Castle: The Detective Card Game
Castle: The Detective Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 90 Investigation Cards
- 18 Large Suspect Cards
- 6 Oversized Cast Cards
- 10 Not Guilty Tokens
- 2 Guilty Tokens
- 12 Solved Tokens
Game Set-Up
A single game is called an "Episode." During an Episode, each player chooses one of the main characters from the show. You get to play that Episode as if you are that character. No roleplaying required . . . unless you really want to. Each of the characters has a unique special ability that only that character can use, so choosing a new character to play will provide a slightly different play experience each time.
In a standard Episode, there are five Suspects that are being investigated, one of whom is the Guilty party. Grab the eighteen Suspect cards, give them a light shuffle, and place five of them face up in the middle of the table. Keep the other thirteen Suspect cards face down and off to the side. The object of the game is to find the guilty party from among these five Suspects. Whoever can do that first is the winner!
Now grab the two Guilty and ten Not Guilty tokens. Place one of the Guilty tokens back into the box. Place the other Guilty token face down next to the Suspects. Now grab the ten Not Guilty tokens and give them a light shuffle or mix them up face down, then place four of them next to the Guilty token.
Grab those five tokens and shuffle or mix them so that the lone Guilty token is mixed in with the four Not Guilty tokens. When that has been completed, place one token face down on each of the five Suspects. Now there is one Guilty party among the five tokens. The tokens must all remain face down during this entire process. If one inadvertently gets revealed, mix them up again before proceeding.
Shuffle the 90-card main deck and then place it in the middle of the table where each player can reach it. Then deal three cards from the main deck to each player. The player with the birthday closest to today (looking forward only) gets to go first. Play proceeds clockwise from that player.
Playing the Game
Most of the cards you are dealt will be standard Investigation cards with a large picture and a simple card name. This is a competitive game, so you would be wise to avoid showing your opponents your hand of cards. In the end, there can be only one winner . . .
There are nine different types of Investigation cards and nine copies of each of these cards in the main deck. Each Investigation type has an associated color, for easy reference. Looking at the Suspect cards, you will notice that some of the card names and colors match the cards in your hand. That's a good thing. You will use the Investigation cards in your hand to Confront a Suspect.
In order to Confront this Suspect, you will need to have Poker Game Consult, Crime Scene, and Search Victim's Home Investigation cards in your hand.
So what do you do if you don't have the cards you need to Confront a Suspect? You will need to draw additional Investigation cards to find the ones you need, or perform another Action.
Here are the Actions you can choose from on your turn:
- Draw a card.
- Discard one card, then draw two cards.
- Play a special text card.
- Confront a Suspect.
- Use your character's Special Ability (once per Episode only).
During each of your turns, you get to choose one and only one of these Actions.
Types of Cards
The rulebook's illustrated key shows these card and token types: Character Card; Investigation Card; Investigation Card/Special Text Card; Suspect; Guilty Token; Not Guilty Token; Solved Token.
Draw A Card
If all of the cards in your hand would be useful in Confronting one of the Suspects, drawing a single card is often the best way to get that last Investigation card you need in order to Confront a Suspect. Once you have drawn the top card of the main deck, your turn is over.
Discard One Card, Then Draw Two Cards
If you have cards in your hand that you don't need, the best way to get new cards is to choose and discard a card to draw two new cards. When you survey the Suspects, you might notice that some types of Investigations may be more useful than others. Once a couple of Suspects have been Confronted, you may find that you are holding Investigation cards that are no longer needed at all. These are prime candidates for discarding to draw cards. You may discard a card even if there are Suspects that require that type of Investigation. Sometimes it pays to focus on just one or two Suspects at a time.
Discards are always placed face up into a single discard pile next to the main deck. Once you have discarded a card and drawn two cards off the top of the main deck, your turn is over. Note that special text cards are fair game for discarding if you don't need them at the time.
Play A Special Text Card
If you are lucky, you might find a card with special game text. These are Investigation cards as well, but they perform more specialized functions. Playing one of these cards is your Action for your turn. Read the card, do what it says, then discard it, and your turn is over. The special text cards are: High-Stakes Case, Killing by the Book, Alexis Castle, Martha Rodgers, and New Suspect.
Confront A Suspect
This is the Action that all other Actions lead to. Without Confronting a Suspect, you will never solve the case. In order to Confront a Suspect, you must have the three Investigation cards in your hand that match the cards and colors listed on the Suspect. That is what it will take to determine the guilt or innocence of that Suspect. To perform this Action, you simply place the three Investigation cards that correspond to a Suspect next to that Suspect's card. That will prove to the other players that you have fulfilled the proper Investigations, then discard those 3 cards. Then flip the token on the Suspect face up for all to see. If you reveal a Guilty! token, you earn a Solved token and win the game!
If you don't find a Guilty token, you will have uncovered a Not Guilty token. Not Guilty tokens have additional text. Read that text out loud and perform the action required, then remove that Suspect and its token from the play area. Now the number of Suspects has been reduced, and you have closed in on the guilty party.
Use Your Character's Special Ability
Each different cast member that you can choose to play has a unique ability. Using your character's Special Ability is an Action that you perform only on your turn. When you perform this Action, do what the Special Ability game text says to, then your turn is over. Some Abilities include a condition you must meet before you can perform them. You can use your character's Special Ability only once per Episode.
Example: You are playing an Episode as Kate Beckett. You wish to use her Special Ability, so on your turn, you must discard two of the same Investigation cards. If you don't have two with the same name or don't wish to discard them, you can't perform this Action. After you perform this Action, your turn is over.
End of Game
An Episode can end in one of two ways:
- When Confronting a Suspect, if a player reveals the Guilty token, the Episode is over. That player wins the game!
- When the last card in the main deck is drawn, the Episode ends immediately, and the killer gets away. Everyone loses in this case, so when the deck is getting low, Confront those Suspects!
Example of Game Play
One Guilty token and four Not Guilty tokens were shuffled, then one token was placed face down on each of the Suspects. The Guilty party is out there, just waiting to be discovered!
You were then dealt a starting hand of three Investigation cards: Search Victim's Home, Poker Game Consult, and Interview Victim's Family. Search Victim's Home appears on three different Suspects, and Poker Game Consult appears on two, but Interview Victim's Family appears on none. You already have two of the three necessary Investigation cards to Confront The Shady Lawyer, needing only a Crime Scene card, so that seems like a good place to focus your attention.
When your turn comes around, you decide to discard the Interview Victim's Family card, as none of the Suspects require that card. Since you chose the "Discard one card, then draw two cards" Action, you now draw the top two cards of the main deck. You receive a Search Suspect's Home and an Undercover Work. You haven't found the particular card you wanted, but you now have some other cards that will help you work towards Confronting other Suspects. Now all of the cards in your hand are useful, so if you choose to use the "Discard one card, then draw two cards" Action, you will be giving up a good card.
When your next turn comes around, you decide to play it safe and simply "Draw a card." You draw an Interview Victim's Friends. While you were originally trying to get Crime Scene in order to Confront The Shady Lawyer, the twists and turns of an episode of Castle can have you ending up somewhere you never thought you would be. You now have all three Investigation cards you need to Confront The Abusive Mother, but you can't immediately Confront the Suspect. That's an Action, and you already performed an Action for the turn. You must wait until your next turn and hope that no one else Confronts that Suspect in the meantime.
When your next turn comes around, you place Search Victim's Home, Interview Victim's Friends, and Undercover Work for all to see next to The Abusive Mother Suspect card. Now you flip the token on The Abusive Mother face up. You have uncovered a Not Guilty token, so The Abusive Mother is not the Guilty party!
The token you uncovered says to "Draw a card," so you draw and get a Crime Scene card, the very card you had been looking for previously! However, you used your Search Victim's Home card to Confront The Abusive Mother, so you will need to find another one . . . and fast!
The Abusive Mother and the Not Guilty token are both removed from the middle of the table. Now there are just four Suspects remaining. One of them is guilty of the crime—who will solve the case first?
Advanced Games
Once you have completed a standard five-Suspect Episode or two, you should try a "Full Season" match or a Scenario.
Full Season
Playing one Episode is a great way to play a game during a commercial break while watching Castle, but for a fuller game experience, try playing a Full Season match. A Full Season match is a series of single Episode games played back to back until a player has earned three Solved tokens. You will still use five Suspects during each individual episode. When a player uncovers a Guilty token, he or she gains a Solved token. Then reshuffle all of the Suspects, Investigation cards, and tokens to set up a new Episode. The first player in the next Episode is the player who would have been next to act in the previous game (essentially continuing play as if there was no restart). When a player has earned his or her third Solved token, the Full Season ends and that player wins the match!
Tougher/Longer Scenarios
After you have mastered the rules of the game, you and your friends might be up for a harder challenge.
- Try playing a single Episode game with seven, eight, or even nine(!) Suspects.
- Try playing a Full Season match with six or even seven Suspects per Episode.
Expert Scenarios
The Conspiracy
In this single Episode game, use two Guilty tokens, six Not Guilty tokens, and eight Suspects. You must find both Guilty Suspects before time runs out!
Castle's Toughest Case Yet
This is a cooperative Episode. In this single-Episode game, mix up all twelve Guilty/Not Guilty tokens together and place one face down on each of seven Suspects. Keep the remaining tokens face down. In this scenario, you don't know how many Guilty Suspects there are, so you must Confront all Suspects before time runs out. There might not even be a Guilty Suspect. Even if you have already found two Guilty Suspects, you still have to Confront the remaining Suspects before the deck runs out. If you don't find any Guilty tokens by the time the last Suspect is Confronted, the players all lose. If you find at least one Guilty token when all Suspects have been Confronted, the players win.
If someone plays a "New Suspect" card during this scenario, don't shuffle all of the tokens and redistribute them as the card instructs. Simply grab one of the face-down tokens and place it face down on the Suspect you have added to the pool.
Specific Card Clarifications
High-Stakes Case: This special text card isn't useful during a single Episode or Expert Scenario, so that makes it a great card to discard in order to draw two cards. In a Full Season match, this card can vault you into the lead or even win you the entire match. When you play it, you also get to Confront a Suspect at the same time. If you find the Guilty token, you earn two Solved tokens instead of one.
New Suspect: Playing this card as your Action on your turn will add a new Suspect from the unused Suspect pile to the middle of the board. Recover all of the tokens from the current Suspects and add a new Not Guilty token to the mix. Shuffle up all of the tokens face down, then place one onto each of the Suspects, including the new one. As the person who played this card, you have a special insight into this new Suspect, so as an added bonus, you get to peek at his or her token after it has been placed.
Killing by the Book: Playing this card as your Action on your turn allows you to more easily find that one last Investigation card you might be looking for. Set your current hand down before drawing these three new ones. Then keep one of the three you just drew, discarding the two you did not keep. You may look at your hand while trying to decide which one to keep—just don't mix up the two sets of cards.
Alexis Castle: Sometimes the best advice comes from the most unlikely of places. Playing this card as your Action on your turn allows you to peek at the token on the Suspect of your choice. If the Suspect is Guilty, you now know what Investigation cards you need to find. If not, you know you don't need to Confront that Suspect.
Martha Rodgers: Sometimes a strong woman can get you just what you need. Playing this card as your Action on your turn allows you to choose another player, look at his or her hand, and put any one card from that player's hand into your hand. In a Full Season match, this is a great way to keep a player with more Solved tokens than you have from collecting a third.
FAQ
Q: If I have the three cards I need to Confront a Suspect, do I have to do it or can I wait?
A: You can wait. Sometimes waiting until the number of Suspects has narrowed down is a good plan. Just don't wait so long that someone else Confronts the Suspect you've been eyeing before you do.
Q: Several of the Not Guilty tokens help other players when you flip them. Why is that?
A: Sometimes when you establish the innocence of one Suspect, that provides good leads for your fellow crime-solvers. This simulates that.
Q: One of the Not Guilty tokens says to "Discard the top 10 cards of the main deck." What does that really do?
A: It doesn't help or hurt any one player. What it does is remove cards from the main deck, which gives all players less time to find the killer before the deck runs out. When the deck runs out, the killer gets away and no one wins that Episode.
Q: If the main deck runs out during a Full Season match, does that end the whole match or just that one Episode?
A: Just that Episode. No one earns a Solved token for that Episode, but the match continues.