MATERIALS BOARD SETUP

25-card Suspect Deck, each card In all four games, board setup is
with one ‘live’ and one ‘deceased’ side. the same. Arrange the 25 card
25-card Evidence Deck, each card Suspect Deck into a 5-by-5 grid on the
with one ‘innocent side’ and a back table. Shuffle the Evidence Deck.
that is the same on all cards.
Players: 2 or 3-4 4 reference cards explaining the
Play Time: 15~30m powers of the different roles.
Weight: Light - Medium
Genre: Film Noir
Game Type: Deduction

A sinister storm has swept into

town, bringing with it a string of
gruesome murders. Will you have the
wits to capture the villain before he
strikes again?
Live / Deceased
NOIR contains 4 separate games,
each based upon the same simple
ruleset. Players possess secret
identities and move about secretly Board arranged and ready for play.
within a pool of 25 suspects. Three of Putting the characters in alphabetical
order is optional, but does make finding
these games require 2 players, while
your identity at the start much easier.
one game allows 3 or 4 players to join
the action. Innocent / Secret

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Game #1
Killer vs. Inspector
Players: 2
Time: 15 minutes or less
Difficulty: Light
PLAYER SETUP
Randomly decide who will be the
Killer, and who will be the Inspector.
The Killer draws one card from the
Evidence Deck face-down. This is his
secret identity. He loses if this person
is arrested.
The Inspector draws 4 cards.
GAME STRUCTURE
The two players alternate turns,
each taking one action. The first turn
for each player is a little different than
the rest, but afterwards, all turns are
the same. The Killer always goes first.
FIRST TURN - KILLER
On the first turn, the Killer must
make a Kill action. To do this, he
chooses one of the suspect cards on
the board adjacent (either on the sides
or the diagonals) to his secret identity,
and turns that card face-down, to its
deceased side.
Geneva is the Killer, so she can ‘reach’ to
kill any of the 8 suspects around her.
If she were the inspector, she would be able yourself
to ‘reach’ and arrest any of these same
suspects, including herself.
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FIRST TURN – INSPECTOR
The Inspector must now select one
of the 4 cards from his hand to be his
secret identity. He sets that card face-
down in front of him. He loses if this
person is killed. The others he keeps
in hand as ‘evidence cards’.
LATER TURNS – KILLER
On each turn, the Killer must
choose one of the following 3 actions
and perform it.
- Shift a row or column
- Kill an adjacent suspect
- Disguise himself (or attempt to)
LATER TURNS – INSPECTOR
On each turn, the Inspector must
choose one of the following 3 actions
and perform it.
- Shift a row or column
- Arrest an adjacent suspect or
- Exonerate a suspect from the
deck
SHIFT ACTION
Both players have the ability to
shift. To do so, select any row or
column on the board You do not have
to be in it or near the chosen row or
column.
Move all cards in the column
vertically up or down, or move all
cards in the row left or right. This will
cause one card to ‘fall off’ the edge of
the board. Place the card that falls off
Example of shifting a column
down. The suspect who ‘falls off’
goes into the new empty slot.
onto the new empty space on the
other side.
NOTE: You cannot use your shift to
‘undo’ the previous player’s shift. For
example, if a player shifts a row right,
the next move cannot be to shift that
same row left.
KILL ACTION
The Killer can kill a suspect just
like he did on the first turn. He just
picks a suspect who is adjacent to his
character on the board, and turns that
suspect to its deceased side. Since
the Inspector is now one of the
suspects, if the Inspector is killed, he
reveals his identity and the killer wins!
Otherwise, play continues.
ARREST ACTION
The Inspector can arrest a suspect
whom he is adjacent to on the board.
He may even arrest himself to throw
off suspicion. He simply points at the
suspect and asks the killer “Are you
[name]?” If the killer is the named
suspect, the Inspector wins!
Otherwise, play continues.
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DISGUISE ACTION
The Killer can disguise himself to
throw the Inspector off his trail. To do
this, he draws a card from the top of
the Evidence Deck, and then secretly
checks to see if that character is still
live on the board.
If it is still alive, he discards his
current identity and turns that card to
its deceased side, then places the
card he drew face-down in front of
him. It is his new secret identity.
If the suspect is deceased, he
simply discards the card face up, and
retains his old identity. His turn is over
either way.
EXONERATE ACTION
The Inspector draws one card from
the Evidence Deck into his evidence
hand. He must then discard a card
from his hand face-up beside the
board (if the discarded suspect is still
live, it is easier to place the innocent
card over top of their suspect card on
the board).
 After Exonerating, the Inspector’s
turn is over, and he should have 3
Game #2 The Sleuth draws 4 cards to form
his police hand. He chooses one of
cards in his evidence hand. Hitman vs. Sleuth these right away to be his secret
identity, and places it down in front of
OTHER RULES Players: 2
him.
If the Evidence Deck is exhausted, Time: 20 minutes or less
the Disguise and Exonerate actions Difficulty: Medium GAME GOAL
are no longer available. The Hitman wins if all of the targets
If an entire row or column of in the hit list have been eliminated, or
BOARD SETUP
suspects are deceased, that row or if all the Sleuths chasing him are
In all four games, board setup is
column is removed, and the board eliminated. The Sleuth wins if he
the same. Arrange the 25 card
shrinks. arrests the Hitman.
Suspect Deck into a 5-by-5 grid on the
If 16 characters are deceased Starting with the Hitman, both
table. Shuffle the Evidence Deck.
at any time, the game ends and players take alternating turns making a
the Killer wins. single action each.
PLAYER SETUP
Randomly decide who will be the
SHIFT ACTION – BOTH
Hitman, and who will be the Sleuth.
PLAYERS
The Hitman puts 4 cards face-
Shifting works just like in the Killer
down from the Evidence Deck in a row
vs. Inspector game, and both players
to form a hit list, then draws one card
are able to shift rows and columns.
from the Evidence Deck, looks at it,
and keeps it face-down to be his
secret identity. He loses if this person KILL – HITMAN
is arrested. He turns up the first card in The Hitman selects an adjacent
the hit list. suspect and turns that suspect face-
If an entire row or column is deceased,
down. If it is the current face-up
they are removed from the board, and
the board shrinks suspect in the hit list, the Hitman turns
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up the next face-down card in the hit
list. If that target is already deceased,
he continues revealing targets until he
reveals one that is still alive.
If the Hitman kills a suspect in the
Sleuth’s hand, the Sleuth must discard
that card face-up. It is not replaced in
his hand.
If the Hitman kills the Sleuth, the
Sleuth immediately places a card from
his hand down as a new secret
identity. If he has no cards in hand to
place down, he loses.
If all targets in the hit list are
deceased, the Hitman wins.
EVADE – HITMAN
The Hitman’s evade works much
like the Killer’s disguise in the Killer vs. whether he is adjacent to the card the
Inspector game. There must be at
least two cards in the deck for an
evade to be attempted. The Hitman
attempts to disguise just like the Killer sleuth’s hand will not be replenished.
would, by eliminating his old identity
and choosing a new one. If the evade
is successful, the top card of the deck
is added face-down to the hit list.
Otherwise, the failed identity change is
discarded face-up.
Game #3
Spy Tag
ARREST – SLEUTH
The Sleuth may name a suspect Players: 3 or 4
adjacent to his secret identity and ask Time: 30 minutes or less
if that player is the Hitman. If correct, Difficulty: Medium
the Sleuth wins the game. If the Sleuth
is wrong, the Hitman returns one of the
BOARD SETUP
face-down cards in the hit list to the
In all four games, board setup is
bottom of the Evidence Deck. This
the same. Arrange the 25 card
may cause the Hitman to win.
Suspect Deck into a 5-by-5 grid on the
table. Shuffle the Evidence Deck.
CANVAS – SLEUTH
The Sleuth draws a card from the PLAYER SETUP
Evidence Deck, then chooses and All players are Spies. Give each a
discards a card from his police hand. face-down secret identity from the
The Hitman must answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ Evidence Deck and randomly
determine who will go first.
Sleuth has discarded.
GAME GOAL
Canvasing can still be done if the
The goal of the game is to collect
Evidence Deck is empty, but the
trophies. Each successful capture of
an opposing spy earns a trophy. In the
3-player game, 4 trophies are needed
to win. In the 4-player game, 3
trophies are needed to win.
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SHIFT
Shifting works just like in the Killer if they wish.
vs. Inspector game, and all players are
able to shift rows and columns.
CAPTURE
A Spy selects one of the suspects
adjacent to him. If any other player is
that suspect, turn that suspect over to
the deceased side and the capturing
spy claims his innocent card as a
trophy.
If a player has now claimed
enough trophies to win the game, he
wins! Otherwise, the player who was
captured immediately draws a new
identity card, and play continues.
CANVAS
A Spy selects one of the suspects
adjacent to him. All players adjacent to
the selected target as well as any
player whose identity is the canvased
Ryan, Ophelia, Irma, and Vladimir are
target must raise their hands or
otherwise indicate that they are
Marion. Irma and Ryan now raise their
adjacent. Naturally, this will always
include the canvasing spy himself.
Players can canvas their own identities
Game #4
Master Thief
vs. Chief of Police
Players: 2
Time: 45 minutes or less
Difficulty: Hard
BOARD SETUP
In all four games, board setup is
the same. Arrange the 25 card
Suspect Deck into a 5-by-5 grid on the
table. Shuffle the Evidence Deck.
... Yes! Yes! ...
As an additional step, place a
treasure token of some kind (a penny,
glass bead, or the like) on each
suspect. Optionally, you can flip
suspects to their deceased side to
mark that they have been robbed, but
this is confusing for some players, as
Example Canvas Action:
robbed suspects are still considered
‘alive’ in this game.
playing Spy Tag. Ryan canvases
hands (or answer yes). Ophelia and
Vladimir do nothing.
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PLAYER SETUP
Randomly decide who is the
Master Thief and who is the Chief of
Police. The Master Thief draws 2
secret identities from the Evidence
Deck into her hand and 1 secret
identity she looks at and places face-
down in front of her to be her active
identity. The Chief of Police draws 1
face-down identity for himself, and 2
more face-up identities for his
uniformed officers.
GAME GOAL
The Master Thief wins if she can
steal all 25 treasures on the board.
The Chief of Police wins if he can
capture the Master Thief “red-handed.”
SHIFT – BOTH PLAYERS
Shifting works just like in the Killer
vs. Inspector game, and both players
are able to shift rows and columns.
DISGUISE – MASTER THIEF
The Master Thief can disguise by
picking up her current secret identity
and shuffling it together with her hand.
She then picks one of the identities in
her hand and places it face-down in
front of her to be her active secret
identity.
STEAL – MASTER THIEF
The Master Thief can steal a
treasure from from her secret identity
or any suspect adjacent to her secret
identity. Remove the treasure token
from that suspect and add it to your
stash. If she has all 25 treasure
tokens, the Master Thief wins! (That is,
every suspect on the board, including
your own secret identities, the Chief of
Police, and the uniformed officers, has
been robbed)
ARREST – CHIEF OF POLICE
The Chief of Police can make an
arrest attempt against any suspect
adjacent to his secret identity or the
identities of his uniformed officers. He
does not need to declare which officer
is making the arrest.
If the arrested suspect is the
current identity of the Master Thief,
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she is arrested and loses. It does not
matter if the Master Thief has one of
these identities in her hand–she is
only arrested if she is currently
using that identity!
DEPUTIZE – CHIEF OF POLICE
The Chief of Police can draw a
new card from the Evidence Deck to
add to his uniformed officers. He must
then discard one of his uniformed
officers (he can also discard the one
he just deputized, if he wishes). When
the Chief of Police takes this action,
the Master Thief immediately claims
any one treasure she wants on the
board, regardless of where she
currently stands. This does not take up
her turn.
OTHER NOTES
If you wish, this game can be
played as a set of two games, where
each player plays Master Thief once,
and then the players compare the
number of treasures stolen to
determine the winner.