FBI Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Characters
• Gameplay
  • Hand out the handcuffs card
  • Place Character Cards
  • Determine Order of Arrests
  • Select Field Agent Cards
  • Arrest Persons
  • Game Turn End
• Game End
• Variant

Contents

110 playing cards:

• 30 field agent cards (in 6 colors, 5 cards per color)
• 5 slammer cards (values 1-5)
• 1 handcuffs card (to indicate the starting player)
• 59 character cards (cards with positive values are villains, cards with negative values are innocent bystanders)
• 10 purple character cards (values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5)
• 5 bonus cards (values: red = 5, yellow = 4, blue = 3, green = 2, black = 1)

1 rules booklet

Setup

Each player receives:

• 6 field agents, one in each color plus a 2x-field agent.
• 2 purple character cards: Select as many cards with positive values as there are players in the game. With 3 players the 1, 2 and 3 cards are selected, with 4 players the 1, 2, 3 and 4 cards are selected. The cards are shuffled and each player then gets one. Afterwards the players receive the matching card with a negative value, i.e., the player with the 2 card also receives the -2 card. Both cards are placed openly on the table, in the slammer of each player. Excess purple cards are placed aside and will not be used in the game.

Also:

• The bonus cards are placed openly in the center of the table.
• The character cards are shuffled and placed as a deck near the bonus cards.
• Slammer cards: Deal out as many slammer cards as there are players.

Example: With 3 players, slammer cards 1 to 3 are selected.

Characters

All character cards with a positive value represent villains. The higher the numeric value, the more notorious (and important for you, because you get points for catching them) the villain is.

All character cards with a negative value represent innocent bystanders. The higher the numeric value, the more important the person is. If a player catches a blameless citizen he should release him from the slammer quickly because he will get negative points for him at the end of the game.

Gameplay

Each game turn is played in the following order:

• Hand out the handcuffs card,
• Place character cards,
• Determine order of arrests,
• Select field agent cards,
• Arrest persons.

Hand out the handcuffs card

In the first game turn the player with the highest value villain card in his slammer receives the handcuffs card.

Example: With 4 players the player who has the purple 4 character card receives the handcuffs card. In each turn that follows, the handcuffs card moves to the next player to the left.

Place Character Cards

Shuffle the deck of character cards and deal out twice as many cards as there are players (with 4 players you place 8 cards). Place these cards face up below the bonus cards of the same color. Cards of the same value form one column. If there is not enough space on the table you may place cards of the same color one over the other. However, you still need to see the value of each card.

Determine Order of Arrests

Now the players determine in which order they may arrest persons. To do so, the player with the handcuffs card moves any one or none of the cards in his slammer towards the center of the table. Clockwise the other players each move one or none of their cards towards the center. This action determines the order of arrests. The player who has moved the highest value card towards the center receives slammer card 1 and may arrest first. The player with the second highest card receives slammer card 2 etc. Blameless citizen cards with their negative values are the lowest cards. A player who does not move a card has the value 0. If several players have used the same value (e.g., 0), their position towards the player with the handcuffs card determines their arresting order.

Example: Ann holds the handcuffs card. She moves forward a blameless citizen with the value -4. Bert does not move a card. Chris moves forward a villain with the value 1. Donna does not move a card. The arresting order is: Chris (1), Bert (2), Donna (3), Ann (4).

All character cards that were moved towards the center of the table are out of the game afterwards - they were released from the slammer.

Select Field Agent Cards

All players simultaneously and secretly select 2 field agent cards that they keep in their hands. The other 4 cards of a player are not used in this game turn and are placed aside (backsides up). A player may only select cards in a color that is among the colors of the character cards on the table. In the illustration on page 5 a player cannot play a blue field agent because there is no blue character card on the table.

The 2x-field agent card means that the other selected field agent is used twice.

Example: If a player has selected the yellow and the 2x field agents he has in fact selected yellow twice. You may do such a selection even if there is only one yellow card on the table.

When it is his turn, a player has to use one of the field agents (his choice) to arrest one villain or one blameless citizen of the same color. If there are any character cards on the table in that color, the player must arrest one (even if that means arresting an innocent bystander).

Note: A field agent can only arrest characters (villains and innocent bystanders) of the same color!

Arrest Persons

In Determine Order of Arrests it has been determined who gets which slammer card. The player with slammer card 1 is first. He plays one of his field agent cards openly on the table, selects the most valuable character card in the color of the field agent and puts it in his slammer, i.e., to his other character cards on the table. Afterwards the player with slammer card 2 plays one of his field agent cards and takes a character card etc.

When each player has made an arrest or passed, the first round is over and the second round begins. Now the player who has played last takes another arrest turn immediately. The second arrest round is conducted in reverse order from the first. The last arrest is conducted by the player with slammer card 1.

In our previous example the turn order was: Chris, Bert, Donna, Ann; it is continued with Ann, Donna, Bert and Chris.

During the second part each player arrests another person with his second field agent if there is still a character card in the field agent's color.

Game Turn End

At the end of a game turn:

• all players take their 6 field agents back to their hands,
• all non-arrested characters stay on the table,
• the slammer cards are put aside for the next game turn.

The next game turn starts by handing out the handcuffs card to the player to the left of the current holder of that card. Afterwards the new character cards are placed, then the new arresting order is determined (slammer cards are handed out) and the field agent cards are selected. Finally, arrests are conducted, first in the order of the slammer cards, and then in reverse order. Each game turn is played in this order.

Game End

The game ends at the end of the game turn when the last character card in the deck was taken and placed on the table. This game turn will be played normally. Then the bonus cards are given to the players who have scored the most points in the respective colors. If two or more players have scored the same number of points in one color, the bonus card is not handed out.

Now the players add the points of their character and bonus cards and deduct from the sum the values of blameless citizen cards still in the slammer. The player with the most points is the winner.

Variant

In Place Character cards the character cards are placed in such a way that the first card taken in a color is placed at the bottom, cards taken later on top of it. Each player still sees the values of all cards. Character cards placed in later game turns are placed in the same way on top of character cards still on the table.

New: In Arrest Persons an arresting player has to take the top card of the selected color! This means that he cannot select the most valuable card.