Who Stole Ed's Pants?
Who Stole Ed's Pants? Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Three Questions
A game of Who Stole Ed's Pants? tries to answer three big questions:
- When - When did the offence take place?
- Where - Where was the crime committed?
- Who - Who committed the offence?
Nobody has bothered to ask Ed about the exact circumstances of the offence, so the detectives can only base their reasoning on vague rumours, often malicious ones. Each player can therefore, by manipulating these rumours, change the supposed circumstances of the crime. Likewise, each player can try to divert attention toward the other players by making revelations about them.
If, at the end of a turn, the rumours circulating about you coincide with the supposed circumstances of the crime, you have a strong chance of being arrested for stealing Ed's pants.
Games with four players are played in teams, the two players sitting opposite each other being accomplices. Games with three players, on the other hand, are played every player for themselves.
The Four Types of Card
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Evidence cards ("témoignage" / evidence), grey in colour, come in three categories corresponding to the three questions: Who, When and Where.
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Fact cards ("faits" / facts), pink in colour, come in three categories also corresponding to the three questions: Who, When and Where.
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Witness cards ("témoins" / witnesses), beige in colour, belong to six distinct groups: Men of the Law, Merchants, Outlaws, Circus People, Household Staff and Passers-by. Each group consists of six characters whose credibility is rated from 1 to 6.
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Rank cards (blue in colour), six of them, one for each of the six groups of witnesses. They are laid in a row in the centre of the table to show the credibility of each group relative to the others. Thus, the rank of a player's group together with the number printed on a card allows you to determine at any time which of two witnesses is the more credible.
Setup
- Each player takes a card sheet ("fiche cartonnée") and places it in front of them, with a colourless stone on the zero space of their score track. Place the coloured stones on the table, within reach of the players.
- Shuffle each of the four decks of cards separately.
- Take, at random, one fact from each category (Who? When? Where?) and place them face up in the centre of the table to determine the supposed facts at the start of the game.
- Place the six rank cards in a line, face up, in the centre of the table. The first card indicates which group of witnesses is the most credible, the last card which group is the least credible.
- Deal one witness card, face up, to each player. This card is their "Who?" supporter and is placed in front of their sheet, facing the question "Who?". Likewise deal each player a "When?" supporter and a "Where?" supporter.
- Deal each player, face down, a hand of five cards made up of two witnesses, two evidence cards and one fact. Each player must keep the cards in their hand secret.
- The remaining facts and witnesses are placed in face-down piles to form the fact and witness draw piles. The first twelve evidence cards are placed in a face-up pile to form the initial evidence discard, and the remaining evidence cards are placed beside it in a face-down pile to form the evidence draw pile.
- The two diagrams in the rules show what the centre of the table should look like and what each player's area should look like.
The player with the most ridiculous trousers begins. Play then continues clockwise, each player taking their turn in turn.
Playing the Game
On your turn, you play a card from your hand, then draw a card from one of the draw piles. Whatever card you have played, you may take a card from the draw pile of your choice. The back of fact and evidence cards shows which category (Who? When? Where?) they belong to, which may help you in your choice.
In general, you will play a card that weakens an opponent or improves your own position. It is however possible not to play a card and, instead, to discard one of your cards directly onto the corresponding discard pile.
Playing an Evidence Card
Evidence cards are played against other players, in order to make them look suspicious. To play an evidence card against a player, your supporter in the corresponding category (Who? When? Where?) must be more credible than that of the targeted player.
For example, if your "Who?" supporter is the handyman (household staff, credibility 2), you may play a "Who?" evidence card against any opponent whose "Who?" supporter has a credibility lower than that of the handyman.
The credibility order of the rank cards in this example is:
- Passers-by
- Circus People
- Outlaws
- Household Staff
- Men of the Law
- Merchants
If the rank cards are in this order, the witnesses less credible than your handyman are all the Merchants, all the Men of the Law, and the Household Staff of credibility 1 (the pool guy).
The player against whom the evidence is played places the evidence card, face up, beside their sheet. As the game goes on, each player will have more and more evidence against them. For clarity, sort these evidence cards by category, with the icons clearly visible to all players.
Evidence played against a player is permanent, and cannot be eliminated or transferred to another player.
Playing a Fact Card
Fact cards are used to change the supposed facts about the offence. A fact is therefore played in the centre of the table, and not against a particular player.
You may only play a fact if your supporter in that category belongs to one of the four most credible groups of witnesses; the precise value of that supporter does not matter.
For example, if your "Where?" supporter is the meter maid, you may not play a "Where?" fact, since in the example on the previous page the Men of the Law are the fifth group in terms of credibility. If, on the other hand, your "Who?" supporter is the clown, you may play a "Where?" fact, since the Circus People are second.
Only one fact of each category can be in play at any given time. When you play a new fact, the previous fact in the same category is discarded.
Suspicion
Facts and evidence can coincide. When one of the evidence cards against you matches one of the supposed facts, you are suspect. For example, if the "Who?" fact indicates that the culprit looked like a pirate, and one of the evidence cards against you indicates that you own a parrot, you are suspect in the "Who?" category. The small icons on the "Who?" and "Where?" cards, as well as the times on the "When?" cards, make suspicions easy to spot.
As soon as you are suspect, you must place a coloured stone on the corresponding evidence card, so that everyone knows you look guilty. A player can be suspected several times in the same category: for example, if you have both a parrot and a wooden leg, and the culprit looked like a pirate, you then have two stones, one on each of the evidence cards.
Because each evidence card matches several facts, you may remain suspect despite a change to the supposed fact. Thus, a parrot makes you suspect if the culprit looked like a pirate, or if the culprit had an animal with them.
If, once a supposed fact has changed, you are no longer suspect, you remove the corresponding stone and return it to the bank - or give it directly to the new suspect ;-).
Playing a Witness Card
Witness cards can be played in two different ways.
Playing a Witness Card to Change a Supporter
You may replace one of your supporters, or a supporter of another player, by playing a witness card.
An opponent's supporter may be replaced by any witness with an equal or higher credibility score (only the number on the card counts, not the rank of the group). You choose the targeted player and the supporter to replace. The former supporter is discarded, and you place the witness you played in their place.
One of your own supporters may be replaced by any witness with an equal or lower credibility score (only the number counts). The former supporter is discarded, and you place the witness you played in their place. In a four-player game, you may change your partner's supporter in this way.
Playing a Witness Card to Change the Rank of Groups
You may also play a witness card to change the rank of the group to which that witness belongs, thereby increasing or decreasing the credibility of the whole group. You may, for example, play the Bank Robber to change the rank of the Outlaws. You can then, as you choose, move the group concerned up or down the list.
The extent of the movement allowed depends on the credibility score (number only) of the witness card you play. A 5 or a 6 allows you to move a group three places or fewer; a 3 or a 4 allows a move of one or two places; a 1 or a 2 only allows the group to be moved one step up or down the list.
For example, the Bank Robber (Outlaw no. 6) allows you to move the group of Outlaws up or down by up to three steps. You simply move the card representing the group of Outlaws by the chosen number of steps, and shift the other cards so as to fit it into its new place. Thus, starting from the example already given in these rules, the Outlaws can end up in first or last place, or in any other place of your choice.
After rearranging the rank cards, you discard the witness card you played.
Mistakes and Cheating
If you are caught playing a card in a manner contrary to the rules, you discard that card. You then complete your hand, and therefore lose your turn.
End of the Round and Scoring
The round ends immediately as soon as a player draws the last card from any one of the three draw piles.
In a three-player game, each player's score depends on the number of coloured stones on the evidence cards played against them, as shown on the table printed on each player's sheet (one point if you have one stone, three points if you have two stones, and so on). Each player moves their colourless stone according to the number of points scored.
In a four-player game, the suspicion weighing on a player rubs off on their partner, and each player adds to their score as many points as their partner has coloured stones.
Second Round
After the scores of the first round have been calculated and recorded, all the fact, evidence and witness cards from the draw piles, the discards and the players' hands are shuffled together again. Each player receives a new hand of two evidence cards, two witnesses and one fact. The three draw piles are rebuilt, and the first twelve evidence cards are again placed in the discard pile.
Only the six rank cards, the three fact cards and the supporter cards remain in place.
The second round begins with the player whose turn it was after the end of the first round.
End of the Game
After the second round, the player with the highest total score is arrested for aggravated theft of trousers, and loses the game. In a four-player game, their partner is also arrested for complicity and failure to report a criminal, and the opposing team wins.
In a three-player game, the player with the lowest score is deemed to have helped in the arrest of the thief, and is therefore declared the winner.
In case of a tie, the one of the tied players whose supporters are the most credible wins.
Optional Rule: Changing Witnesses
At the start of each turn, each player may replace one of their supporters with a witness from their hand, regardless of their respective credibility scores. The first player decides first, and then each player in clockwise order may do the same. The witnesses thus replaced go into the player's hand.
Playing Tips
Play as many evidence cards as you can. In a three-player game, try to share them equitably between your two opponents, since you can only win if both of your opponents appear more suspect than you.
Avoid giving yourself, at the start of the game, a supporter of credibility 1, because you may find it hard to get rid of them later.
It is at the end of the game that you have the greatest chance of harming an opponent by playing a card... but it would be a shame to be left holding good cards in your hand after the game is over.