One Card: Cereal Killer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Victory Conditions
• Basic Concepts
• Turn
• The Killer
  • Move
  • Victims and Witness
• The Detective
  • Move
  • Interrogate
  • Arrest (only 4 attempts)
  • Subway

Components

• 1 City (card)
• 7 Cereals
• 1 Detective (sheet)
• 1 Witness
• 1 Spoon
• 1 Notepad

Setup

1. Place the City card on the table, visible to both players.
2. Place the Spoon on day 1. It will be used to count the turns.
3. Whoever had breakfast most recently will be the Killer.
4. Give the Killer pencil and paper, 7 Cereals and 1 Witness.
5. Give the Detective their sheet. (Wear a hat and tie :D)

Victory Conditions

Killer: Wins if the victim objectives are met while remaining hidden until the end of day 7, or if the Detective runs out of arrest attempts.

Detective: Wins by arresting the Killer, or if the Killer fails one of their objectives.

Basic Concepts

• Both movements and interaction are adjacent. Diagonals are not considered adjacent. (Illustration: diagonal squares are marked with a red X; orthogonally adjacent squares are marked with a green check.)
• The Killer moves by writing down their steps. They are invisible and have no token representing them in the city.

Turn

Each turn (day) is divided into 2 phases:

1. The Killer moves: After moving, verify that the victim objectives are met.
2. The Detective acts: After acting, move the spoon to the next turn.

At the end of day 4, the Killer must have claimed at least 3 victims during the game.

The Killer

• Choose a house as the starting point and secretly write the number in your notepad. Circle the starting number. (Example: a path written as "5 - 4 - 3 - 8" with the 5 circled.)
• From then on, you must always move 3 steps, writing down the 3 numbers of the squares you pass through.
• On one of the seven days you may decide not to claim a victim.

Move

• Move always 3 steps (you may go back over the same squares).
• You cannot pass through the square where the Detective is.
• You may pass through the café, but it gives you no benefit.

Victims and Witness

• To claim a victim, place a victim marker when you are on a house starting, passing through, or ending your turn on that square.
• If there is a park adjacent to the square where you placed the victim marker, place the Witness there. If there are 2 parks, you may choose which one to place it in.
• You cannot end your turn in the park where the Witness is.

Example: The Killer starts at square 8 and passes through 3, 2 and 1. Being able to claim a victim at 8 and 3 or 1, they choose 3, placing the Cereal. They must place the Witness in one of the adjacent parks and decide which, in this case 4. (Notation: 3 - 2 - 1.)

You can only claim one victim per turn:

At the end of turn 2/4/7 you must have 1/3/6 victims in the city. If you fail, you lose the game.

The Detective may end their turn on the same square as you. This is not a problem. Moreover, while on the same square you may place a victim marker in front of their nose and then escape.

The Detective

After the Killer's first turn, choose a café as the starting point and place your token on that square.

During your turn, you may do the following in any order:

Move

• You may move up to 3 squares (you may decide not to move).
• Passing through a café gives you 1 extra step (only 1 per turn). Starting the turn in a café does not grant this benefit.

Interrogate

• Position yourself adjacent to the Witness or on their square and remove their token.
• The Killer answers by taking the Witness's location as the reference.
• You can ask only one question per Witness, and they cannot be repeated.

Questions:

• Which direction is it? Indicate the cardinal point that corresponds. If ambiguous, the Killer chooses which cardinal point. E.g.: Northeast = North/East. (Illustration: the Killer is to the Northwest of the Witness. Decide to answer "North".)
• Same row as the Witness? Yes / No.
• Same column as the Witness? Yes / No.
• Did it go inside somewhere? Yes: if it is on a house, a café or a subway entrance.
• Is the square even or odd? Even / Odd.

If you do not interrogate the Witness, on the next turn the Witness disappears.

Arrest (only 4 attempts)

Ask the Killer whether they are on your square or on one of the 4 adjacent ones. If you guess right, you win! If you fail, your turn ends and you lose an attempt.

Subway

Both players can use it. Enter at one subway entrance and exit through the other (1 step each: entering and exiting). You may end your turn in the subway. (Example: 3 steps to get from point A to point B.)