Dr. Shark Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• A Few Definitions
• Organisation of the Party (Set-up)
  • The Search Areas
  • The Turn Marker Track
  • Team Play
• The Party Can Now Begin!
  • 1. Dive in the Pool
  • 2. Search the Area
    • Area A – Search by Shape
    • Area B – Search for Different Textures
    • Area C – Search for the Same Texture
    • Area D – Search by the Fistful
    • Area E – Search by Observation
  • Look Out! Sharks!
  • End of the Search
• 3. Organisation of a Dossier
  • Weapons and Gadgets Evidence – Special Cases
  • Successive Services
• 4. End of the Game
  • Example

A Few Definitions

• Spy: Player taking part in the game.
• Clue: Puzzle piece.
• Piece of evidence: Collection of clues making up a complete object.
• Dossier: Collection of evidence and clues gathered by the spy. All the parts of the dossier are laid out in front of the player.

Organisation of the Party (Set-up)

• The spies each receive an access badge. On their turn, the spies place the corresponding character token on the game board. Unused badges and tokens are left in the box.
• Put the CLAPPER and the timer next to the game board.
• Place the SHAPE and TEXTURE mat next to the board.
• Put all the clues into the bag, making sure to keep all the pieces well separated.
• Sort the evidence tokens by colour and number and set them out by the game board.
• You will need to apply the stickers before the first game, remembering to maintain the correspondence between the textures and the colours. Use the puzzle pieces as a guide when doing this. The second set of stickers is provided as a spare.
• The game is played clockwise.
• Once they have received their access badges, the spies can spread out as they wish around the pool. The spy sitting here is the first player. It's his job to move the turn marker forward one space on each of his turns.

The Search Areas

There are five areas at the bottom of the pool. Each area corresponds to a method of searching. The icons show the search method used in each area. Each method is explained later.

• Some areas have two spaces, one light and one dark.
• With 2 or 3 spies, only the light spaces are used.
• With four to six spies, all the spaces are used.

The Turn Marker Track

How many players? How many turns?

• With two, three or five players, each player acts on their own.
  • With two or three players, the game lasts ten turns.
  • With five players, the game lasts eight turns.
• With four players, they can either play individually or as two teams of two spies.
  • If they play as individuals, the game lasts eight turns.
  • If they play as teams, the game lasts six turns.
• With six players, the game is always played as teams of two spies and lasts six turns.

Team Play

The general rules are unchanged but each team has a single dossier, built up by both spies. The spies in each team are placed alternately around the table. Team play adds spice to the game.

The Party Can Now Begin!

On their turn, the spies must:

1. Dive in the pool
2. Search the area
3. Organise their dossier

1. Dive in the Pool

Every turn, including the first, you must move your character onto an empty space in another area. Remember, each area uses a different search method.

In the example opposite, Yoko can move onto any of the spaces indicated by the green arrows as they are in other areas than the start one and empty. She cannot move onto the space indicated by the red arrow as it's in the same search area.

Reminder: With two or three players, the dark spaces aren't used. No character can be put on them.

2. Search the Area

Place the SHAPES and TEXTURES mat in front of you.

The spy to your left takes the CLAPPER and the timer and places them in front of him. He starts the timer and watches it carefully. When the timer runs out, he hits the CLAPPER and you must immediately take your hands out of the bag. It's the end of your turn.

You are allowed the time shown by the timer (approx. 30 seconds) to carry out a search using the method corresponding to your area.

The three search methods A, B and C use the same basic principle: put both hands into the bag (which symbolises the pool) to try and find the required clues. This must be done purely by touch, feeling your way around the with your fingers. Under no circumstances are you allowed to look in the bag (except for method E).

Area A – Search by Shape

The spy removes a clue from the bag and immediately places it illustration side up on the SHAPES section of the mat.

As soon as the clue is correctly placed on the corresponding shape, the spy can draw another clue from the bag. Each clue must be a different SHAPE and must be taken from the bag one by one. The other spies should keep an eye on this.

When time runs out, the spy takes all the collected clues on the mat and adds them to his dossier.

If the spy draws a clue from the bag that has the same shape as one already present on the mat, he puts it back into the bag and the turn ends immediately, regardless of how much time remains.

Any clues that had already been placed on the mat are still added to the dossier.

Area B – Search for Different Textures

The spy removes a clue from the bag and immediately places it illustration side up on the TEXTURES section of the mat.

As soon as the clue is correctly placed on the corresponding Texture symbol, the spy can draw another clue from the bag. Each clue must be a different TEXTURE and must be taken from the bag one by one. The other spies should keep an eye on this.

When time runs out, the spy takes all the collected clues on the mat and adds them to his dossier.

If the spy draws a clue from the bag that has the same texture as one already present on the mat, he puts it back into the bag and the turn ends immediately, regardless of how much time remains.

Any clues that had already been placed on the mat are still added to the dossier.

Area C – Search for the Same Texture

The spy removes a clue from the bag and immediately places it illustration side up on the TEXTURES section of the mat.

As soon as the clue is correctly placed on the corresponding Texture symbol, the spy can draw another clue from the bag and add it on top of the previous one. Each clue must be the same TEXTURE and must be taken from the bag one by one. The other spies should keep an eye on this.

When time runs out, the spy takes all the collected clues on the mat and adds them to his dossier.

If the spy draws a clue from the bag that has a different texture, he puts it back into the bag and the turn ends immediately, regardless of how much time remains.

Any clues that had already been placed on the mat are still added to the dossier.

Area D – Search by the Fistful

This search takes place methodically and strictly in the following order:

1. Put one hand in the bag and pull out a fistful of clues in a single motion.
2. Spread the clues out illustration side up on the table (using both hands) and sort them by background colour.
3. If there are any sharks, return any clues with the same background colour to the bag along with the sharks.
4. Once the previous three steps have been completed, the spy can select one clue for each colour remaining.

All the clues selected before the timer runs out are added to your dossier.

Tip: Taking a large fistful can be a risky proposition. Never under-estimate the time needed to sort them out. Furthermore, you'd be increasing your chances of drawing a shark or two!

Area E – Search by Observation

Open the bag, look inside, and take out a single clue of your choice. Add it directly to your dossier.

Tip: It's a good idea to know exactly what you're looking for before opening the bag…. Time runs out quickly.

Look Out! Sharks!

If a player draws a shark from the bag when searching with methods A, B or C, his turn ends immediately because the sharks are getting too close. It's time to quickly get out of the pool… Any clues that had already been placed on the mat are still added to the dossier.

Put the shark back in the bag before starting the next spy's turn.

End of the Search

A search can end in one of three ways:

a. Time runs out and the CLAPPER has noisily slammed its jaws shut.

b. The spy makes a mistake.

c. A shark is drawn from the bag (methods A, B and C).

3. Organisation of a Dossier

Once his search is over, the spy organises his dossier by adding the clues he has collected.

He checks whether he can put together a piece of evidence by combining his clues. If he can complete a piece of evidence, he takes the corresponding evidence token and places it face up in front of him. The clues used to form this piece of evidence are returned to the box and aren't used again in the game. The evidence has been definitively acquired and cannot be stolen by another spy.

The number on the token shows the number of points earned for the piece of evidence.

Important: There are multiple copies of each piece of evidence, which means they can be collected multiple times, even by the same spy (as, for example, the satellite watch).

Weapons and Gadgets Evidence – Special Cases

Weapons and Gadgets evidence earn fewer points than Disguises, Maps and Fake Documents. On the other hand, Weapons and Gadgets evidence enable the services of freelance special agents, willing to work for anybody, to be obtained.

• Paoletta, the Irresistible: When a spy forms this piece of evidence he may immediately call upon her charms to take a clue of his choice from another spy's dossier.
• Babanipoulos, the Negotiator: When a spy forms this piece of evidence he may immediately call upon the wealthy amateur's talent for negotiation and take a clue of his choice from another spy's dossier. In return, he must give that spy two of his own clues. Oh well… you can't have everything.

Successive Services

Use of two services in succession is not allowed. If the use of a service causes a new piece of evidence allowing use of a service to be completed, it is simply ignored.

4. End of the Game

Once all the turns have been played, the game ends and points are counted.

Each spy adds up all their evidence tokens along with any unassigned clues in the dossier.

The spy with the most points wins! He immediately climbs aboard the helicopter and flies away with his dossier, to be handed over to his superiors. The other spies are exposed and thrown to the sharks…

Example

Yoko has constituted the following dossier:

• One Fake Documents evidence token: 12 points
• One Disguises evidence token: 8 points
• Two Gadgets evidence tokens: 14 points
• Eight unassigned clues: 8 points

Total for the dossier: 42 points