The illustrated rulebook
Act I · Before the hunt
Plate I
The circle
When the hunt opens, every player secretly receives one target, and is the target of exactly one other player. Nobody knows who is hunting them, and nobody ever sees the whole circle, not even the organisers.
Plate II
The classified
Beforehand, each player writes one challenge for another player: something innocent, doable and a little absurd. Whoever wrote your challenge will never be your hunter. Organisers fill in the missing ones.
Act II · During the hunt
Plate III
The trap
Your mission reveals your target and the challenge written for them. Get them to perform it naturally, in front of you, without suspecting a thing. If they smell a rat and refuse, bide your time and try again.
Plate IV
The kill ticket
Deed done? Open your Mission and print a kill ticket. Show the four-digit code to your victim: they type it on their own phone and fall. A ticket expires after a while, thirty minutes by default.
Plate V
The inheritance
Your victim's target and challenge become yours. The circle tightens and the hunt goes on. When only one player is left standing, the game ends on the spot.
Plate VI
The accomplice
Someone helped set the trap? Name them on the ticket and the point is split, half each. An accomplice may already be dead, but can never be the victim.
Plate VII
The counter-kill
Think you have unmasked your assassin? Accuse them and name the challenge they are hiding. Right on both counts and they fall, and the point is yours. Wrong suspect or wrong challenge, and you fall instead. If the suspect denies it, an uninvolved organiser settles the matter.
Plate VIII
The gazette
Every morning the gazette counts the fallen and the survivors. Every evening it crowns the Killer of the Day. Who killed whom, and how, stays sealed until the last edition.
Act III · After the hunt
Plate IX
The honours
When the clock runs out, the survivors with the most points win. The Serial Killer is whoever scored the most, dead or alive. Then the archives open and everyone votes for the Best Death among the published photographs.
The fine print
- One point per kill, half a point each with an accomplice, one point for a successful counter-kill.
- No resurrection. The dead keep their points, publish their photographs and still vote.
- While your accusation against your hunter is pending, their kill ticket will not work on you.
- If a phone gives up, an organiser can validate a kill on its behalf. Every organiser action is recorded in the Newsroom ledger.
- Organisers may play too. They never see the circle either.
- The gazette and the evening announcement hours are set by the organisers. All times are Paris time.