RIP
RIP Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Your goal
Pocket more than the others! You will all be swiping whatever takes your fancy. You'll have to outsmart the others to bag the best stuff.
2. Your gear
- 65 (rectangular) Vice cards (13 in each of 5 colours):
- 10 cards worth 1 to 10
- 3 Fly cards worth 0
- 19 (square) House cards (House card back / Character card back):
- 15 Item cards worth 1 to 15
- 4 special cards: 3 penalty cards and the Keyhole. The penalty cards are the Murder Weapon (-5), the Dead Dog (-10) and the Lady's Body (-15).
- 7 (square) Character cards: 6 light-fingered colleagues plus 1 Killer. Each colleague card shows a list of Item values and, at the bottom, a bonus: 1 Item = 5 points, 2 Items = 11 points, 3 Items = 18 points, 4 Items = 26 points, 5 Items = 35 points.
Leave the Killer Character card and the Lady's Body and Keyhole House cards in the box for now. They are only used in the expert modes (see section 6). The positive values shown in red (on the penalty cards: Murder Weapon +5, Dead Dog +10, Lady's Body +15) are only used in the 2 expert modes.
3. Setup
You turn up at the house. Prepare a draw pile of face-down and face-up House cards:
- Shuffle the 15 House cards (the Item cards), then put 8 of them face-up and 7 face-down to form a pile of 15 cards.
- Add the Murder Weapon (-5) and Dead Dog (-10) cards, face down.
- Shuffle this deck of 17 cards and lay it on the table.
- Draw the first 3 cards (without flipping them) and place them in the middle of the table: these are the first 3 cards you will be trying to nab. As the electricity has been cut off, you can't see much in the gloom, which is why some Items are face down. (The Murder Weapon and Dead Dog cards are always face-down.)
- Shuffle the Character cards face-down and give one to each player. Look at your card secretly, but don't show anyone else.
- Everyone also chooses a colour and takes the matching Vice cards. Shuffle them and place them face-down in a pile in front of you. Then draw the top three cards to your hand.
Leave the Lady's Body, Killer and Keyhole cards in the box for now.
4. How to play
Whoever has the creepiest stare plays first. Play proceeds clockwise.
Your turn consists in playing one of the 3 Vice cards in your hand, placing it next to a House card. You must follow a few rules:
- Vice cards may be played face-down or face-up along one of the 4 sides of a House card.
- If there are already one or more Vice cards around a House card, you must place the new Vice card directly adjacent to another one, with the opposite side showing (face-up next to a face-down card, face-down next to a face-up card).
Playing or moving a third Vice card next to a House card is a sign that people have set their sights on it, so it might be smarter to look elsewhere: draw the next House card from the pile and place it on the table (without flipping it). If you forgot to do this, there is no penalty. If there are no House cards left, press on regardless.
Example: The blue player plays their Vice card with a value of "3" face-up, because it is next to a card that has already been placed face-down. Alternatively, they could play it face-down, next to the existing face-up red "8" card. As this is the third Vice card positioned around that House card, they take the next card from the draw pile, without flipping it (so it stays face-down), and place it on the table with the other Items up for grabs.
The Fly
The Fly can be played on your turn in two ways:
- Face-up in your personal discard pile in front of you. This lets you do one of the following:
- take a sneaky peek at a face-down Vice card (of any colour) or House card;
- move a face-down Vice card (of any colour) from one House card to another (respecting the usual placement rules);
- swap 2 face-down Vice cards (of any colour) positioned around 2 House cards.
- Placing it around a House card like a normal Vice card, but with a value of 0. The only benefit of this 0 card is to block a slot.
Replenishing your hand
After playing a Vice card, draw a new one so that you always have 3 in hand. If you can't replenish your hand because your draw pile is empty, shuffle your personal discard pile to form a new draw pile.
Note: any Vice cards placed around House cards on the table are neither in your draw pile nor in your hand. You'll have to wait until some House cards are won to get your Vice cards back.
Winning a House card
When a fourth Vice card is placed around a House card, immediately reveal the 4 Vice cards. Add up each player's points from the Vice cards. Whoever has the highest score pockets the House card. Whenever you win a face-down House card, secretly peek at your haul. All House cards won are placed face-down in front of whoever won them.
Players retrieve their Vice cards and put them face-up in their personal discard pile.
Common special cases:
- If two players vying for a House card have played Vice cards with the same total value, move the Vice cards they played to their respective personal discard piles, but leave the House card where it is.
- If a third player had also played a card by this House card, that player takes the House card while the other two argue over it.
5. End of the game
The game ends immediately when a player wins their fourth House card. Everyone then nabs the last few trinkets up for grabs: regardless of the number of Vice cards around each House card on the table, award them to the best-placed player, applying the usual majority rules.
Score
Players add up the total values of their House cards. Deduct penalty points for the Murder Weapon and Dead Dog cards if you have them.
Character card bonuses: If you nabbed items matching the values shown on your Character card, score the bonus indicated at the bottom of the card (5 points for 1 item, 11 points for 2 items, 18 points for 3 items, 26 points for 4 items, 35 points for 5 items).
Apprentice variant
For a friendly mode, play the same way but without the Character cards, which stay in the box. As a result, there are no bonuses based on the items collected.
6. Spicy modes
Mode 1: I could be wrong, but...
The rules are the same, apart from a few adjustments:
- At the start of the game, add the Lady's Body card (penalty of -15 points) face-down to the House cards deck, then shuffle the deck.
- Randomly take one Character card per player, plus one. Add the Killer card face-down, shuffle all these cards together and give one to each player. Put the remaining 2 cards back in the box. So, one of the players might be the Killer. If it's you, keep quiet.
The Killer's aim is to erase the evidence and get away with a payday.
At the end of the game, if one of the players is the Killer, they score positive points for the Murder Weapon (+5), Dead Dog (+10) and Lady's Body (+15) cards, as well as their score for stolen Items. Better yet, the Killer wins the game instantly if at any time they have all 3 of these cards in their possession.
Mode 2: The last word
The rules are as for Mode 1, but shuffle one last face-down card into the House card deck: the Keyhole.
At the end of the game (before revealing your Character cards), a player with the Keyhole may have seen what actually transpired. If they have anything to say, now is the time. They may accuse a player of being the Killer, in which case:
- If the accused player is indeed the Killer, they must buy their accuser's silence by giving them their most valuable Item.
- If the accused player is innocent, the wrongful accuser must instead give the innocent party their most valuable Item.
- If the Killer won the Keyhole, nobody can accuse them.