Crime Hotel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• I. Components
• II. Goal of the Game
• III. Set Up
• IV. How to Play
  • Summary of a Round
  • 1. Play a Card from Their Hands
  • 2. Place the Played Cards and Meeples on the Board
  • 3. Make a Guess or Get Police Assistance
  • Reveal the Murderer's Room
• Scoring
  • Prepare for the Next Investigation
• V. Game End
• Beginner's Rules (Variant)

I. Components

• 1 Hotel Board (Cloth)
• 1 Score Pad
• 1 Police Station Board (Paper)
• 1 Moon Token
• 4 Player Tokens
• 20 Detective Meeples (5 meeples per color, 4 colors)
• 27 Cards (11~39)
• 1 Police Car Token (First Player Marker)
• 1 Pencil

II. Goal of the Game

On a lonely night, a murder was committed in a prestigious hotel, and inspectors have now gathered to find the killer who is still hiding in one of the hotel rooms. Each turn all players play a card in front of them. The players that placed the highest or the lowest numbered card get an opportunity to make a guess by placing their meeples on the board. The others get a chance to use assistance actions at the police station. At the end of the investigation, players score points based on their guesses. After 3 investigations have been completed, the player with the most points wins the game.

III. Set Up

1. Place the Hotel Board in the middle of the table.

2. Place the Police Station Board next to the game board.

   Note: Use the front or back of the board according to the number of players. The board shows 3 parking spots for 3 players, and 4 parking spots for 4 players.

3. Place the Moon Token on the top-left corner of the Hotel board (the cloud with in dotted line).

4. Each player chooses a color and takes all 5 pawns and the player token of the corresponding color.

5. Shuffle the room cards (27 cards), and deal 6 facedown cards to each player.

6. Place one of the remaining cards in the bottom-right corner of the Hotel board, facedown. The card indicates the room where the murderer is hiding. That is the room the players must try to find.

7. Finally, place the other remaining cards on the board according to the number of players.

   • 4 Player Game – 2 cards
   • 3 Player Game – 8 cards

8. The person who has read a detective novel the most recently takes the police car token and starts the game.

IV. How to Play

There are 5 rounds in an investigation. After playing 5 rounds, the players get points according to their guesses. And after 3 investigations, the player with the most points wins.

Summary of a Round

During a round, the players will do the following 3 actions:

1. Play a card from their hands
2. Place the played cards and meeples on the board
3. Make a guess or get police assistance

1. Play a Card from Their Hands

During this phase, empty rooms are identified by placing cards on the Hotel board.

1. Starting with the first player, everyone plays a card from their hands in clockwise order.
2. The first player can play any card, and the others must play according to the Inquiry Rule.

Inquiry Rule

• The first player can play any card. This card becomes the lead card.
• The other players must follow and play on the same floor if possible. (The hotel floor is either floor 1, 2 or 3.)
• If they do not have a card of the matching floor, they may play any other card.

1st floor (1119) — White 2nd floor (2129) — Grey 3rd floor (31~39) — Navy

Example:

1. Sam is the first player, so he can play any card he wants. Sam places the card "23" on the table. Now the other players must play 2nd floor cards if possible.
2. Ryan does not have a card of the same floor as Sam (2nd floor). Therefore, he may play any other card. Ryan plays the card "35" and place it on the table.
3. Noah has some "2nd floor" cards, so he must play either the "24" or the "25". He cannot play neither the "13" or the "33". Noah plays the card "25".

2. Place the Played Cards and Meeples on the Board

1. When everyone has played a card, the highest and the lowest values are identified.
2. Starting with the player who played the highest number, everyone plays in descending order.
3. The player with the highest number places their card on the hotel board and place one of their meeples on the parking lot 1 on the police station board. Then, the player takes the police car token in front of them.
4. The next player with the second highest numbered card places their card on the hotel board and places one of their meeples in the parking lot 2.
5. The other players do likewise in descending order.

Note: When placing a card on the hotel board, always place it visible. It means that the room has been searched, and the murderer is not in that room.

Example:

1. Ryan, who has played the highest card, places his "35" on the corresponding room on the hotel board and places his meeple on the parking lot 1.
2. Noah, who has played the second highest card, places his "25" on the corresponding room on the hotel board and places his meeple on the parking lot 2.
3. Sam, who has played the lowest card, now places his "23" on the corresponding room on the hotel board and places his meeple on the parking lot 3.

3. Make a Guess or Get Police Assistance

1. The players proceed in order according to the number of the parking space they are occupying.

• 3 Player game — The first and the last players: Make a guess. The second player: Get assistance.
• 4 player game — The first and the last players: Make a guess. The second and third players: Get assistance.

Guessing the Murderer's Room

The players can choose one of the three locations on the game board to guess the murderer's room.

<The 3 places to place a meeple / Deduction>

• Guessing the floor of the murderer's room. (1st, 2nd, 3rd floor) If the guess is correct, the player will get 2 points at the end of the investigation.
• Guessing the last digit of the murderer's room number. (1~9 columns) If the guess is correct, the player will get 5 points at the end of the investigation.
• Guessing the murderer's room. If the guess is correct, the player will get 10 points at the end of the investigation.

Note: Players may not place their meeples where there is already a meeple in place. Exception: "Duplicate guess" (Refer to p.8)

Getting Police Assistance

Players may choose which assistance they want to use by placing their meeple in the corresponding department of the police station. The meeple must be placed from left to right.

• Relocate a meeple (Immediately) The player moves one of their meeples on the hotel board to another empty place on the same board.

• Trade cards (Immediately) The player exchanges the number of cards written on the desk (1 or 2 cards) with another player. The player may choose the cards from their hand they want to give, but they must pick at random the cards from the other player's hand.

• Look at another player's cards (Immediately) The player may select another player and look at the number of cards from their hand as written on the desk (1 or 2 cards). Only the active player may look at another player's card(s).

• Duplicate guess (Passive) The player may place their meeple on a place already occupied by another player's meeple. The player may use this ability either when making a guess or when relocating a meeple.

  Note: You may not place your meeple on a place where one of your own meeple already is.

• Bonus Points (At the end of the game) Only when a player succeeds in making a correct guess during this investigation, they will get bonus points as indicated on the desk for each correct guess. If the player has more than one meeple in this department, they only receive the highest value and not the sum of the points.

Example:

1. Ryan places his meeple on the room "27".
2. Noah places his meeple on the "Bonus Points" in the Police Station Board.
3. Sam places his meeple on the column "7".

After the players finish their guess or assistance actions according to their playing order, the player with the police car token begins the next round. The players repeat the following actions for 5 rounds.

1. Play a card from their hands
2. Place the played cards and meeples on the board
3. Make a guess or get police assistance

Reveal the Murderer's Room

1. After 5 rounds, the players should have only 1 card left in their hands.
2. Starting with the player with the police car token, the players reveal and place their last cards on the hotel board.
3. Reveal the murderer's room by showing the card in the bottom right of the hotel board.

Scoring

1. The players receive points according to the guesses they made on the hotel board.
2. Guessing the floor correctly - 2pt. Guessing the last digit correctly - 5pt. Guessing the murderer's room correctly - 10pt.
3. Check the police station board. If players have meeples on the bonus point department, they receive bonus points according to their position in the department only if the player has made a correct guess.
4. Record the points scored on the score pad.

Example:

• Sam — Guessing the floor "2 points". Guessing the last digit "5 points". Total "7 points".
• Ryan — Guessing the murderer's room "10 points". Bonus Points "3 points". Total "13 points".
• Noah — No correct guess - "0 points". Noah doesn't receive the bonus points because he didn't make any correct guess. He doesn't receive any point.

Prepare for the Next Investigation

1. Move the Moon Token one space to the next dotted space. It indicates that the 2nd investigation will now begin.
2. Take all meeples back and shuffle the cards to prepare for the next investigation.
3. The game is played in the same order as the first game. The player with the police car token begins.

V. Game End

After the 3rd investigation, the player totaling the most points wins the game. If there is a tie:

1. The player with the police car token wins.
2. If the tied players do not have the police car tokens, the player who received the most points during the 3rd investigation wins.
3. If there is still a tie, they compare likewise the points scored during the 2nd investigation, and then the 1st investigation if required.
4. In the extremely rare case they would still be tied, play another game to decide!

Beginner's Rules (Variant)

If you are playing the game for the first time, you may want to use the following variant rules.

1. The setup of the game is the same. However, in this variant, the police board will not be used. Only the parking lots of the police board will be. You may place the police station board under the hotel board, showing only the parking lots.
2. During the "Make a guess or get police assistance" phase, the players do not get any assistance. The players who played the highest and the lowest cards make a guess on the hotel board, and the other players remove their meeples from the parking lots.