OPTIONAL RULES FOR SCOTLAND YARD

Taken from an article in Jeux & Stratégie by Alain Munoz and Serge Laget
(pages 76-78, unknown magazine number, dated "three years after the game's first European publication")
Translation by Daniel U. Thibault, April 1998 <D.U.Thibault@Bigfoot.com>

Improved Balance
The authors weren't satisfied with the normal balancing rules and propose this instead:
Against three detectives, Mister X receives one Black Ticket and no Double Move.
Against four detectives, Mister X receives three Black Tickets and one Double Move.
Against five detectives, Mister X receives five Black Ticket and two Double Moves.

The Epson Derby

Just before Mister X reveals his location during the game (voluntarily or not), each detective may place a bet
(each detective must bet on a different location). If he is right, the detective gets a ticket of his choice from
Mister X.

Non-Private Detectives
This variant alleviates the ticket management problems faced by the Yard agents and makes it a little easier
for three or four agents to encircle Mister X. The detectives no longer each play a distinct colour; rather, each
player may move any one of the five pawns on the board. First player will rotate between the detectives (Mister
X still always goes first). This variant requires more co-operation between detectives and is also more
demanding for Mister X.
Against three detectives, Mister X gets a Black Ticket and a Double Move.
Against four detectives, Mister X gets three Black Tickets and two Double Moves.

Public Enemy Number One

A simple change to the rules that puts every one right into the thick of the action. Instead of drawing starting
locations randomly, every detective chooses where to start. Once this is done, Mister X chooses his starting
location and plays his first move. A variant not for the faint-hearted!

The New Avengers

At game start, the detectives recruit Contacts, pieces that do not move but force Mister X to reveal himself if
he goes through their space. Use pennies or any convenient markers. The total number of detectives plus
contacts is eight (so three detectives recruit five contacts and vice-versa). Contacts are deployed randomly. To
compensate, Mister X gets the White Ticket (the spare ticket). It is used as a Black Ticket but also allows him
to cross a city block (a city block is a map area bounded by coloured lines) on foot. The White Ticket does not
allow Mister X to cross the Thames nor to move along the board's edges. For example, if Mister X were on
location 159 (Elephant and Castle Underground station), he could use the White Ticket to get to either 173, 187,
171 or 158.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Apparently the Ravensburger and Milton-Bradley map location numbering schemes
are slightly different!

1/4
 Optional Rules for Scotland Yard

The Terrorist
In this variant, Mister X is a dangerous bomb-laying terrorist. In response, Scotland Yard gets to use a
helicopter.
Mister X has as many bombs as there are detectives after him. He has no Black Tickets. The Black Tickets
are held by the detectives, who use them to take helicopter rides. When Mister X wants to lay a bomb, he adds a
"B" to his written move. Later, when a detective stops in that location, Mister X can have the bomb go off by
revealing the corresponding window of his logbook. The victim starts again next turn from Old Scotland Yard
(location 132). Each bomb can only be used once, but Mister X could lay several bombs in the same location by
visiting it repeatedly. Mister X cannot avoid capture by blowing himself up.
When a detective takes a helicopter ride, he spends his Black Ticket (which then becomes usable by Mister
X) and places his pawn in the middle of a city block (an area of the map bounded by coloured lines). On his next
turn, without spending a ticket, the detective moves to any of the locations bounding the city block. Only one
detective may use the helicopter on any given turn.
For example, a detective that takes the helicopter to the city block containing the British Museum could end
up in any of 49, 50, 66 or 67.

Transfers
Now that you know London's public transit system like the back of your hand, you are ready for this variant.
Each detective gets only two Underground tickets, three Bus tickets and four Taxi tickets. Mister X gets
everything else. The detectives, however, need turn a ticket in only if switching transportation mode. For
example, a detective could use the same Taxi ticket until he decides to take the Bus or Underground.

Rendez-Vous
This is a tournament scoring variant.
Mister X has a list of places to visit. At game start, he draws (secretly, of course), a random location. Once
he reaches it, he may either stop and score a point, or draw another one —which will be worth two points (for a
total of 1+2 = 3 points). This repeats itself as long as required, each succeeding rendez-vous being worth one
more point than the preceding one.
If Mister X is caught, he scores no points at all. The game does not necessarily stop on turn 24 in this
variant; simply return the tickets accumulated by Mister X to the detectives if needed.

Counter-Espionage
In this variant, each detective moves two pawns, so this is limited to three players unless extra pawns are
used.
Mister X is after the detectives! When he reaches one, he captures it and sends it to Old Scotland Yard
(132). If a detective pawn makes it to Old Scotland yard, he frees all imprisoned pawns —they can immediately
move away.
Mister X wins after 24 turns if at least one pawn of each player is imprisoned. A detective wins if his two
pawns are free. Several detectives may thus win simultaneously.
Against three detectives, Mister X gets all Black Tickets and two Double Moves. Against two detectives, he
gets all Black Tickets and one Double Move.

2/4
 Optional Rules for Scotland Yard

Sabotage
Mister X can sabotage Bus or Underground lines by placing himself on a Taxi location crossed by a red
(Underground) or green (Bus) line. For example, on location 71 (near the Bank of England) he can sabotage the
13/89 Underground line or 55/89 Bus line. He must announce he has done so when he sabotages it, revealing his
location. The sabotaged line becomes unusable for the rest of the game. Use some kind of marker to indicate
the sabotaged line.

The Invisible Man

This is actually three sub-variants.

The Invisible Man: The Trail

Mister X surfaces on the board after the detectives have determined their starting locations. He reveals
himself only on turns 1, 8 and 18 (instead of 3, 8, 13, 18 and 24). In return, the detectives may ask him if he has
gone through the location they occupy, and on which turn. He must answer truthfully.

The Invisible Man: The Tail

The starting locations are picked as in the Public Enemy Number One variant (see above). Mister X surfaces
only on turn 1. He becomes visible again when he his in a location adjacent to a detective. Adjacency is
determined using Taxi lines; if there are no Taxi lines, use Bus lines (but there must not be any intervening Taxi
locations). For example, 67 (near the British Museum) is adjacent to 66-51-68-84 by Taxi and 82-102 by Bus.
Locations 23, 65, 50 and 52 are not adjacent.

The Invisible Man: The Questioning

Mister X never surfaces on the board. On each turn, each detective may, before moving, ask him one
question about his secret location. Mister X must answer truthfully with either a "Yes" or a "No". If he answers
Yes, the detective gets to move. If he answers No, the detective stays put, having forfeited his move. Detectives
may forego the question, in which case they get to move normally. Questions can be anything, as long as they
relate to Mister X's location. Examples: "Is your location number greater than 100?", "Is your location number
even?", "Is your location besides the Thames?", "Is your location number prime?", etc. Avoid ambiguous
questions such as "Is your location near (some landmark)?".

3/4
 Optional Rules for Scotland Yard

The Underground
In closing, here are the names of the Underground locations:

1 St. John's Wood

13 King's Cross / St Pancras
46 Baker Street
67 Holborn
74 Paddington
79 Oxford Circus
89 Bank
93 Queensway
111 Piccadilly Circus
140 Westminster
153 Victoria
159 Elephant & Castle
163 South Kensington
185 Vauxhall

4/4