Welcome to Arkham Noir

Hey there, it’s me, Howard Lovecraft, your trusty private investigator. I’ve got a real mind boggler for you – one of the grisliest murders Arkham has ever seen. But don’t worry, I’m here to help you crack the case. So, let’s get down to business.

Getting Started

Okay, before we dive in, let’s set the stage. Grab those four reference cards and place them on the playing area. Now, give those victim cards a good shuffle. We won’t be needing one of them right now, so let’s put it back in the box. The remaining victims? Well, they’re going to be your main focus – place them face down on the right side of the first reference card.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Take two victim cards and put them face up under the second reference card. These two cards represent the cases that you’ll be working on. And let me tell you, time is of the essence. Those trails are going to get cold real quick on these chilly Arkham nights.

So here’s how it goes: first, we take those clue cards and shuffle ’em up real good. Once they’re all mixed up, we put ’em face down in a pile next to the first reference card. That pile is what we call the draw stack. Now, grab five clue cards from that draw stack and put ’em in the spaces on the left side. That makes the Leads row. The card way on the left is the first lead card.

Next, draw three more cards to make your hand. Those are your tools to crack the case. And last but not least, take that professional contact card and put it on the left side of your open cases.

Ready to Play

So, here’s how the game goes: It’s played in turns, and it goes on until it’s over. A turn has two parts: the action phase and the maintenance phase. In the action phase, you collect your first lead card and add it to your hand. But be careful! You can only have a maximum of three cards in your hand at once. If you have more than that, you have to discard one. Any discarded card goes to the discard area, unless it has a timer on it. In that case, it goes to the time penalty area.

After that, it’s time to complete any actions that you need to. Once you’re done, you move on to the maintenance phase. This is where you check a few things: the condition of the victory, the stability of the penalty area, the time penalty area, and you refill the leads row. Oh, and as a little bonus, you can also use the action on your professional contact as a free action. Pretty neat, huh?

The game continues until it reaches its conclusion, with each turn starting after the maintenance phase is complete.

The End of the Game

The game ends instantly when any of the following conditions are met. If there are no more victim cards, you lose the game. If you have five clue cards in your penalty area, you lose the game. But if you have five clue cards in your big picture, you win!

Hi, I’m Ellie! I live in Northeast Tennessee and I’m a big fan of animals, fantasy fiction novels, and everything outdoors. I have a fantastic husband who loves me just as much as our two pets. I’m delighted to be a part of this incredible community!