Escape the Room: Murder in the Mafia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup (Anleitung zum Aufbau)
• Introduction (Einleitung)
• Contents (Spielmaterial)
• How to Play (So wird gespielt)
  • Puzzles
  • Solutions
  • Objects
  • Locks
  • The Solution Wheel (Das Lösungsrad)
  • Hints (Hinweise)
• The Story Begins (Die Geschichte beginnt)
• 1 · Mickey – The Mafioso (Mickey – Der Mafioso)
• 2 · Luigi – The Boss (Luigi – Der Boss)
• 3 · O'Sullivan – The Law (O'Sullivan – Das Gesetz)
• 4 · Vinnie – The Blade (Vinnie – Die Klinge)
• 5 · Rosa – The Femme Fatale (Rosa – Die Femme Fatale)
• The Murderer (Der Mörder)

Setup (Anleitung zum Aufbau)

Read these instructions carefully. Before you start, do not open or change any of the materials. Read the game rules first.

1. Remove the white insert from the game box. Open the small box inside it and take out the Solution Wheel, the Bookshelf, the Water Cooler and the Filing Cabinet. The furniture is placed in step 5.
2. Slide the right and left walls open by releasing the tabs at the top and bottom of each wall. Fold the large tabs (marked with a dot) back so they lie behind the base of each side wall.
3. Fold the flaps on both sides of the floor down and push their tabs through the slots under the doors on both sides of the game box.
4. Attach the roof at an angle by fitting the roof tabs at the top of each wall, as shown in the illustration. Note: the four tabs released in step 2 stay free.
5. Place the Bookshelf (A), the Water Cooler (B) and the Filing Cabinet (C) as shown in the illustration (Fig. 1). Fold the desk up so that it stands upright (Fig. 2).
6. The house is now fully assembled.

(The assembly section includes illustrations for steps 1 to 6 and for the finished office. Figures show the placement of furniture A, B and C.)

Do not continue reading until the office is fully assembled. The assembly instructions are on pages 2 and 3 of the manual.

Introduction (Einleitung)

You are about to take on a challenging and exciting escape-room adventure that takes place entirely in the reconstructed office of a private detective. Before you begin, make sure you have followed the assembly instructions on pages 2 and 3 exactly. Your reconstructed crime scene should now look like the one shown on page 5.

Please do not open or move anything unless you are asked to. Otherwise you risk destroying a puzzle or part of the story.

If you need extra help, you will find more information on our website: www.ThinkFun.com/EscapeTheRoom/de

Contents (Spielmaterial)

• Replica of a private detective's office
• 10 interactive objects with secret compartments
• 1 booklet with story and instructions
• 5 puzzle chapters, with new clues and characters in each chapter
• 1 Solution Wheel

Additional materials needed:

• Pencils and paper (for notes and for working on some puzzles)
• Internet access (optional): use the online hints during play, download the story, stream our music recommendations and more.

How to Play (So wird gespielt)

Escape the Room – Murder in the Mafia is a home escape-room experience in which the players must solve a series of puzzles they find inside the office of a private detective. The office consists of a single room and contains a number of objects with which the players interact.

Puzzles

All puzzles are marked with symbols on the left-hand side of the text. (The manual shows the puzzle symbols in an illustration.)

Solutions

To solve a puzzle, one or more correct solution symbols must be found. These may be on different objects in the game. For each puzzle the players are asked to identify the correct symbol or symbols from a group of symbols. The green (inner) ring of the Solution Wheel shows what the solution symbols look like. (The manual illustrates the solution symbols.)

Sometimes the solution to one puzzle is needed to solve a later puzzle. Keep the evidence you have collected in mind.

Objects

There are three ways in which the players can interact with the objects in the office:

VIEW (Ansehen): You may look at everything in the office at any time.

TOUCH (Anfassen): You may only touch objects when you are asked to. That means you may lift the object off the floor or wall, remove adhesive, and use any moving parts it contains. Once the players have access to an object, it remains available to them for the rest of the game.

OPEN (Öffnen): Many objects are sealed envelopes or boxes. Some carry a lock symbol and some do not.

If an object carries a lock symbol, the players may only open it in the following cases:

• The story asks them to open the object or envelope.
• The players solve the puzzle that is linked to the locked object.

Locks

There are two kinds of lock in the game:

Square locks are found on envelopes and boxes inside the game. Players may only open an object with a square lock once the story asks them to, OR once they have solved the puzzle that relates to that object. They should take care to empty the objects they open completely. Players may touch and open everything that is inside an envelope or box.

Round locks have numbers and are found on the door of the office. When the players complete one of the five chapters of the game by solving all the puzzles and confirming all the answers on the Solution Wheel (see the next section), they may "unlock" the office door to open the next level. Note: at the start of each chapter, the manual states which lock number should be visible on the door.

The Solution Wheel (Das Lösungsrad)

When the players think they have solved a puzzle, they check their answer with the Solution Wheel. For each puzzle, the matching puzzle symbol found in the story must be used together with the solution symbol the players believe is correct. In the following example, the puzzle symbol "clock" and the solution symbol consisting of a circle with a dot are used.

To check the answer:

1. The puzzle symbol on the outer ring is turned so that it stands next to the golden triangle on the edge of the Solution Wheel.
2. The solution symbol is moved next to the puzzle symbol.
3. Then the brown tab is slid until the symbol of the opened lock can be seen.

(The manual illustrates the golden triangle, the brown tab and the puzzle and solution symbols. The brown tab is labelled "slide to open window" to the right and "slide to close window" to the left.)

4. If two symbols matching the current puzzle appear in the holes, the answer is CORRECT.
5. After every check of a solution, the brown tab is slid until the lock symbol can be seen again.

The solution is WRONG in the following cases:

• No symbols can be seen in the window of the Solution Wheel, OR
• The symbol in the window does not match the puzzle symbol, or the symbols in the windows do not match each other or the puzzle symbol.

Important: Whether the answer was correct or incorrect, after setting symbols on the Solution Wheel the tab must be slid back to close all nine windows. The players should check all answers for a chapter before moving on to the next chapter. It is strongly recommended that the windows are not left open while the Solution Wheel is adjusted, so that players do not discover correct answers by guessing and trying at random. That would only arouse unnecessary suspicion!

Hints (Hinweise)

If you ever get stuck, you can use the online hints that you will find here: www.ThinkFun.com/EscapeTheRoom/de

The hints are given step by step. The players may use as many hints as they want.

Read on only once the office is completely assembled! The assembly instructions are on pages 2 and 3.

Optionally, you can set a clock to 2 hours. When you are ready, you can read the next page and start the game!

The Story Begins (Die Geschichte beginnt)

You are Chicago's leading private detective, and you have already crossed swords several times with the Mafia enforcer Mickey Malone. But now Mickey is dying on the floor of your office, shot with your own gun. That promises a lot of trouble. The Mafia does not like it when one of its people dies. Now the Mafia is after your head, and the police are on your heels too. Get ready to meet your greatest challenge yet, because if you cannot solve this case, you will not leave your office alive.

1 · Mickey – The Mafioso (Mickey – Der Mafioso)

The first thing you notice as you enter your office is the lifeless body of Mickey Malone. Mickey was the most important enforcer of the local Mafia. You have had your disputes with Mickey and could be relieved that he is now dead, were it not for your gun lying on the floor beside him.

Oh, you hate Mondays. It is clear that someone has made you suspect number one. You must keep a low profile until you have cleared this matter up. The Mafia does not go easy on people who kill one of their own.

The disorder in your office shows that someone was searching for something, and the many footprints suggest that there were several people.

Your former partner O'Sullivan always nagged you that you should not keep "sensitive" documents in obvious places. That was one of the smaller disagreements the two of you had; there are many reasons why he is no longer your partner. Now he is a cop with doubtful morals. Perhaps he killed Mickey and left him here so that he could catch you beside the body.

After you went your separate ways, you asked a trustworthy assistant to re-hide the evidence in your office, in case O'Sullivan thought of coming back and using something against you. The assistant had been instructed to leave you encrypted clues to help you find everything again.

As you look around, you think about your last case: Rosa De Luca. She was Mickey's girlfriend. Now she is his ex-girlfriend. She hired you to find out whether he was cheating on her. You would not normally have taken on such a case, but she looked so angry that you simply could not turn her away. Now you wish you had.

Yesterday you gave her a photo of Mickey trying on engagement rings with a blonde. It was no ordinary blonde, but Angelica Amorosa, the longtime girlfriend of Luigi Caputo, the boss himself.

That photo would have been enough for Rosa to wish Mickey dead. And luring the detective who delivered the bad news into a trap would not be unusual either. In this way she gets the Mafia to remove you for her, and nobody becomes suspicious. Neat and clean. For everyone except you.

Find the documents your assistant hid in your office, so that you can get away before the police or the Mafia arrive.

You may touch the bulletin board, the safe, the desk and the filing cabinet. Beyond that, you must not change anything in the office. To open the safe and the filing cabinet, you must first solve the puzzles that belong to them.

The bulletin board hides your safe excellently and fortunately is easy to remove.

Your assistant changed the combination after O'Sullivan had left. You remember the hint for the new combination:

"From outside to inside – Thunder, Lightning, Day."

Solve your assistant's puzzle to open the safe.

You told your assistant that evidence can be hidden in a filing cabinet if it is dull-looking paper. The information you need is spread across three of your folders, most of which are still in the unlocked front compartments. Inside them you see a note to help you find them:

• Useful information is never in a folder with a "1" on its label.
• Useful information is never next to a folder with a "5" on its label.
• Useful information is always next to a folder with a "9" on its label.

Find the three folders you need, and then open the locked cabinet.

Check each of the three answers individually on the Solution Wheel.

Remember to search for the sensitive evidence hidden in your desk.

When you have found the three documents with the lock symbol (from the safe, the filing cabinet and the desk), slide the office door with the lock symbol "1" out. Then read the text on the next page.

2 · Luigi – The Boss (Luigi – Der Boss)

You have packed everything you need and look at both sides of the counterfeit banknote. Three red X's mean there are only three mistakes. This time. Sloppy work, but better than usual. At least the number of digits in the serial number is correct. Time to go. You open your office door and run into one of the last people you wanted to see: Mafia boss Luigi Caputo. With a pistol.

"I'm impressed," says Luigi, stepping into your office and signalling with his gun that you should follow him. "Looks like you beat Mickey to it."

"I did not kill him," you reply.

"His corpse and your gun lying on the floor beside it – that suggests it was you."

"Come on, Luigi! You know I never get my hands dirty. But maybe …" The next words stick in your throat as a thought comes to mind.

Luigi is thinking the same thing. "You think I killed Mickey? No, no. I received a message from Mickey saying I should meet him here this morning. Imagine my surprise when I saw his corpse. I decided to stay close by to see what you would do when you turned up here."

Luigi raises his gun. "I cannot let an insult like that pass. If word gets around that you killed Mickey, the family looks bad. So I have to make an example of you."

Luigi nods his head towards a bucket beside the cabinet. "I found this bucket of dry concrete. I think Mickey wanted to give you a pair of concrete shoes. He must have had a good reason for that. So I will finish the job. I have already added the remaining water from your water cooler. You will step into the bucket, and as soon as the concrete has hardened, you will jump off the landing bridge. Enjoy a nice, long sleep with the fishes."

You may touch the bucket of concrete.

While you are still talking to Luigi, you feel the concrete around your feet beginning to harden. You know he may not let you leave – so you had better try to pull your feet out while you distract Luigi with your words.

You look down at the concrete. Find a way to get your feet out of the bucket.

Your bulletin board holds evidence you have gathered to track the illegal dealings of the Mafia. You know Mickey was somehow involved in them, but so far you have not been able to make a connection. Perhaps something in your notes can help.

Make a connection between Mickey and one of the crates of illegal goods.

You are certain that someone is siphoning money from one of Mickey's businesses, probably into the account of a beloved deceased family member. An informant has obtained a family tree for you and the information that the siphoned money can be found here:

"Account of Sofia's father's brother-in-law's uncle's brother-in-law's grandson's brother's mother's sister-in-law."

You notice that Mario was divorced from Bianca and later married Bella.

Find out which account the siphoned money is flowing into.

You know that the local bank has no account numbers beginning with 0. So the numbers must be encrypted. This information may be useful later.

Once you have completed these three tasks, you slide open the next level of the office door. Then read the text on the next page.

3 · O'Sullivan – The Law (O'Sullivan – Das Gesetz)

"Mickey runs your illegal liquor business," you say.

"I know nothing about that," Luigi replies.

"What you also don't know is that someone is skimming the profits. I have the bookkeeping records that prove it." And a number that has something to do with Mickey comes to mind as you think it through.

"Mickey cheated on me?" asks Luigi. "I'll kill him! That is, I have to kill whoever killed him." Luigi pauses. "Okay, you can go. For now."

You climb out of the bucket. Concrete drips from your trousers onto the floor. At that moment your office door bursts open, and a police officer rushes in with his gun drawn. It is your former partner, Officer O'Sullivan. When he takes in the situation in your office, he smiles.

"Is this a bad time?" asks O'Sullivan sarcastically.

Luigi stares at you.

"I'm just gathering some information," you answer. "What a coincidence that you turned up here."

"A call came into the station that a woman was screaming and shots were fired. I came to check it out." O'Sullivan grins and nods his head towards Mickey's corpse. "Looks like I don't need to ask any more questions after the shots. Who am I going to arrest now for Mickey's murder? Isn't that your gun on the floor?" O'Sullivan had plenty of reasons to want Mickey dead. The call to the station was clearly a set-up.

Perhaps he even called the station himself, so that he could come by after Luigi had taken care of you, to arrest him for the murder of you and Mickey, so he could be promoted.

O'Sullivan picks up your gun from the floor.

"No fingerprints. Clever." He checks the chamber of the gun. "Looks like you fired all six bullets."

It is time to find out some facts about Mickey's death. Open Mickey's envelope and the water cooler.

Your gun holds six bullets. When you turn Mickey over, you see four more bullet holes. Even counting the bullet in his back, the sixth bullet is still missing. At that moment you notice the strange hole in the thick glass of the water cooler.

Inside the water cooler you can make out a bullet on the bottom. You can still see the shape of the entry hole. Find out what type of gun the bullets were fired from.

Mickey has a list of five-digit account numbers in his pocket and a ring with two gemstones and a strange inscription made up of five symbols. You know that the siphoned money flows into Illaria's account. Perhaps these items can help you find out who is diverting the money.

Mickey has notes from a meeting with three local Mafia informants, after they had shadowed a suspect. Evidently Mickey knew that someone was profiting from his illegal liquor business and that this person had an accomplice. Mickey narrowed the accomplice down to a circle of three people: Angelica, Vinnie or Rosa. Mickey instructed the informants to report the following information about the people they had observed:

• Whether the accomplice is a particular person or not
• Whether the accomplice has a scar on their hand or not
• Whether the accomplice has a knife tattoo or not
• What the accomplice drank while being observed

Two of the informants are reliable and always tell the truth. One of the informants was bribed by the accomplice, so that he always lies.

Find out who the accomplice is.

Once you have completed these three tasks, the next level of the office door is revealed. You may also open the cabinet door, but make sure it stays attached to the wall. Then read the text on the next page.

4 · Vinnie – The Blade (Vinnie – Die Klinge)

Important: open the cabinet now, if you have not already done so.

"You have killed my girl!" roars Luigi. Screaming, he hurls himself at you. "I'll kill you!"

O'Sullivan steps in. "Hold back, Luigi," he says, waving his gun.

Frustrated, Luigi smashes the glass pane in your door. Great. Another thing you will have to deal with if you survive this. The broken office door swings open, and Mickey's deputy Vinnie Valachi comes in. "What are you doing here?" shouts Luigi.

Vinnie shrugs. "You told me to explain to the detective where he should not stick his nose if he wants to keep it."

"I told you to talk to him last night," growls Luigi.

"I had no time last night," answers Vinnie. "I had to watch how the cig… I mean, I had to receive goods at the docks."

O'Sullivan interrupts the conversation and turns to you. "I think the case is clear: you tried to blackmail Mickey with photos that prove he is having an affair with Luigi's girlfriend …"

"I'll kill Mickey again!" shouts Luigi.

"… and you were siphoning money behind Luigi's back. Mickey came to your office this morning with Angelica to settle everything, but then something went wrong."

O'Sullivan must know that this is not true. The wristwatch on Mickey's wrist broke when he fell to the floor, suggesting that he died at 11:13 … O'Sullivan is just trying to save his own skin by pinning the blame on you.

O'Sullivan picks up Angelica's handbag. Luigi snatches it from him, opens it and finds a letter, a note and a flight ticket inside. Crestfallen, he lets everything drop to the floor.

"Let's see what you are hiding, ex-partner!" says O'Sullivan. "You always liked hiding evidence in your bookshelf. Shall we start the search there?"

You had better solve this murder quickly – or you are dead. As the saying goes: follow the money and find out who benefits most from the deaths of Mickey and Angelica.

Open the bookshelf.

To your surprise, Vinnie finds a bundle of banknotes between the books.

But the notes look like counterfeits. Find out which of the four 20-dollar bills is genuine.

Beside Angelica you find parts of the floor plan of a warehouse, which records details of incoming shipments. In order to make it harder for the police to track them down, crates of illegal goods have been moved to various areas of the port warehouse. The shipment from Dock 3 seems to be especially important. Find out which illegal goods are linked to Dock 3.

The final destination of the Dock 3 shipment is unclear. Five items in Angelica's handbag could give you further information. The only clue seems to be a note that says: "Arrow marks the spot."

Find out where in the city the Dock 3 shipment is being taken.

Once you have completed these three tasks, the next level of the office door is revealed. You may also open the window by pulling the top layer of the window off the back wall. Then read the text on the next page.

5 · Rosa – The Femme Fatale (Rosa – Die Femme Fatale)

Important: now pull off the top layer of the window, if you have not already done so.

"I thought you were not corruptible," says O'Sullivan.

"That can hardly be a bribe," you reply. "Apart from one single twenty, all these notes are fake."

There is a knock at the door. Luigi, O'Sullivan and Vinnie quickly retreat to the back of the office so they will not be seen when the door swings open.

It is Rosa De Luca. In her red dress she looks absolutely stunning. She is visibly upset and says: "Detective, I need your help. I have lost the photo you gave me. I need a new print. If I don't have it, I'm afraid …" Her face darkens when she sees Luigi, O'Sullivan and Vinnie. Then she sees Mickey. A mixture of different emotions is visible on her face. And then she notices Angelica.

"Serves them both right."

She turns around and opens her handbag. As she takes something out, Vinnie snatches it from her hand. O'Sullivan steps in and takes the item from Vinnie. It is a small mirror.

"I thought it was a gun!" protests Vinnie.

"I just wanted to fix my face," says Rosa.

"Idiot." O'Sullivan glares at Vinnie and hands the mirror back to Rosa.

You have to narrow down your options, and quickly. You are certain that one person in this room is guilty – but you are outnumbered. Without evidence you will not get out of this.

Something you seem to be overlooking. There are footprints all over your messy office – and probably fingerprints too. The murderer must have left some traces.

Find out who the third person in your office was.

(Illustration: four suspect boxes labelled "Vinnie:", "O'Sullivan:", "Rosa:" and "Luigi:", each with a symbol beside the label; the players use these symbols to accuse the murderer.)

The suspects are all standing in front of you. Accuse the murderer using their symbol, and then read the text on the next page.

The Murderer (Der Mörder)

"All the evidence I need is here," you say, making a sweeping gesture with your arms around the room and drawing everyone's attention to yourself. "The footprints show that the person who did this came in through the window and did not wear high heels," you say. "In fact, this person left a fingerprint on the glass that matches one of the prints on Rosa's little mirror. It is also interesting that this person claims to have been supervising the unloading of the cig… I mean, the goods that have only just arrived at the port." You point out of the window at the boats.

Vinnie turns pale. "You have no evidence against me!"

"You must have learned about the photo that Rosa had," you continue. "Then you blackmailed Angelica into giving you her share of the money that you and she diverted from Mickey's smuggling business."

"That is not true!" replies Vinnie, throwing a nervous glance at Luigi.

"When you realised that the ship was delayed, you wanted to search my office to find a copy of the photo. It looks as though Mickey and Angelica had the same idea. When they met you here, Angelica tried to shoot you, but hit my water cooler instead. You returned fire with the gun you found in my desk."

"Then you were rather clever. You left Luigi a message from Mickey, so that he would find me with Mickey's body when I came to the office in the morning. You also gave the police a tip, in the hope that they would arrive just in time to catch Luigi as he took me out. Luigi ends up in prison, and you can take over his territory – cleverly arranged. You even hid some money here, so the cops think I was bribed by the Mafia and do not bother to investigate my murder."

"You have no evidence at all," says Vinnie.

"There are your fingerprints on my window," you reply.

Vinnie throws himself at you and wrests the gun from your hand. "Okay, you have caught me. But that does not matter now, because now I have the advantage over you!"

"You idiot!" shouts O'Sullivan. "Have you forgotten that you already fired the bullets from this gun at Mickey? The gun is empty."

Vinnie grimaces as O'Sullivan takes out his handcuffs and snaps them shut on Vinnie's wrists.

"I'm taking out the trash," says the policeman, and pushes Vinnie through the door.

As they leave, you turn to Rosa. "The ring was for you," you say. "It was in his pocket. Angelica would have worn it if he had bought it for her. She must have helped him choose a ring that you would like. He loved you."

For a moment there is silence. Then Luigi puts his arm around Rosa's shoulders and leads her to the exit. "Come, sweetheart. I'll take you home." At the door he stops and turns to you once more. "You have uncovered traitors in the family. I owe you something… Oh, look." Luigi points at the bucket of concrete, which has now hardened. "You are still alive. I suppose that makes us even." Then he walks out of your office through the door behind Rosa.

And so you are finally alone in your office. And alive.

Well, well. It is Monday, shortly after 10 o'clock, and you have already solved the first case of the week. It would be good if you could now land another paid job or two.

Congratulations! You have survived the Mafia murders!