NOIR Rulebook 8.5x11

Game by D. Brad Talton Jr.
Illustrated by Fábio Fontes
Presented by Level 99 Games
NOIR is a series of mystery games that all use
the same deck and a limited number of tokens.
Many of the games have a similar foundation,
so we recommend beginning with the Killer vs.
Inspector game, and continuing from there to
explore the others.
MATERIALS
25-card Suspect Deck, each card with one
‘live’ and one ‘deceased’ side.
25-card Innocent Deck, each card with one
‘innocent side’ and a similar back.
4 reference cards explaining the powers of the
different roles.
Live / Deceased
Suspect Deck cards
Game #1
Killer vs. Inspector
Players: 2
Time: 15 minutes or less
Difficulty: Light
BOARD SETUP
In all four games, board setup is the same.
Arrange the 25 card suspect deck into a 5 by 5
grid on the table. Shuffle the Innocent Deck.
PLAYER SETUP
Randomly decide who will be the Killer, and
who will be the Inspector.
The Killer draws one card from the Innocent
Deck face down. This is his secret identity. He
loses if this person is arrested.
The Inspector draws 4 cards.
Innocent / Secret
Innocent Deck cards
GAME STRUCTURE
The two players alternate turns, each taking
one action. The first turn for each player is a little
different than the rest, but afterwards, all turns are
the same. The Killer always goes first.
FIRST TURN - KILLER
On the first turn, the Killer must make a Kill
action. To do this, he chooses one of the suspect
cards on the board adjacent (either on the sides
or the diagonals) to his secret identity, and turns
that card face-down, to its deceased side.
FIRST TURN - INSPECTOR
The Inspector must now select one of the 4
cards from his hand to be his secret identity. He
sets that card face-down in front of him. The
others he keeps in hand as ‘evidence cards’.
FURTHER TURNS - KILLER
On each turn, the Killer must choose one of the
following 3 actions and perform it.
- Shift a row or column
- Kill an adjacent suspect
- Disguise himself (or attempt to)
Board arranged and ready for play.
Putting the characters in alphabetical order
is optional, but does make finding your
identity at the start much easier.
FURTHER TURNS - INSPECTOR
On each turn, the Inspector must choose one
of the following 3 actions and perform it.
- Shift a row or column
- Arrest an adjacent suspect or yourself
- Exonerate a suspect from the deck
SHIFT ACTION
Both players have the ability to shift. To do so,
select any row or column on the board (you do not
have to be in it or near it).
Move all cards in the column vertically up or
down, or move all cards in the row left or right.
This will cause one card to ‘fall off’ the edge of the
board. Place the card that falls off onto the new
empty space on the other side.
NOTE: You cannot use your shift to ‘undo’ the
previous player’s shift. For example, if a player
shifts a row right, the next move cannot be to shift
that same row left.
KILL ACTION
The Killer can kill a suspect just like he did on
the first turn. He just picks a suspect who is
adjacent to his character on the board, and turns
Geneva is the Killer, so she
can ‘reach’ to kill any of the
8 suspects around her.
If she were the inspector,
she would be able to ‘reach’
and arrest any of these
same suspects, including
herself.
that suspect to it’s deceased side. Since the
Inspector is now one of the suspects, if the
Inspector is killed, he reveals his identity and, the
killer wins! Otherwise, play continues.
ARREST ACTION
The Inspector can arrest a suspect whom he is
adjacent to on the board. He may even arrest
himself to throw off suspicion. He simply points at
the suspect and asks the killer “Are you [name]?”
If the killer is the named suspect, then the
Inspector wins! Otherwise, play continues.
DISGUISE ACTION
The Killer can disguise himself to throw the
Inspector off of his trail. To do this, he draws a
card from the top of the innocent deck, and then
secretly checks to see if that character is still live
on the board.
If it is still live, then he discards his current
identity and turns that card to its deceased side,
then places the card he drew face-down in front of
him. It is his new secret identity.
If the suspect is deceased, then he simply
discards the card face up, and retains his old
identity. His turn is over either way.
EXONERATE ACTION
The Inspector draws one card from the
innocent deck into his evidence hand. He must
then discard that card face-up beside the board (if
the discarded suspect is still live, it is easier to
place the innocent card over top of their suspect
card on the board).
The Inspector’s turn is over, and he should
have 3 cards in his evidence hand.
OTHER RULES
If the Innocent deck is exhausted, then the
Disguise and Exonerate actions are no longer
available.
If an entire row or column of suspects are
deceased, that row or column is removed, and the
board shrinks.
If 16 characters are deceased at any time,
the game ends and the Killer wins.
Example of shifting a column down
The suspect who ‘falls off’ goes into
the new empty slot.
If an entire row or column is deceased, they
become removed from the board, and the
board shrinks
Game #2
Hitman vs. Sleuth
Players: 2
Time: 20 minutes or less
Difficulty: Medium
BOARD SETUP
In all four games, board setup is the
same. Arrange the 25 card suspect deck into a
5 by 5 grid on the table. Shuffle the Innocent
Deck.
PLAYER SETUP
Randomly decide who will be the Hitman,
and who will be the Sleuth.
The Hitman puts 4 cards face-down from the
innocent deck to form a hit list, then draws one
card from the Innocent Deck face down to be
his secret identity. He loses if this person is
arrested. He turns up the first card in the hit list.
The Sleuth draws 4 cards to form his police
hand. He chooses one of these right away to be
his secret identity, and places it down in front of
him.
GAME GOAL
The Hitman wins if all of the targets in the hit
list have been eliminated, or if all the sleuths
chasing him are eliminated. The Sleuth wins if
he can investigate the Hitman.
Starting with the Hitman, both players take
alternating turns making a single action each.
SHIFT ACTION - BOTH PLAYERS
Shifting works just like in the Killer vs.
Inspector game, and both players are able to
shift rows and columns.
KILL - HITMAN
The Hitman selects an adjacent suspect and
turns that suspect face-down. If it is the current
face-up suspect in the hit list, then the Hitman
turns up the next face-down card in the hit list. If
that target is already deceased, he continues
revealing targets until he reveals one that is still
live.
If the Hitman kills a suspect in the Sleuth’s
hand, the Sleuth must discard that card face-up.
It is not replaced in his hand.
If the Hitman kills the Sleuth, the Sleuth
immediately places a card from his hand down
as a new secret identity. If he has no cards in
hand to place down, he loses.
If all targets in the hit list are deceased, the
Hitman wins.
EVADE - HITMAN
The Hitman’s evade works much like the
Killer’s in the Killer vs. Inspector game. There
must be at least two cards in the deck for an
evade to be attempted. The Hitman attempts to
disguise just like the Killer would (by eliminating
his old identity and choosing a new one). If the
evade is successful, then the top card of the
deck is added face-down to the hit list.
INVESTIGATE - SLEUTH
The Sleuth may name a suspect adjacent to
his secret identity and ask if that player is the
Hitman. If correct, the Sleuth wins the game. If
the Sleuth is wrong, the Hitman returns one of
the face-down cards in the hit list (if there are
any) to the bottom of the innocent deck.
CANVAS - SLEUTH
The Sleuth draws a card from the innocent
deck, then chooses and discards a card from
his police hand. The Hitman must answer ‘yes’
or ‘no’ whether he is adjacent to the card the
Sleuth has discarded.
Canvasing can still be done if the innocent
deck is empty, but the sleuth’s hand will not be
replenished.
Game #3
Spy Tag
Players: 3 or 4
Time: 30 minutes or less
Difficulty: Medium
BOARD SETUP
In all four games, board setup is the
same. Arrange the 25 card suspect deck into a
5 by 5 grid on the table. Shuffle the Innocent
Deck.
PLAYER SETUP
All players are Spies. Give each one a facedown secret identity and randomly determine
who will go first.
...
Yes!
Yes!
...
GAME GOAL
The goal of the game is to collect trophies.
Each successful capture of an opposing spy
earns a trophy. In the 3-player game, 4 trophies
are needed to win. In the 4 player game, 3
trophies are needed to win.
SHIFT
Shifting works just like in the Killer vs.
Inspector game, and all players are able to shift
rows and columns.
CAPTURE
A Spy selects one of the suspects adjacent
to him. If any other player is that suspect, then
turn that suspect over to the deceased side and
the capturing spy claims his innocent card as a
trophy.
If a player has now claimed enough trophies
to win the game, he wins! Otherwise, the player
who was captured immediately draws a new
identity card, and play continues.
CANVAS
A Spy selects one of the suspects adjacent
to him. All players adjacent to the selected
target as well as any player whose identity is
the canvased target must raise their hands or
otherwise indicate that they are adjacent.
Naturally, this will always include the canvasing
spy himself. Players can canvas their own
identities if they wish.
Example Canvas Action:
Ryan, Ophelia, Irma, and Vladimir
are playing Spy Tag.
Ryan canvases Marion.
Irma and Ryan now raise their hands
(or answer yes). Ophelia and
Vladimir do nothing.
Game #4
Master Thief
vs. Chief of Police
Players: 2
Time: 45 minutes or less
Difficulty: Hard
BOARD SETUP
In all four games, board setup is the
same. Arrange the 25 card suspect deck into a
5 by 5 grid on the table. Shuffle the Innocent
Deck.
As an additional step, place a treasure token
of some kind (a penny, glass bead, or the like)
on each suspect. Optionally, you can flip
suspects to their deceased side to mark
whether they possess a treasure or not, but this
is confusing for some players, as suspect
without a treasure are still considered ‘live’ in
this game.
PLAYER SETUP
Randomly decide who is the Master Thief
and who is the Chief of Police. The Master Thief
draws 2 secret identities into her hand and 1
secret identity face down in front of her to be
her active identity. The Chief of Police draws 1
face-down identity for himself, and 2 more faceup identities for his uniformed officers.
GAME GOAL
The Master Thief wins if she can steal all 25
treasures on the board. The Chief of Police wins
if he can capture the Master Thief “red-handed.”
SHIFT - BOTH PLAYERS
Shifting works just like in the Killer vs.
Inspector game, and both players are able to
shift rows and columns.
DISGUISE - MASTER THIEF
The Master Thief can disguise by picking up
her current secret identity, then shuffling it
together with her hand. She then picks one of
the identities in her hand and places it facedown in front of her to be her active secret
identity.
STEAL - MASTER THIEF
The Master Thief can steal a treasure from
any suspect adjacent to her secret identity, or
from her secret identity. Remove the treasure
token from that suspect and add it to your
stash. If she has all 25 treasure tokens, the
Master Thief wins! (That is, every suspect on
the board, including your own secret identities,
the Chief of Police, and the uniformed officers,
has been robbed)
ARREST - CHIEF OF POLICE
The Chief of Police can make an arrest
attempt against any suspect adjacent to his
secret identity or the identities of his uniformed
officers. He does not need to declare which
suspect is making the arrest.
If the arrested suspect is the current identity
of the Master Thief, then she is arrested and
loses. It does not matter if the Master Thief
has one of these identities in her hand--she
is only arrested if she is currently using that
identity!
DEPUTIZE - CHIEF OF POLICE
The Chief of Police can draw a new card
from the innocent deck to add to his uniformed
officers. He must then discard one of his
uniformed officers (he can also discard the one
he just deputized, if he wishes). When the Chief
of Police takes this action, the Master Thief
immediately claims any treasure on the board,
regardless of where she currently stands. This
does not take up her turn.
OTHER NOTES
If you wish, this game can be played as a set
of two games, where each player plays Master
Thief once, and then the players compare the
number of treasures stolen to determine the
winner.
Thanks for Checking out NOIR!
I hope you’ve enjoyed these four games, and thanks for taking the time to explore this fun new
game from the Level 99 Games Minigame Library! You can get NOIR and many more games that
travel in your pocket by getting a copy of the Level 99 Games Minigame Library.
Thanks again, and Happy Gaming!
- D. Brad Talton Jr, Designer
NOIR is © 2011 by Level 99 Games. All rights reserved.
These rules are not to be redistributed without permission.
These are playtest rules, and may not reflect the final
content of the published game.
You can get a copy of NOIR now in the Level 99 Minigames Library!
Visit www.lvl99games.com to check it out!