own clues is on the exposed floor, the investigator throws an additional one of his own clues from his supply into the shaft.
FINALE: Culprit and Winner
The game ends
- as soon as there are 10 clues of one player on the investigation sheet, or
- as soon as one player has no clues left in his supply.
It may happen towards the end of the game that a player has to place more clues on the investigation sheet than he has left in his supply. In this case, he takes the clues required out of the exposed floor of the hotel.
Now the culprit and the winner of the game are determined. The clues on the investigation sheet result in the following number of suspicion points:
- Each clue lying at a crime scene counts as 3 suspicion points.
- Each clue adjacent to a crime scene counts as 2 suspicion points.
- Every other clue counts as 1 suspicion point.
The player with the most suspicion points is convicted as the culprit.
The player with the least suspicion points may congratulate himself as the winner.
There can be several culprits and several winners.
Example: Blue is the murderer! He ends the game with 21 suspicion points: two blue clues are at crime scenes (2 x 3 = 6 suspicion points). Six blue clues are lying adjacent to crime scenes (6 x 2 = 12 suspicion points). Three more blue clues are on other floors (3 x 1 = 3 suspicion points). Brown, with only 9 suspicion points, is the most innocent player. He wins and is immediately promoted to chief superintendent.
Credits
© 2010 Zoch GmbH
- Author: Alessandro Zucchini
- Artist: Tobias Schweiger
- Setting and layout: Oliver Richtberg
- English translation: Sybille & Bruce Whitehill, "Word for Wort"
Article no.: 60 113 0500
Distribution in Switzerland: Carletto AG, Moosacherstraße 14, Postfach, CH-8820 Wädenswil, www.carletto.ch