Hasty Accusations (2)

A card game where everybody feels the urgent need to accuse everyone of murder. But only one can be successful.

Setup

Each player receives one murder card. Remove the remaining murder cards from the deck.

Deal the deck completely. Everybody chooses one card to place face-down in front of them: that is their evidence pile.

Objective

Be the last one standing.

Gameplay

No cards in your hand? Take the top card from any pile, then end your turn.

Each turn has two simple actions:

Place a card from your hand on any evidence pile (face-down),
Challenge the top card from any evidence pile.

When challenged, reveal the top card. Execute its action and remove the card from the game. (Yes, actions on cards are only executed when revealed through a challenge.)

If you challenge your own pile, you don’t take the action.

If your challenge reveals a murder card (!!!) …

Your own pile? Great, you prevented a murder.
An opponent’s pile? Oh no, you were murdered. You are out of the game.

The owner of the pile gets the murder card in their hand.

Variant without Elimination

This should probably be the default variant.

Change the rules around murder cards:

You place a murder card face-up next to your pile, but keep playing. You must also give away 3 cards to whoever murdered you.
If you challenged your own pile, give the murder card to the last player to place something on your deck.

The game ends when only one player remains alive ( = no murder cards in front of them).

TO DO: Any side effects from having murder cards? Maybe some other action card that counts them and does something based on that?

TO DO: In any case, getting murdered should be a big deal (a “ooooh” moment), but never soft eliminate you from the game.

This is a bluffing game

You can claim to have a certain top card.

Sleeper: allows skipping Play part of your turn
Thinker: allows skipping Challenge part of your turn
Defender: disallows others from placing a card on your evidence pile
Armour: you don’t die when you’re murdered (too strong? Needs some way to counteract this ...)

Obviously, another player can challenge this on their turn.

IDEA: Cards that aren’t removed when revealed. Cards that somehow allow you to grow your pile or grow your hands.

IDEA: Cards that allow looking at your evidence, or taking the bottom card,

IDEA: Cards that allow removing top cards from piles. (Mostly to help prevent someone bluffing a card all the way and nobody wanting to challenge or remove that.)

DOUBTS:

Needs work to consolidate the BLUFFING and CHALLENGING into a simple rule system
The insta-murder ( = elimination) => resolved with rule change!
What happens when you have 2 players left, or no cards to play?

I named this file Hasty Accusations (2) because I actually made and finished my first related idea on my Pandaqi website, called Hasty Accusations.

A card game where everybody feels the urgent need to accuse everyone of murder. But only one can be successful. ## Setup Each player receives one *murder card*. Remove the remaining murder cards from the deck. Deal the deck completely. Everybody chooses one card to place face-down in front of them: that is their **evidence pile.** ## Objective Be the last one standing. ## Gameplay No cards in your hand? Take the top card from *any* pile, then end your turn. Each turn has two simple actions: - **Place** a card from your hand on **any evidence pile** (face-down), - **Challenge** the top card from **any evidence pile.** When challenged, reveal the top card. Execute its action and remove the card from the game. (Yes, actions on cards are only executed when *revealed through a challenge*.) If you challenge your own pile, you don't take the action. If your challenge reveals a **murder card (!!!) ...** - Your own pile? Great, you prevented a murder. - An opponent's pile? Oh no, you were murdered. You are out of the game. The owner of the pile gets the murder card in their hand. ## Variant without Elimination **This should probably be the default variant.** Change the rules around murder cards: - You place a murder card face-up next to your pile, but keep playing. You must also give away 3 cards to whoever murdered you. - If you challenged your own pile, give the murder card to the last player to place something on your deck. The game ends when only one player remains alive ( = no murder cards in front of them). TO DO: Any side effects from having murder cards? Maybe some other action card that counts them and does something based on that? TO DO: In any case, getting murdered should be a *big deal* (a "ooooh" moment), but never soft eliminate you from the game. ## This is a bluffing game You can *claim* to have a certain top card. - **Sleeper:** allows skipping *Play* part of your turn - **Thinker:** allows skipping *Challenge* part of your turn - **Defender:** disallows others from placing a card on your evidence pile - **Armour:** you don't die when you're murdered (too strong? Needs some way to counteract this \...) Obviously, another player can challenge this on their turn. **IDEA:** Cards that aren't removed when revealed. Cards that somehow allow you to grow your pile or grow your hands. **IDEA:** Cards that allow looking at your evidence, or taking the *bottom* card, **IDEA:** Cards that allow removing top cards from piles. (Mostly to help prevent someone bluffing a card *all the way* and nobody wanting to challenge or remove that.) **DOUBTS:** - Needs work to consolidate the BLUFFING and CHALLENGING into a simple rule system - The insta-murder ( = elimination) => resolved with rule change! - What happens when you have 2 players left, or no cards to play? _I named this file Hasty Accusations (2) because I actually made and finished my first related idea on my Pandaqi website, called Hasty Accusations._