Why
Why Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
1 WHY Board Game: Representing a Haunted House with 7 rooms – Living Room, Dining Room, Den, 2 Bedrooms, Attic & Tower. 2 Dice. 4 Detective Playing Pieces – Charlie Clam, Dick Crazy, Sergeant Monday & Shylock Bones. 60 WHY cards consisting of: 7 No Clue cards 7 Motive cards – Blackmail, Bribery, It's a Mystery to Me, Jealousy, Lovers Quarrel, Self Defense & Robbery. 6 Alfred Hitchcock cards. 16 Weapon cards consisting of: 4 Poison, 4 Axe, 4 Rope & 4 Gun. 24 Ghost cards consisting of: 4 Cleopatra, 4 Daniel Boone, 4 Henry VIII, 4 Napoleon, 4 Nero & 4 Pocahontas.
Please Note: The "Weapon" and "Ghost" cards are single pictures divided into 4 separate cards, thus collect all 4 cards of one type to make one single picture.
Object of the Game
There are two ways to win this mystery game:
1] Collect one "Ghost", one "Weapon", and one "Motive" card. 2] Collect six "Alfred Hitchcock" cards and the "It's A Mystery to Me" card.
Starting the Game
1] Each player selects one 'Detective' playing piece. 2] Shuffle the "WHY" cards. 3] Deal seven "WHY" cards to each player. 4] Place 'Detective' in the 'Living Room' to start (on the board). 5] The remaining "WHY" cards are dealt evenly into the other six rooms, face down. Any left over 'WHY' cards are put on the 'Lawn' face down.
How the Game is Played
Decide which player is to go first, then in a clock-wise direction, each player has their turn. The players (the detectives) move throughout the house (by rolling the two dice) collecting "WHY" cards from various rooms of the house, from the 'Lawn' (discard "WHY" pile, just below the 'Dining Room') or from other players they encounter in the same room or movement space.
As mentioned before, there are three types of cards, "Ghost", "Weapon" and "Motive" cards. The portrait of each ghost and the drawing of each weapon are divided onto four (parts) cards and the player must collect all four (parts) cards.
Two Ways of Winning
The first player to collect a complete "Ghost", "Weapon" cards and a "Motive" card during their turn is the winner.
Example: 4 Cleopatra, 4 Poison and a Jealousy card.
The first player to collect a complete portrait of "Alfred Hitchcock" (6 cards) and the "It's a Mystery to Me" card during their turn is the winner.
Remember: A player starts with seven cards, he/she can only have up to seven cards in his or her hand at any one time. A player is able to obtain more cards from the 'Lawn', from another player, or from another room, he/she enters.
Very Special Note: When a player completes a "Ghost" and or "Weapon" cards, he/she can lay them down in front of them. Thus in this way be able to win the game successfully by still having up to seven cards to collect in hand.
Strategy Tip: It might be wise for a player to lay down only one type of card, so as to keep the other players guessing, as to what cards are being collected by him/her. Naturally in a 2 or 3 player game this may not apply, but you will still need to lay down a set or two, to win the game.
Acquiring More Cards
The Lawn (discard "WHY" pile): To get cards from the 'Lawn', a player must first make it to the 'Living Room' by rolling a 7, 11 or Doubles, with the dice, or through the player's normal roll for moving around the board, in this case the player does not need the exact dice roll to enter the 'Living Room'. Then, the player has to prove he/she has that type of card in their hand by showing it to the other players and then flipping over the card they want. (from the 'Lawn'). If correct, he/she takes the card; if not, he/she must discard the card he/she thought it was from their hand and take the wrong card as a replacement.
From Another Player: To get a card from another player, he/she must occupy the same space on the board or be in the same room.
A player challenges another player's (non-challenger) card by first proving that they have one of its set/type. If that player (non-challenger) does have the card in hand, he/she must give it to the challenging player or the player (non-challenger) can give the challenging player a "No Clue" card instead and this card is removed from the game. (The "No Clue" card is not put in the 'Lawn' discard pile).
If the non-challenged player does not have the card, then the non-challenged player may counter-challenge the other player (challenger) for a card with the same rules applying above. The challenging player's turn ends after this.
Important: It is not considered a turn by the non-challenged player, if he/she counter-challenges; as it is still within the challenged player's turn.
Remember: A "No Clue" nullifies the challenge.
Important: If a challenge is nullified, the non-challenged player may still counter-challenge the other player (challenger) for a card if he/she wishes.
Remember: Only one detective playing piece can occupy a movement space, unless the player wishes to challenge another player for a card, in which case the two detective playing pieces can occupy the same space.
From a Room: To get a card from a room, a player must first make it to the room by rolling a 7, 11 or Doubles, with the dice, or through the player's normal roll for moving around the board. Then they pick up the top card, if the player does not want the card, it is discarded, and placed with any other cards on the 'Lawn'. If the player wants the card, he/she selects another card from their hand and it is discarded, and placed with any other cards on the 'Lawn'.
Remember: When you roll the dice for movement around the board and you roll a 7, 11 or Doubles; you can move you 'detective' playing piece into the room of your choice, from anywhere on the board.
The Living Room Challenge: If all cards have been taken from the rooms, then the required cards for winning must be in either the player's hand or in the 'Lawn'. All players now place their detective playing pieces in the 'Living Room'. Once this is done a new set of rules is followed, as each player takes their turn and decides which option he/she wants to exercise below:
1] A player can challenge another player by rolling a 7, 11 or Doubles with the dice, the standard challenge rules apply. 2] A player can pick from the 'Lawn' if they roll an odd number, by rolling both dice. The standard discard rules apply except when a player discards one of their cards back into the lawn, they place it face-up. If a player rolls an even number, they lose their turn.
Remember to Discard
To end your turn, unless you can win, or you have not put down a set ("Ghost" and or "Weapon" cards) you must discard any "WHY" cards from your hand if you have more than seven.
Important: All discards go to the 'Lawn' (discard pile).
Special Rules
Two Player Game: Only 34 of 60 cards are used. Three complete "Ghost", two complete "Weapon", three "Motive", and three "No Clue" cards are removed from the deck. Additionally only rooms 1 to 4 are used and 5 and 6 are left empty.
Three Player Game: Only 48 of 60 cards are used. Two complete "Ghost" and one complete "Weapon" cards are removed from the deck, and all six rooms are still used.
Optional Rules
Two "WHY" cards: When a player throws a double on the dice to go to a 'Room' or the 'Living Room' to access the 'Lawn'; he/she can select two "WHY" cards from the 'Room' or the 'Lawn', and pick which one he/she wants or keep both. With this rule, the player does not have to state which card he/she is looking for. The player then has to discard one or two "WHY" cards from their hand, unless the player is lucky enough to win with what he/she has.
Open Deck: Even though the "WHY" cards are all 'face down' on the game board. With this rule when a player goes to a 'Room' or the 'Living Room' to access the 'Lawn', and wants a "WHY" card, they simply go through the deck and select the card they want.
Clue: If a player has a "No Clue" card he/she can use the card in two different ways, but the player must choose which:
1] Use the card to have an extra turn. 2] Select any top "WHY" card from any deck ('Room' or the 'Lawn' discard pile).
Big Hand: Instead of having up to seven "WHY" cards in hand, players can have up to nine "WHY" cards in hand. Thus in a normal game a player may not need to lay down a completed set/type of "Ghost" and or "Weapon" cards.
What's the Point
When the game is finished, players may like to total their cards from the table and in their hand to see who has the most points:
Completed "Ghost" cards – 5 points each. Incomplete "Ghost" cards – 1 point for each card. Completed "Weapon" cards – 7 points each. Incomplete "Weapon" cards – 1 point for each card. Completed "Alfred Hitchcock" cards – 9 points. Incomplete "Alfred Hitchcock" cards – 1 point for each card. "No Clue" WHY cards – 2 points each. "Motive" WHY cards – 3 points each.
If there are any ties in points, then the detectives come into play, add the following points to a player's score by the playing piece the player used during the game:
Dick Crazy – 9 points. Sergeant Monday – 10 points. Charlie Clam – 11 points. Shylock Bones – 12 points.