Game Overview

Using these Rules

The rules to this game are designed to be read aloud as you progress through the game. Each of the categories in the sidebar represent a new phase of the game. When you start a new phase of the game, go over all of the rules pages contained within and then begin play. When that phase ends, move to the next one and go over its rules then.

Designer Note

It’s good if one player reads over the full rules ahead of time, but if I’ve done my job the game will play smoothly even if you play straight from the rules!

Flow of the Game

The Locked Room Murder Mystery Game follows a set structure inspired by the general formula of golden age detective novels.

1. Meet the Suspects

   In this phase, we’ll choose a case file and mix and match the building blocks of suspects provided until we have a whole cast of characters, each as likely to be murdered as they are to be a murderer. Each suspect will go on its own card and arranged in a grid in the journal.

2. The Lead-Up

   We’ll take turns drawing cards and “writing chapters” that progress the story forward. Each chapter adds a clue to the journal that will be critically important later, if only our suspects knew how to interpret them!

   During this phase, a game piece called the killer will move around between the different suspect cards in the journal.

3. The Locked Room Murder

   Once the cards drawn in the Lead-Up form a full house, the suspect whose card the killer rests on is found murdered in a locked room, and our mystery begins! We’ll determine where they’re found and add clues from the scene using the cards we drew and the case file we’re playing with.

4. The Investigation

   We’ll once again draw cards and write more chapters as the game piece called the sleuth begins its dance across the journal. This represents a great detective slowly unraveling the case, and answering the questions that linger between suspects and clues. The killer will continue moving through the journal as well, and will imperil our suspects and potentially enact plots against their lives.

5. The Summation

   Once the cards drawn in the investigation form a full house, the suspect the killer rests on at that point is revealed to be the culprit in the Summation. We’ll tie together the clues and answers to the newly revealed identity of the culprit, emulating the parlor room scene where all secrets are revealed. At that point, the game is over!