Sly Wolf and the Missing Note Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Story (comic, pages 2-3)
• Components
• Aim of the Game
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • 1. The wolves are leaving the valley.
  • 2. Call in a sheep (or several sheep).
  • 3. Interview a sheep (or several sheep).
  • 4. Return all the ripe vegetables to the bag.
  • 5. Time to think!
  • Examples
• Game End
• Advanced Rules
• All Instruments

Story (comic, pages 2-3)

1. Yesterday a gala concert of the music competition was held in the Picturesque Valley.
2. While everyone was enjoying the music, a sly wolf and four of his sheep accomplices stole the award - the Silver Musical Note. To solve this case, we need to interrogate the sheep witnesses immediately!
3. The wolves that were seen at the concert have alibis. So, we need to find out which are those. And if we learn which of the sheep were missing at the concert, we'll know that they are accomplices; they will lie.
4. Clarinetist's testimony: "All the wolves in red jackets were at the concert."
5. "I was behind the accordionist." So the accordionist can be trusted.
6. Violinist's testimony: "The wolves in yellow jackets... eh... aren't guilty."
7. "I was... hm... behind the accordionist." But that's impossible! There was only one sheep behind the accordionist. So, one of the sheep - either the clarinetist or the violinist - is lying!
8. Some time later... We have interrogated almost all the sheep, our investigation is coming to an end. However, we still have 3 wolves among the suspects and there are 2 conflicting testimonies from the sheep. One of them is clearly lying, since both point to the same sheep. Only, how do we find out who is the liar and who can be trusted? Oh, there's the accordionist! Let's ask this sheep!
9. Accordionist's testimony: "All the wolves in blue top hats were at the concert." The accordionist was seen at the concert. It means that this sheep is innocent and its words can be trusted. Thus, wolves in blue top hats are in the clear!
10. We got you, Mr. Wulfrik!

Components

• 16 sheep tiles
• 16 wolf cards
• 24 easy case cards (blue back)
• 16 hard case cards (red back)
• 32 musical instrument tokens (16 instruments, 2 of each)
• 36 vegetable tokens (27 ripe and 9 spoiled)
• 1 vegetable bag
• 1 Booble interpreter
• 1 wolf's track
• 1 wolf figurine

Aim of the Game

Playing as a team find out which of the wolves is the culprit. Interview the sheep, identify accomplices, and deduce the identity of the thief. If you manage to find the culprit in time, you all win. However, if the wolf with the missing note reaches the train station and leaves the valley, you all lose.

Setup

Before your first game, carefully punch all tiles and tokens out of the punchboards and sort them out by type: sheep tiles, vegetable tokens and musical instrument tokens. Make sure to punch some of the musical instrument tokens out of the sheep tiles.

For your first games use only easy case cards (hard case cards are described in the "Advanced rules" on page 8).

1. Shuffle the case cards and take one at random without looking at its face. Put the rest of the case cards back in the box - you will not need them.
2. Take the Booble interpreter, turn it the side with the note up and open the lid so that it hangs loosely downwards. Then insert the case card into the interpreter as shown on the picture. Close the lid and put the interpreter on the table so that the sheep image on the lid is visible. IMPORTANT: do not peek at the face of the card nor show it to the other players! ATTENTION! Make sure to insert the case card all the way inside the interpreter (the card must not deter the lid from closing).
3. Take all the sheep tiles and shuffle them, vegetable side up. Put them on the table in 4 stacks, 4 tiles each.
4. Spread out all 16 wolf cards on the table, making sure each card is visible to all the players.
5. Put all the vegetable tokens in the bag and shuffle them. IMPORTANT! We recommend you examine and touch all the different vegetables before starting the game. Pumpkin, lettuce, and eggplant are big. Bell pepper, carrot and cucumber are of medium size. Tomato, broccoli, and peas are small. One of the vegetables of each kind is spoiled (has dark spots). Sheep like vegetables, and you can obtain valuable information by treating them. Each sheep has its own preferences (shown at the top of each tile), and no one likes spoiled ones!
6. Put the wolf's track on the table and place the wolf figurine on the space with the wolf icon - on the concert hall. For your first several games use the side of the track marked with one star. When you feel familiar with the game, we recommend turning the track to the other side marked with two stars to make the game more challenging.
7. Place musical instrument tokens in a pile on the table.

Playing the Game

The most observant player takes the bag and starts the game. Players then take turns in a clockwise order.

Each turn consists of 5 steps:

1. The wolves are leaving the valley.

Interviewing the sheep takes time, and the wolves (including the culprit) are getting farther away with every passing second. Move the wolf figurine one space further along the track.

2. Call in a sheep (or several sheep).

Choose a sheep you want to interrogate out of the four sheep visible on the table. To obtain information from this sheep, you need to find a vegetable it likes (any of the three shown on the sheep tile). Say aloud which sheep you are going to interview, then ease one hand into the bag and try to find a vegetable it likes by touch alone (no peeking!). When you think you have the right vegetable, take it out of the bag and check.

A. If you found the ripe vegetable from the sheep tile, put it next to the chosen sheep (without removing the tile from the pile). Now you may interview the sheep (see step 3), or you may...

• take a risk to interview a second sheep along with the first one. The second sheep must like the vegetable you already found. Now find a different vegetable it prefers the same way you found the first vegetable. Were you successful? If so, you may interview both sheep (see step 3) or...
• try to interview a third sheep, all in a single turn! The third sheep must like both vegetables you already found. If such a sheep is visible on the table, find the third vegetable it likes (still without peeking!). And if you succeed again, you may interrogate the three sheep (see step 3).

B. If at any point you failed - pulled a wrong or spoiled vegetable out of the bag - your turn ends immediately. Put all the ripe vegetables back in the bag, leaving the spoiled one (if any) on the table. Pass the bag clockwise. No interviews this turn!

EXAMPLE: Ann wants to interview the sheep with an accordion (1). She manages to find a ripe carrot in the bag. Ann decides to interview the sheep with a tambourine (2) as well because it likes carrots too. She finds an eggplant for it. Finally, Ann tries to interview the drummer sheep (3), since it likes both carrots and eggplants. Ann needs to find a ripe tomato, but only finds a spoiled pumpkin. Tough luck! Her turn ends, and she cannot interview any sheep at all. Ann places the ripe carrot and eggplant back in the bag, leaving the spoiled pumpkin on the table. Then she passes the bag to Sergio.

3. Interview a sheep (or several sheep).

Take the tile of the sheep you managed to call in and flip it. What does the sheep know?

• The sheep is pointing at a drawing in your notebook, stating that all wolves with the depicted item of clothing were present at the concert.
• It also says something, but you do not speak sheep! You will have to use the Booble interpreter.

Hold the Booble interpreter the sheep side up (do not open the lid yet). Insert the sheep tile inside the interpreter the side with the arrow up. Now open the interpreter to see the result. The sheep is telling you which sheep took part in the concert, and thus cannot be an accomplice.

Close the interpreter and ONLY AFTER THAT pull the sheep tile out. Put the tile on the table, the notebook side up. Insert an instrument token in the slot on the tile to remember what you found out.

If you managed to call in other sheep, interview them in the same fashion.

4. Return all the ripe vegetables to the bag.

Leave the spoiled ones (if any) on the table. Pass the bag clockwise.

5. Time to think!

There are 16 sheep in total.

• 12 of them were present at the concert, sitting behind each other in a circle. Thus, each sheep only saw the one sheep in front of it. So, if, for example, the sheep with an accordion points to the xylophone playing sheep, then the xylophone player is undoubtedly innocent and tells the truth.
• 4 sheep were absent - they are accomplices, and they will try to deceive you by pointing at honest sheep. No one will point at them, and they will certainly lie about which wolves were present at the concert!

On the picture the honest sheep are shown in green; the accomplices in red. Each honest sheep is pointed at by a sheep behind it, while no one points at the accomplices. Have you managed to identify an honest sheep? It will tell you which wolves are innocent. You can put the cards of innocent wolves aside.

If two sheep point at the same sheep, then one of those two is lying. Which one? You must proceed with your interviews to find it out...

Examples

EXAMPLE 1: The Booble interpreter told us that the guitarist sheep saw the sheep with a trumpet. We had interviewed the trumpet player earlier - its tile is the notebook side up on the table. Now we are sure that the trumpet player is innocent and tells the truth. The trumpet player tells us that all wolves in yellow pants were present at the concert, so we can strike them off our suspect list. We set all cards of the wolves in yellow pants aside - they are innocent. We do not know yet whether the guitarist sheep is an accomplice.

EXAMPLE 2: The balalaika player also points at the trumpet player. But that cannot be true! Each musician saw only one other sheep in front of them and was seen by one other sheep that was behind them. That means either the guitarist or the balalaika player is lying! Now we know that the culprit wears either a red top hat or a blue jacket. We can put the cards of all wolves without either of these items aside - they are innocent. Playing further, we can deduce even more...

EXAMPLE 3: A new witness! The maraca player points at the balalaika player. That means the balalaika player is innocent, and the guitarist is an accomplice! The balalaika player thus proves all the wolves in blue jackets innocent - you can set them aside. Look again at the guitarist tile. Since the guitarist is an accomplice, it is lying about the innocent wolves' clothing as well. Which means the Sly Wolf wears a red top hat! Now only wolves in red top hats are under suspicion.

TIP: after the interviews, place the sheep that point at each other in consecutive order. It will make seeing the whole picture easier.

It is possible for an interview to provide no valuable information. However, it may also start a whole chain of revelations! Eventually, only one suspect must remain on the list - the culprit you were looking for!

Game End

There are two possible outcomes of the game:

1. ONLY ONE SUSPECT REMAINS. Open the Booble interpreter, take the case card out and look at the true culprit in the bottom right corner. If that is your remaining suspect - congratulations, you won! If not, you made a mistake, and the thief managed to run away. You lost.
2. AT THE START OF A TURN, THE WOLF FIGURINE IS ON THE FINAL SPACE OF THE TRACK, AND THE PLAYERS STILL HAVE SEVERAL SUSPECTS. The train is about to leave the valley, carrying all suspects away before you could identify the culprit. But you still have one last chance to win! Instead of moving the wolf figurine on the wolf's track, the active player may guess who the Sly Wolf is. The player chooses one of the remaining suspects and checks the case card as described earlier. If the player's guess is correct - congratulations, you all won! Otherwise, the Sly Wolf managed to slip away, you lost. Try your luck next time!

Advanced Rules

Try these advanced rules after a few games, separately or all at the same time:

PICKY EATERS: Whenever you take a spoiled vegetable out of the bag, discard the sheep tile - the sheep was so offended it left the valley at once. You will never know what it had to say. If you run out of witnesses, you may try your luck and guess which of the remaining suspects is the culprit.

SPECIAL TREATS: To obtain information from a sheep, you need to announce not only the sheep you plan to interview, but also the vegetable you are going to treat it to. If you pull out a wrong vegetable (even if the sheep does like it), your turn ends immediately.

HARD CASE CARDS: Now the accomplices are more cunning - they may point at other accomplices! You can still unravel their lies, but you will need to see the whole chain of sheep. Or only a part. Or, maybe, just a few interviews will suffice... Think for yourself, or use the hints below.

How to identify cunning accomplices:

• Even though accomplices may point at each other, honest sheep still only point at honest sheep.
• Compare the testimonies - if sheep A says that wolves in blue jackets are innocent, and sheep B says that wolves in green jackets are innocent, then at least one of the two tells the truth (as the culprit is only wearing a single jacket).
• There are only 4 accomplices. If the chain of sheep pointing to each other is longer than the number of unidentified accomplices, the last sheep pointed at is innocent.
• There is always a culprit. If a sheep tells you that all the remaining suspects are innocent, that is a lie!
• And the other way around, if a sheep points to the wolves that have all been put aside earlier as innocent, then it is definitely telling the truth. This sheep is not an accomplice.

All Instruments

Drum set, Harp, Clarinet, Trumpet, Accordion, Tambourine, Violin, Saxophone, Guitar, Maraca, Jembe, Pan flute, Banjo, Xylophone, Balalaika, Grand piano