Tea Time Crime Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
  • Explanation of the House Board
• How to Play
  • 1. Roll the Dice
  • 2. Explore the House
    • A. Active (You)
    • B. Passive (Others)
  • Activating the Tiles
  • 3. Checking the Detectives
  • 4. New Round
• The Magnifying Glass Symbol
• The Dice Tiles
• Special Rolls
• End of the Game

Components

• 4 house boards
• 100 tiles (4 color-coded sets of 25 tiles each)
• 20 score tokens (4 color-coded sets of 5 score tokens each)
• 5 dice
• 1 rulebook

Goal of the Game

The goal is to earn the most points by using your dice rolls strategically to place your detectives in the highest scoring locations.

Setup

Before playing for the first time, carefully pop out the pieces from the punch board.

1. Each player takes 1 house board and 5 score tokens of one color and places these in front of them.
2. Each player takes the 25 tiles of the matching color and the 5 detective tiles. Shuffle the detective tiles and place them face down on the 5 specified spaces on your house board, diagonally from the bottom-left to top-right. Shuffle the remaining 20 tiles and place them face down in random order on the remaining 20 spaces on your house board.
3. Place all spare house boards, score tokens, and tiles back in the box. You won't need them for the current game.
4. Choose a player to go first. They take the 5 dice.

Explanation of the House Board

Set up each house board in the same way:

• In the center, there are 25 rooms with different point values (1-9).
• On the left side of the board, the dice numbers from 1-5 are pictured vertically. These separate the rooms into rows.
• At the top, the amount of dice from 1-5 is pictured horizontally. These separate the rooms into columns.

How to Play

The game is played in clockwise order. The game is played over multiple rounds. Each round is played in the same way:

1. Roll the dice
2. Explore the house
   • A. Active (You)
   • B. Passive (Others)
3. Check the detectives
4. New round

1. Roll the Dice

If you're in possession of the dice, roll them. Then you may reroll as many dice as you like up to 2 times. Once you have finished rolling, you must choose 1 of the following actions:

Choose: Take all dice of one number and place them in front of you. Place the leftover dice in the center of the table without changing the numbers. You are creating the dice pool for the other players. Important: dice showing a magnifying glass symbol always remain in the dice pool. You may not place them in front of you!

or Pass: You pass and forfeit the current round. Take no dice and skip the next step "2. Explore the house". Instead, take 1 dice tile at random from your personal discard pile. Place it on the right-hand side of your house board in the row with the corresponding dice number. (An in-depth explanation can be found in the chapter The Dice Tiles.)

2. Explore the House

A. Active (You)

According to your chosen dice you must activate 1 tile on your house board. Pay attention to the following:

• Your chosen dice number indicates which row the tile is placed on.
• The amount of your chosen dice indicates which column the tile is placed on.
• You may now activate the tile where the row and the column meet. (An in-depth explanation can be found in the chapter Activating the Tiles.)

Note: If you only roll combinations where the corresponding spaces no longer contain any tiles to activate, you have to pass.

B. Passive (Others)

Now the other players may choose all dice of one number from the dice pool and, following the same steps, activate 1 tile on their own house board.

Important: the dice in the dice pool always remain in the center of the table! These dice are available for all players to use. This means, for example, that multiple people can choose dice of the same number.

Again, if a player cannot or does not want to activate a tile, the player passes and instead takes 1 dice tile at random from their personal discard pile. They place the tile on the right-hand side of their house board in the row with the corresponding dice number. (An in-depth explanation can be found in the chapter The Dice Tiles.)

Note: When the active player rolls the dice, it may happen that you are unable to activate tiles!

Example: Emma takes all dice with the number 4 and places them in front of her. There are no remaining dice with a number to place into the dice pool for the other players. Therefore, they must all "pass", and may instead take 1 dice tile at random from their personal discard pile.

Activating the Tiles

Depending on whether the tile where the row and column intersect is face down or face up, you proceed differently:

Face down: Turn the tile face up.

• If the tile shows a dice symbol, it is a dice tile. Place it on the right-hand side of your house board in the row with the corresponding dice number.
• If the tile shows a detective, a thief, or a master thief, the tile remains face up on the same space.

Face up: You may move the tile. Take the tile and move it – still face up – onto any other space on your house board. Note: only 1 tile is allowed on a space at a time.

3. Checking the Detectives

Now check whether your visible detective tiles fulfill the scoring requirements.

The scoring requirements are fulfilled when all the detectives' flashlights on a detective tile correctly illuminate the adjoining rooms and/or the adjoining tiles containing a thief or a master thief.

Correct illumination of rooms and tiles:

• All rooms and master thieves may be illuminated from all eight sides.
• Each of the 4 thieves may only be illuminated from the 3 sides lit by the torchlight.

Place 1 scoring token on each detective tile that fulfills the scoring requirements.

Note: you may still move detective tiles that have been scored! Should the scoring requirements no longer be fulfilled after moving the tile, place the scoring token back next to your house board.

Example 1: One detective's flashlight illuminates an adjoining room (6), but the second detective's does not. The scoring requirements are not fulfilled.

Example 2: Both detectives' flashlights illuminate the directly adjoining room (4 and 6). The scoring requirements are fulfilled. Place 1 scoring token on the detective tile.

Example 3: The room (1) and the master thief (12) are correctly illuminated, but the 2 thieves (10) are not, because the light beams are not pointing in the right direction. The scoring requirements are not fulfilled.

Example 4: Here the 2 thieves (10), as well as the room (5) and the master thief (12), are all correctly illuminated. The scoring requirements are fulfilled. Place 1 scoring token on the detective tile.

4. New Round

Give the dice to the next person in clockwise order, and begin a new round with "1. Roll the dice".

The Magnifying Glass Symbol

The magnifying glass can be used as any dice number. This way, you can increase the amount of dice of one number. Pay attention to the following:

• You may use the magnifying glass symbol only in combination with dice that show a number, never "alone". Exception: the "Flawless jackpot" (see Special Rolls).
• If there is more than 1 die with a magnifying glass symbol in the dice pool, you may use as many of them as you like.
• Remember: dice with a magnifying glass symbol always remain in the dice pool and can be used by all players, whether active or passive!

The Dice Tiles

If you pick up a tile with a dice symbol, place it face up on the right-hand side of your house board in the row with the corresponding dice number.

Just like with magnifying glass symbols, you may use revealed dice tiles to increase the amount of dice of one number. Pay attention to the following:

• You may only use dice tiles in combination with dice that show a number, never "alone".
• If you place more than 1 dice tile of one number next to your house board, you may use as many of them as you like.
• Important: place all used dice tiles in your personal discard pile. You may take them back in later rounds, if you choose to pass (see Pass).

In general: you may only combine however many dice tiles and dice with magnifying glass symbols with dice that show a number!

Example: Emma's dice roll is: 1, 3, 3, magnifying glass, magnifying glass. Additionally, she has the dice tiles 2, 2, and 3 on the right-hand side of her board. She now has the following options:

• a) She can pass and take back 1 previously used dice tile.
• b) She can choose the dice with the number 1, to activate the tile in row 1, column 1. She also has the option of combining 1 or 2 magnifying glass symbols with this, to activate a tile in row 1 and column 2 or 3.
• c) She can choose the 2 dice with the number 3, to activate the tile in row 3, column 2. She also has the option of combining 1 or 2 magnifying glass symbols or the dice tile "3" with this, to activate a tile in row 3 and column 3, 4, or 5.

Special Rolls

Flawless Jackpot: If your dice roll is made up only of magnifying glass symbols, you have rolled a flawless jackpot. As a reward, you may activate 1 tile on your house board. The other players may not activate any tile during this round. However, they may "pass" and take back 1 random tile from their personal discard pile.

Lucky Streak: If your dice roll is made up of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (without a magnifying glass symbol), you have rolled a lucky streak. As a reward, you may activate 1 tile on your house board. The other players may not activate any tile during this round. However, they may "pass" and take back 1 random tile from their personal discard pile.

End of the Game

The end of the game is triggered when a player places their fifth scoring token on a detective tile. Play the current round to the end, and then count up all the points for rooms and tiles that are illuminated by the detectives' flashlights. Add 3 points for each unused scoring token. Whichever player has the most points wins. In case of a tie, the players share the victory.

Scoring example: Emma earns 89 points altogether. For one scored detective tile she earns 12+7 = 19 points (remember: a master thief is worth 12 points!). For another she earns 7+7 = 14 points. For another she earns 12+5 = 17 points. For another she earns 10+5+1+3 = 19 points. For the last she earns 10+10 = 20 points.