Black Stories: Das Spiel (2008)
Black Stories: Das Spiel (2008) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 120 cards (100 story cards and 20 number cards)
- 1 blood-spattered game board with a rotating knife
- 100 blood chips
Let's go!
1. Preparation
Form teams when playing with more than 6 players. With 8 players, for example, form 4 teams of two.
Place the game box in the middle of the table.
Separate the 100 story cards from the 20 number cards. Place the two card stacks next to the box, with the story cards face down on their solution side. Take the blood chips out of their compartment and place them in a pile next to the box. This pile is the bank (Kasse). Each player (or each team) receives 3 chips from the bank as starting money.
Place the game board with the rotating knife into the bottom part of the box. So that the knife turns smoothly, lift the rivet in its centre slightly with your fingernails.
Get a sketch pad, a pencil and enough drinks and snacks.
2. Determine the Length of the Game and the Starting Player
Decide together how many rounds you want to play. If you do not yet know BLACK STORIES – DAS SPIEL, agree on 2 rounds.
Whoever tells the most gruesome way of dying may begin the game. After that, play always proceeds clockwise.
3. Spin the Knife
When it is your turn, spin the knife. It must turn at least once all the way around before it stops on one of the 13 fields. Then look at which field the tip of the knife points to and read the corresponding section below.
FRESH BLOOD: Spin the knife once more. Now look at the small red numbers. Which number does the tip of the knife point to? This number tells you how many chips you take from the bank. Then the next player spins the knife.
PRISON: Spin the knife once more. Look at the small red numbers. Which number does the tip of the knife point to? This number tells you how many chips you must return from your supply to the bank. Then the next player spins the knife.
BLACK QUESTION: You are now the Master (Gebieter). Your decisions are final, even if the guessing crowd (Ratevolk) pleads with you in the dust.
Take the top story card. Read the story on the front aloud. Then read the solution on the back secretly to yourself.
Now the guessing crowd must find out the solution. They may ask you questions out loud, which you must answer truthfully with yes or no. The guessers may ask questions in a wild mix; they do not have to follow any order.
Be generous with solution hints if the guessing crowd is completely in the dark. Depending on how generous you are as Master, you can make the game considerably shorter or longer.
Point out to the guessers when they make false assumptions. For example, if a player asks whether the murderer was a woman, but in the story it was neither a man nor a woman but an animal.
Distributing chips: Has your guessing crowd discovered the solution? Yes? Then take 7 chips from the bank: you keep 2 chips for yourself. You distribute the other 5 chips, in your generosity, among the guessers, according to who contributed how much to the solution. For example, you may give one player 3 chips and two players 1 chip each, or give all 5 chips to a single player. You are the Master.
If the guessing crowd gives up on finding the solution, nobody receives chips. Then the next player spins the knife.
BLACK PANTOMIME: As with BLACK QUESTION, but as Master you may not speak. You must act out the solution and the answers to the guessers' questions in pantomime (that is, through body movements and facial expressions).
You may only speak when your guessing crowd is completely stuck.
Distribute the chips as in BLACK QUESTION.
BLACK SKETCH: As with BLACK QUESTION, but as Master you may not speak. You must draw the solution and the answers to the guessers' questions. Of course you may not draw words or numbers.
You may only speak when your guessing crowd can get no further at all.
Distribute the chips as in BLACK QUESTION.
BLACK 13: Risk! In this vampire betting game one player can win many chips – but can also lose many. Shuffle the 20 number cards. Place them as a stack in the middle of the table, number side face down.
The goal of each player is to reach the sum of 13 with the number cards as closely as possible, without exceeding it. Whoever exceeds 13 is immediately dead.
Some cards have the value "1 or 10"; use whichever value suits you best at the moment.
How it works: Put 1 chip from your supply as a stake into the middle of the table and take the top card from the number stack. Place the card face up in front of you. Now each other player also puts in 1 chip, takes a card and places it face up in front of them.
When it is your turn again, you may either place a second chip into the middle and take another card, or say: "I am stepping out, because my life is dear to me!" The other players also decide in turn whether to step out. Everyone looks not only at their own cards but also at the cards of the other players, and considers which values are still in the stack.
This goes on in turn until the last player is dead or has stepped out, or all the cards have been used up. Then it is checked which of the still-living players reached 13 or came closest. That player receives all the staked chips.
If two players are equally close, they share the winnings. An indivisible remainder goes to the poorer player.
By the way: whoever draws garlic must immediately destroy a vampire card of any player.
Particularly nasty: you may kill the vampire of a player who has stepped out – because once you have stepped out, you stay out! The destroyed vampire card is placed under the card stack.
Then the next player spins the knife.
4. No More Lifeblood, You Dog!
If you have no chips left, you must go into debt. Take the desired number of chips from the bank. At the latest at the end of the game you must pay them back. As long as you have debts, you are the dog. As the dog you must fetch the drinks from the fridge, kiss the feet of the other players and lament your suffering with a pained face, or do whatever else your gruesome fellow players demand of you.
5. Who Is the Winner?
Whoever has collected the most chips after the agreed number of rounds wins BLACK STORIES – DAS SPIEL. He or she is the black genius (das schwarze Genie).
Notes on the Story Cards
Most of the questions in BLACK STORIES – DAS SPIEL are based on film scenes. For film fans it is an additional challenge to work out which film each story comes from. You do not need to know the films to enjoy these black stories. Which black story was inspired by which film can be read on the back of each story card, under the film clapperboard ("Filmklappe"). All stories not inspired by films are recognised by the blood stain ("Blutfleck").
After you have worked through the 100 story cards of this game and are still alive, the fun is far from over: you can continue playing with all the black stories card sets. This game includes 20 cards from previously published packs so that you can get to know them. These are the last 20 of the 100 story cards, and they are marked for easy identification accordingly (without film clapperboard or blood stain).