In Black and White a Retrospective by James Ernest

in black and white

a retrospective by James Ernest For Nora Someday, all this will be yours.

This document contains excerpts from an early draft of Cheapass Games in Black and White, a retrospective of more than 100 original games released by Cheapass Games between 1996 and 2012.

This document is meant only as an example of the format and direction of the book. None of the content is final.

The historic game material is presented in its original form, except where old addresses and phone numbers have been redacted or replaced. Strategy Hints: About Cheapass Games:

Bluff. No matter how many Failure cards you’re We here at Cheapass Games are aware of two holding, try to convince everyone else that you’re out. basic facts about board games: they cost too much, The more Failure cards you can force out of everyone and they are, at some level, all the same. else’s hands, the better. If you ignore the clever shapes they come in, the cheap little plastic pawns are an interchangeable Make as many murder attempts as you can. Even part of most of the board games in your house. So though your first ones will probably fail, you’ll be are the dice, the money, the counters, and just about M A Cheapass Game guaranteed to pull those Failures out of other peoples’ every clever spare part. These parts can account for hands. as much as 75% of a game’s production cost, and Do your best to keep track of how many Failures that cost gets handed to you. If you had your choice, you’d probably invest have been played. If you feel like the hands are thin, a little money in one good set of gaming parapher- KILL Included with this Game: hurry up and make your attempt before everyone gets nalia instead of twenty crappy ones, and then just Welcome to the J. Robert Lucky mansion, a buy the new part of every “new” game. Yet most the chance to draw again. rambling family estate seven miles north of companies insist on selling you the whole package The Kill Dr. Lucky Gameboard, 96 Cards, and If your games seem to be nowhere. It’s a stormy midsummer’s evening, ten W every time; it’s a little like bundling a VCR with every Game Title: Kill Doctor Lucky this Rulebook. W taking too long, or you’re always seconds after midnight. And someone’s just shut videotape. If you need help assembling the board, look at exhausting the deck, it probably Our games come packaged with the bare offStock the lights. Number: CAG 001 LUCKY the snapshot on the back of this booklet. means that you’re making fewer essentials: boards, cards, and rulebooks. If you You have hated Doctor Lucky for as long as need anything else, we’ll tell you. And it’s probably Release Date: Fall 1996 You probably want to tape the board to a stiff murder attempts than we do. you can remember, and you’ve been secretly something that you can scrounge from a game you piece of cardboard. The finished size is 17” x 22”. That’s okay. To speed things up, V awaitingCategory: this perfect chance Board to put Game the old man already have, or buy at a hobby store for less than try stripping out all the F-3’s. down. Maybe he destroyed your family business; we’d have to charge you for it. Players: 2 to 8 DOCTORYou Also Need: Base Value: 2 And, once you’ve got a collection of pawns, maybe you think he’s the leader of the vampires. dice, counters, and money, you can use the same PerhapsMSRP: he’s the $6.00 only person standing between you Worth 5 points in the ©1996 Cheapass Games ones for every Cheapass game. We’ve standardized Pawns for every player, plus a Master Pawn and the family fortune. Or maybe his cat just keeps SittingBAD Room. Graphics, Layout, and Game Design: James Ernest. our designs so your gaming toolbox will last. Designer: James Ernest (another Pawn) for Dr. Lucky. Assistant Design: Rick Fish, Dave Howell, E. peeing in your shrubs. Whatever your reason, it’s For a postpaid copy of our latest catalog, Use whatever you like for Pawns, as long as JordanILL OCTOR Bojar, UCKYToivo Rovainen, various well- send 50¢ to: Cheapass Games, [This was once our good enough toN/A push you over the edge. Now you CREAM Artist: everyone can identify themselves, and the Pawns are fedK guineaD pigs.L street address]. absolutely can’t wait to take the lying old bastard not much bigger than 1” square. Dr. Lucky’s Pawn out. should be easily distinguished from the rest. And, though you don’t know it, everyone else in the house wants to kill him too. The Board: AmongTake a deep the breath. first Remember block why you’reof games I designed for Cheapass Games, here. And then start sneaking around in the dark. I thought Kill Doctor Lucky was the best.Dr. That’s Lucky’s Estate whyhas 32 it “rooms”, earned including the the first If you run across a weapon, grab it. If you bump 8 hallway/stairways. When you try to kill Dr. Lucky, slot,into #CAG Doctor Lucky,001. give him hell. you must be alone in a room with him. You also can’t Trying to kill Doctor Lucky is pretty easy, as It’s a simple premise. A group ofmake colorful the attempt ifcharacters anyone else can see has you fromgathered long as no one’s looking. But they don’t call him another room. in the“Doctor home Lucky” of for nothing.Doctor He’s J.got Robertan uncanny Lucky, and although they don’t know Sight lines work like this: if someone can stand talent for slipping out of harm’s way. But don’t it, everyone in the party wants to killanywhere him. in one room and look straight through door- despair; after enough tries you’re guaranteed to ways into the room you’re in, they can see you. So, for wearPlayers the old codger sneak down. aroundYou just need thea clever house looking for good weapons and example, someone standing in the Kitchen can see plan, a good bluff, and a little more luck than places to hide. Catch the old man alone(and beand seen youby) people can in thetry Master to Suite,kill thehim, west but everyone else. stairs, the two adjoining hallways, the Trophy Room, So gather in the Drawing Room, shut off the they don’t call him “Doctor Lucky” forthe Winenothing. Cellar, and the Winter Garden. lights, and get cracking. Somebody’s got to kill You can’t see diagonally through doors, so for DoctorWhen Lucky you tonight, try and toit might kill as wellDoctor be you. Lucky, all the other players get to play example, someone in the Foyer can’t see someone in his luck, in the form of Failure cards.the He Carriage usually House. escapes, but your goal is to draw the luck out of everyone else’sImportant hands, note: without the Gallery overlooks surrendering the Dining Hall. It’s a musician’s gallery, like a balcony. You can too much of your own. When the timesee through comes, that wall, you but you can can’t hopewalk though to it. strike the final blow, and finally kill DoctorThis meansLucky! that the Gallery can see (and be seen by) CHEAPASS GAMES CHEAPASS O C every room straight down to the Piazza, plus the Kill Doctor Lucky has been throughNursery andmany the Armory. editions in its twenty year history, including a major overhaul in its 19.5th year. Here is part of the story of how it came to be.

Kill Doctor Lucky • 1 Inventing Doctor Lucky I spent my college years at the University of Missouri at Rolla. This “University” was basically an engineering school, teaching almost entirely science and math. Every liberal arts department was crammed into a single building. Actually, half of one building. I spent my free time in the computer lab, writing dumb stories on dumb terminals and sending them to a giant printer somewhere in the basement. I had to write in this weird pre-HTML markup language to make the pages print correctly. Because 1987. One of those dumb stories was “The Butler Wore Black,” the first chapter of an absurdist murder mystery. A cadre of colorful characters with ridiculous names were gathered in the drawing room of a Victo- rian mansion, where the hostess lectured them about their various motives to kill the victim, who at that moment was still alive. Each of the murderers was based on a character in pop culture (for example, Lois Lane and Darth Vader). Here’s an excerpt:

Duchess Effing reached the bookcase directly opposite the fire and turned again, walking slowly around the room and gazing at her ten dumbfounded guests. “Some of you know one another, others of you have never met. But you have all been gathered today because of an ac- quaintance you share with this man, Jose Gonzales.” The ten guests murmured in disbelief. Tennie Lynn Phosgene shook her head. “I’ve never seen him before,” she de- clared, her schoolgirl shyness wilting the nearby flowers. “Nor have I,” boomed the muffled voice of Father Grace Harley from behind his black faceplate. “So you say,” the Duchess went on. “But each of you has been in one way or another involved with Mister Gonzales, and…” she paused behind Father Harley, lightly resting her fragile arm on his polished black helmet, “each of you has good reason to want him dead.”

2 • Cheapass Games in Black and White Chapter Two was pretty short. The butler kills the power, the lights go out, and in an amazing feat of cooperation in pitch darkness, the murderers build a gallows in the middle of the room and hang the poor victim in thirty seconds. I wrote dozens of stories like this. I doubt many of them are likely to turn into board games, but you never know.

One day in February 1996, I was driving across Seattle to visit Phil and Kaja (by this time Carol and I had our own place), and this story floated into my head, along with the title “Kill Doctor Lucky.” I laughed out loud, picturing this feeble old man pottering around his house, blithely escaping while every guest tries to kill him. Because he’s just so darn lucky. By the time I arrived at the Foglios’, I had a game idea pretty well in my head. A few days later, a friend went to the GAMA trade show and pitched this idea to a well-respected publisher, who said he would buy it based on the description alone. With encouragement like this, I decided that I’d better design this game! I immediately had a couple of opportunities to sell it to other publishers, but by the summer I knew I wanted the game for myself, to be the flagship title for my own game studio.

Designing the Cheapass Look I spent quite some time on the graphic design of Kill Doctor Lucky, because I knew it would set the tone for the Cheapass line. The first cover design is pictured on page 5. During this period I was obviously using a lot of clip art. It was perfect for black and white reproduction, and it was free. (The Devil Bunny comics were some of the best examples.) Originally, the familiar silhouette that became Doctor Lucky was not supposed to be the Doctor at all. I chose it for a bumbling detective character who didn’t make it into the final game. Envelopes with gray cover images, like this one, are super-rare. I wanted to make this silhouette solid black, but my laser printer couldn’t handle it. There are only a few dozen of these in the world.

Kill Doctor Lucky • 3 Production Diary March 15 1996

Friday March 15 1996: What started as a good idea about 3 weeks ago has become this week’s game. Carol and/or Jordan pitched this idea to Darwin Bromley at GAMA this weekend, and he said. “Hell, I’d publish that.” Hence, game of week. KILL DOCTOR LUCKY Wednesday I stayed up with Dave Howell til 3AM talking about game mechanics. Dave wants this to be far more complex than I do, but I managed to convince him that it’s always easier to make something more complex later. Dave usually disagrees with everyone else in my playtest group, but that’s sometimes a good thing. I also talked with Rick Fish all day yesterday about mechanics, and here’s what I’ve got right now: On a Mansion board with 20 numbred rooms and a few more unnumbered rooms, Dr. Lucky moves one numbered room forward between every turn. Players can move one room for free each turn, and can play movement cards on themselves and Dr. Lucky to stretch their moves out. There are 20 room cards, one for each numbered room. These cards can jump either you or Dr. Lucky to that room. Murdering him is free as long as you are the only one in the room, and you can play Weapon cards to increase the efficacy of your attempt. Other players can play failure cards on your attempt; weapon cards simply cancel out extra failures. There are some weapon cards which are quite powerful in particular rooms, and others which are equally use- ful everywhere. Failure cards are played in sequence like bidding. They go into a separate discard pile, never to be seen again. So, although they start plentiful, their number dwindles through the course of the game. The real object of the game is to tease the failure cards out of everyone else’s hands. Oh, you can fail a failure if you want.

New Board: 24 Numbered rooms, 30 unnumbered rooms=54 rooms total, including12 hallways. A few awesome sightlines.

Valuation of a room’s “cost”: Distance from World Room: 1-5 (close is better) Number of rooms which can see into it: 2-10 (less is better) Distance from Lucky’s Path: 0-2 (less is better) Room card for that room: 0/4

Valuations of a weapon’s cost: Distance from World Room Efficacy Enhanced power (weapons don’t have to be as balanced as rooms, though it would make the game seem more fair.)

New Rules as of the 18th: You can’t fail a failure. If you get shot down, you’re down. You find weapons in particular rooms, then lay them down to show you have them. You have to discard them to use them. You can use move-cards on inactive players.

Room Valuations: Do on a Greatworks Spreadsheet.

This is a rare find: an original page of notes from March 15, 1996. My house is filled with stacks of unsorted notebooks, but to discover this file on an old Doctor Lucky disk was pretty cool. Note how the rules changes are being captured as they happen. (And this game is nowhere near done.)

4 • Cheapass Games in Black and White Why do allRE mysteryYSTERY gamesAME start just after all theA FORPfun -Mis over?LAYERS G KILL 2-8L PUCKY Welcome to the J. Robert Lucky mansion, a sprawling country estate full of unusual weapons, good hiding places, and craven killers. Killers like you.

The object? Kill Doctor Lucky. Find DOCTORa weapon, track the old man down, and lay him out. The obstacles? For one thing, all of your friends would rather do it first. For another, Doctor Lucky is aptly named.

You would think that after being stabbed, hung, poisoned, and poked in the eye, the old Doctor would just lie down and accept his fate. But he’s got more luck than Rasputin, and an uncanny knack for dodging your best traps.

Stick to it. Persevere. The Doctor’s luck won’t last forever. Before the night is over, someone is going to kill Doctor Lucky. M Wouldn’t you rather it was you? CHEAPASS GAMES CHEAPASS

You Need: A Pawn for every player, plus one Master Pawn.

Kill Doctor Lucky Original 1996 Cover RE YSTERY OARD AME FOR LAYERS WhREy doYS allTERY mysteryO ARDgames AMEstart Why do all mystery games start just after all the fun is over? A P -M B G 2-8 P A P -M FOR B LAYERSG just after all the fun is over? Welcome to the J. Robert 2-8Lucky P Mansion, KILL Welcome to J. Robert Lucky Mansion, a sprawling LcountryUCKY estate full of a sprawling country estate full of unusual weapons, good hiding places, KILL unusual weapons,LUCKY good hiding places, and craven killers. Killers like you. and craven killers. Killers like you.

The object? Kill Doctor Lucky. The object? Kill Doctor Lucky. Find a weapon, track the old man down, and Find a weapon, track the old man down, and take him out. The obstacles? For one thing, all take him out. The obstacles? For one thing, DOCTORof your friends would rather do it first. For all of your friends would rather do it first. another, Doctor Lucky is aptly named. For another, Doctor Lucky is aptly named. You would think that after being DOCTORYou would think that after being stabbed, hung, poisoned, and poked in the stabbed, hung, poisoned, and poked in the eye, the old Doctor would just lie down and eye, the old Doctor would just lie down and accept his fate. But he’s got more lives accept his fate. But he’s got more lives than Rasputin, and an uncanny knack for than Rasputin, and an uncanny knack for dodging your best traps. dodging your best traps.

Stick to it. Persevere. The Doctor’s luck won’t Stick to it. Persevere. The Doctor’s luck won’t last forever. Before the night is over, someone last forever. Before the night is over, someone is going to kill Doctor Lucky. is going to kill Doctor Lucky. M Wouldn’t you rather it was you? M Wouldn’t you rather it was you? CHEAPASS GAMES CHEAPASS Item #CAG 001 You Need: A Pawn for every player, plus one Master Pawn. You Need: A Pawn for every player, plus one Master Pawn. #CAG 001 Origins™ Award winner: Best Abstract Board Game of 1997

First Broad Release Cover 1997 Revised Edition 1999

DIRECTOR’S CUT

RE YSTERY OARD AME FOR LAYERS RE YSTERY OARD AME FOR LAYERS A P -M B WhyG do all mystery3-7 games P start Why do all mystery games start just after all the fun is over? A P -M B G just after all3-7 the funP is over ?

Welcome to J. Robert Lucky Mansion, Welcome to J. Robert Lucky Mansion, a sprawling country estate full of a sprawling country estate full of KILL unusual weapons,LUCKY good hiding places, KILL unusual weapons,LUCKY good hiding places, and craven killers. Killers like you. and craven killers. Killers like you.

The object? Kill Doctor Lucky. The object? Kill Doctor Lucky. Find a weapon, track the old man down, and Find a weapon, track the old man down, and take him out. The obstacles? For one thing, take him out. The obstacles? For one thing, all of your friends would rather do it first. all of your friends would rather do it first. For another, Doctor Lucky is aptly named. For another, Doctor Lucky is aptly named. DOCTORYou would think that after being DOCTORYou would think that after being stabbed, hung, poisoned, and poked in the stabbed, hung, poisoned, and poked in the eye, the old Doctor would just lie down and eye, the old Doctor would just lie down and accept his fate. But he’s got more lives accept his fate. But he’s got more lives than Rasputin, and an uncanny knack for than Rasputin, and an uncanny knack for dodging your best traps. dodging your best traps.

Wouldn’t you rather it was you? Wouldn’t you rather it was you? Item #CAG 001 Item #CAG Item #CAG 001 Item #CAG

You Need: A Pawn for every You Need: A Pawn for every player, plus one Master Pawn. player, plus one Master Pawn.

Origins™ Award winner: Origins™ Award winner: Best Abstract Board Game of 1997 Best Abstract Board Game of 1997

First Boxed Edition 2000 Director’s Cut 2002

6 • Cheapass Games in Black and White Strategy Hints: About Cheapass Games:

Bluff. No matter how many Failure cards you’re We here at Cheapass Games are aware of two holding, try to convince everyone else that you’re out. basic facts about games: they cost too much, and The more Failure cards you can force out of everyone they are, at some level, all the same. If you ignore the clever shapes they come in, the else’s hands, the better. cheap little plastic pawns are an interchangeable part Make as many murder attempts as you can. Even of most of the board games in your house. So are the though your first ones will probably fail, you’ll be dice, the money, the counters, and just about every clever spare part. These parts can account for as M A Cheapass board game for 2-8 players pulling those Failures out of other people’s hands. much as 75% of a game’s production cost, and that Do your best to keep track of how many Failures cost gets handed to you. have been played. If you feel like the hands are thin, If you had your choice, you’d probably invest a hurry up and make an attempt before everyone gets the little money in one good set of gaming parapherna- chance to draw again. lia instead of twenty crappy ones, and then just buy KILL Included with this Game: the new part of every “new” game. Yet most game Welcome to the J. Robert Lucky mansion, a If your games seem to be taking too long, or companies insist on selling you the whole package rambling country estate seven miles north of The Kill Dr. Lucky Game Board (8 sections), a you’re always exhausting the deck, every time; it’s a little like bundling a can opener with nowhere. It’s a stormy midsummer’s evening, ten deck of 96 Cards, and this Rule Book. it probably means that you’re every can of beans. seconds after midnight. And someone’s just shut off Cheapass Games come packaged with the bare If you need help assembling the board, look at the making fewer murder attempts the lights. LUCKY essentials: boards, cards, and rulebooks. If you need snapshot on the back of this booklet. You’ll probably than we do. That’s okay. To speed anything else, we’ll tell you. And it’s probably some- You have hated Doctor Lucky for as long as you want to tape the board to a stiff piece of cardboard; the things up, try upping the weapon thing that you can scrounge from a game you already can remember, and you’ve been secretly awaiting values by +1. Or try removing the V have, or buy at a hobby store for less than we’d have finished size is 17" x 22". You can also assemble the this perfect chance to do the old man in. Maybe he F-3’s from the deck. Good Luck! to charge you for it. Heck, if you need to, you can even board temporarily by using sticky-notes on the back. buy the parts from us. destroyed your dry cleaning business;DOCTOR maybe you And once you’ve got a collection of pawns, dice, think he’s the leader of the vampires. Perhaps he’s You Also Need: ©1996 Cheapass Games. counters, and money, you can use the same ones for the only person standing between you and the family every Cheapass Game. We’ve standardized our fortune. Or maybe his cat just keeps peeing in your Graphics, Layout, and Game Design: James Ernest. designs so your gaming toolbox will last. You’ll need a Pawn for every player, plus one Assistant Design: Rick Fish, Dave Howell, E. shrubs. Whatever your reason, it’s good enough to You can learn more about Cheapass Games by more Master Pawn for Dr. Lucky. JordanILL OCTOR Bojar, UCKYToivo Rovainen, and various asking your local game retailer. Or by visiting our push you over the edge. And now you absolutely Use whatever you like for your Pawns, as long as well-fedK D guineaL pigs. Sixth Printing Sept. 2000. secret website at www.cheapass.com. can’t wait to take the lying old bastard down. everyone can identify themselves, and the bases are not And, though you don’t know it, everyone else much bigger than 1” square. Dr. Lucky’s Pawn should in the house wants to kill him too. be easily distinguished from the rest. Take a deep breath. Remember why you’re here. And then start sneaking around in the dark. If The Board: you run across a weapon, grab it. If you bump into Doctor Lucky, give him hell. Dr. Lucky’s Estate has 32 “rooms,” including 24 Trying to kill Doctor Lucky is pretty easy, as named rooms, 6 hallways and 2 stairways. When you try long as no one’s looking. But they don’t call him to kill Dr. Lucky, you must be alone in a room with him. “Doctor Lucky” for nothing. He’s got an uncanny You must also be out of sight of the other players. knack for slipping out of harm’s way. Don’t despair; The sight lines work like this: if someone can after enough tries, you’re guaranteed to wear the old stand anywhere in one room and look straight through codger down. You just need a clever plan, a good doorways into the room you’re in, they can see you. So, bluff, and a little more luck than everyone else. for example, someone standing in the Kitchen can see So gather in the Drawing Room and get crack- (and be seen by) people in the Master Suite, the west ing. Somebody’s going to kill Doctor Lucky tonight, stairs, the two adjoining hallways, the Trophy Room, the and it might as well be you. Wine Cellar, and the Winter Garden. You can’t see diagonally through doors, so for Cheapass Games example, someone in the Foyer can’t see someone in the Info Unit™: Carriage House. Now you can repent The Gallery overlooks the Dining Hall. It’s a musi- of your evil ways and cian’s gallery, like a balcony. You can see through that Save Doctor Lucky dotted wall, but you can’t walk though it. This means aboard a titanic that the Gallery can see (and be seen by) every room sinking ship. It’s straight down to the Piazza, plus the Nursery, the Master Cheapass Game #027 Suite, and the Library.

Kill Doctor Lucky • 7 To Begin: There are 20 Weapon cards, including many Who Goes Next: which, like the Billiard Cue below, are more effective in Put everyone in the Drawing Room. To randomly particular rooms. Normally, the turn order passes to the left around determine who starts, the winner of the last game deals There are 42 Failure cards, including 26 1-point the table. But Dr. Lucky can re-activate a player by land- cards faceup, starting on his own left. He continues until 22 Failures, 12 2-point Failures and 4 3-point Failures. ing on him. someone gets a room card. That player will go first, and If Dr. Lucky moves into an occupied room Dr. Lucky will start in that room. Now reshuffle the deck, Two Discard Piles: (between turns), the player standing in that room goes and deal a hand of six cards to every player. RR next. This is true even if that player just had a turn! Failure cards go into a different discard pile than the This means that, if you’re clever, you can take sev- To Win: other cards. If the deck empties, you will reshuffle only eral turns in a row, leading the old fool around the man- the non-Failure cards to replace the deck. The Failure sion. You can use these turns to draw extra cards, and Kill Doctor Lucky. Pretty simple. cards are gone for good. to get someplace fast. But even though you can take multiple turns in a row, you won’t be able to make a On Every Turn: Play this card to move Moving The Doctor: series of murder attempts. Since you can’t move (or play move cards) after a murder attempt, Dr. Lucky will When it’s your turn, you have two choices: You yourself or Dr. Lucky up to Dr. Lucky moves after every turn. So, when you are automatically get away from you if you fail. can either snoop around looking for stuff, or you can MOVE-22 roomsPlay this in anycard direction. to move done with your turn, you move Dr. Lucky. Multiple next players: If Dr. Lucky lands in a room actually do something. So, there are two different types Dr. Lucky tends to follow a predictable route occupied by two or more players, then the “my turn” of turn. yourself or Dr. Lucky through his mansion. Unless he’s lured off course by status passes from the last active player, to the left to the Winter Garden. someone’s play, Dr. Lucky moves by the numbers. around the table, until it hits one of the players in that Turn Type 1: “Snooping” WINTER If Dr. Lucky is standing in a numbered room, just room. This means that you can’t drag Dr. Lucky through move him into the next numbered room (19 leads to 0). an occupied room, since the turn will pass to the other If you’re snooping, you get to move one room in GARDEN If he’s not in a numbered room, move him to the high- player when Dr. Lucky moves in. any direction (hallways and stairs count as rooms) or est numbered adjoining room. For example, if Dr. you can stay put. In the Murder step of the type-2 turn, you can try Lucky is in the Wine Cellar, move him into the Kitchen. A Sample Turn: If you end your turn in a named room, you get to to kill Dr. Lucky. If he is in the Foyer, he moves into the Piazza. draw one card. The card you draw loosely represents To attempt a murder, you must be alone in the There are 5 players, and it’s player 1’s turn. something you found while you were snooping. “Named room with Dr. Lucky, and you must be out of sight of Player 5 has just ended his turn, and Dr. Lucky has rooms” just means all the rooms with names; you can’t every other player. moved from the Master Suite into the Nursery (room 10 draw a card if you stop in a hallway, or on the stairs. You can only make one murder attempt per turn. to room 11). You may play one Weapon card to improve your F-1F-1 Player 1 moves from the Library into the Gallery. Type 2: “Doing Something” murder attempt; otherwise, it has a basic value of 1. He’s taking a “Doing Something” type of turn, not Without the Weapon card, you’re trying to kill the old snooping for cards. After taking his free move, he plays In this kind of turn, you take two steps: Move- man with whatever is on hand, or just poking him in the a Move-1 card, moving himself into the Nursery. ment, and Murder. Both steps are optional. When you eye with your finger. Now Player 1 tries to kill Dr. Lucky. There are no take this kind of turn, you’re not snooping, so you can’t If you use a Weapon, your murder attempt has the other players in the Nursery, and no one can see them, draw a card. value of that Weapon. For example, a murder attempt so the attempt is legal. He plays the Billiard Cue Weapon In the Movement step, you can move yourself one with a 4-point Weapon has a value of 4 (not 5!). The card, so it will take 2 Failure points to stop him. room, and you can also play Move and Room cards. You better your attempt, the harder it will be for your oppo- WW M Player 2 has the first chance to stop the murder, can take your regular move before, after, or between nents to stop you. but it’s early in the game and he feels confident that oth- playing these cards, and you can play as many of these Once you’ve made your murder attempt, everyone Play this card to foil ers will be able to. He passes the chance to play a cards as you wish. else gets one chance to foil it, by playing Failure cards. a murder attempt. Failure, although he has several. So does Player 3. Move Cards: These cards can move you, or they Starting with the player to your left, every player may FAILURE! Player 4 has watched Players 5’s hand dwindle to can move Dr. Lucky. There are 14 move cards, includ- either play one or more Failure cards, or pass. 2 cards, and feels a little reluctant to leave even one ing 8 Move-1’s, 4 Move-2’s and 2 Move-3’s. When you To foil a murder requires one Failure point for Failure up to him. However, he has only one Failure play one of these cards on Dr. Lucky, you can send him each point in the murder value. Failure cards are worth point, and he plays it. in any direction; he doesn’t have to follow 1, 2, or 3 points each. Player 5 also has only one Failure card left, and his numbers. Note: Even though your early murder attempts Base Value: 2 it’s worth 3 points. Although it’s overkill, Player 5 must Room Cards: Use these cards to probably won’t succeed, it’s important to keep trying, so Worth 5 points in the play this F-3 card to stop the murder attempt from suc- jump either yourself or Dr. Lucky to a par- that you force the Failure cards out of other players’ Billiard Room. ceeding. He does, and Player 1 is foiled. ticular room. There are 20 different Room hands. The fewer Failures everyone else holds, the bet- BILLIARD After his turn ends, Player 1 moves Dr. Lucky into cards. k ter your chances of winning. CUE the Armory (Room 11 to Room 12).

8 • Cheapass Games in Black and White To Begin: There are 20 Weapon cards, including many Who Goes Next: which, like the Billiard Cue below, are more effective in Put everyone in the Drawing Room. To randomly particular rooms. Normally, the turn order passes to the left around determine who starts, the winner of the last game deals There are 42 Failure cards, including 26 1-point the table. But Dr. Lucky can re-activate a player by land- cards faceup, starting on his own left. He continues until 22 Failures, 12 2-point Failures and 4 3-point Failures. ing on him. someone gets a room card. That player will go first, and If Dr. Lucky moves into an occupied room Dr. Lucky will start in that room. Now reshuffle the deck, Two Discard Piles: (between turns), the player standing in that room goes and deal a hand of six cards to every player. RR next. This is true even if that player just had a turn! Failure cards go into a different discard pile than the This means that, if you’re clever, you can take sev- To Win: other cards. If the deck empties, you will reshuffle only eral turns in a row, leading the old fool around the man- the non-Failure cards to replace the deck. The Failure sion. You can use these turns to draw extra cards, and Kill Doctor Lucky. Pretty simple. cards are gone for good. to get someplace fast. But even though you can take multiple turns in a row, you won’t be able to make a On Every Turn: Play this card to move Moving The Doctor: series of murder attempts. Since you can’t move (or play move cards) after a murder attempt, Dr. Lucky will When it’s your turn, you have two choices: You yourself or Dr. Lucky up to Dr. Lucky moves after every turn. So, when you are automatically get away from you if you fail. can either snoop around looking for stuff, or you can MOVE-22 roomsPlay this in anycard direction. to move done with your turn, you move Dr. Lucky. Multiple next players: If Dr. Lucky lands in a room actually do something. So, there are two different types Dr. Lucky tends to follow a predictable route occupied by two or more players, then the “my turn” of turn. yourself or Dr. Lucky through his mansion. Unless he’s lured off course by status passes from the last active player, to the left to the Winter Garden. someone’s play, Dr. Lucky moves by the numbers. around the table, until it hits one of the players in that Turn Type 1: “Snooping” WINTER If Dr. Lucky is standing in a numbered room, just room. This means that you can’t drag Dr. Lucky through move him into the next numbered room (19 leads to 0). an occupied room, since the turn will pass to the other If you’re snooping, you get to move one room in GARDEN If he’s not in a numbered room, move him to the high- player when Dr. Lucky moves in. any direction (hallways and stairs count as rooms) or est numbered adjoining room. For example, if Dr. you can stay put. In the Murder step of the type-2 turn, you can try Lucky is in the Wine Cellar, move him into the Kitchen. A Sample Turn: If you end your turn in a named room, you get to to kill Dr. Lucky. If he is in the Foyer, he moves into the Piazza. draw one card. The card you draw loosely represents To attempt a murder, you must be alone in the There are 5 players, and it’s player 1’s turn. something you found while you were snooping. “Named room with Dr. Lucky, and you must be out of sight of Player 5 has just ended his turn, and Dr. Lucky has rooms” just means all the rooms with names; you can’t every other player. moved from the Master Suite into the Nursery (room 10 draw a card if you stop in a hallway, or on the stairs. You can only make one murder attempt per turn. to room 11). You may play one Weapon card to improve your F-1F-1 Player 1 moves from the Library into the Gallery. Type 2: “Doing Something” murder attempt; otherwise, it has a basic value of 1. He’s taking a “Doing Something” type of turn, not Without the Weapon card, you’re trying to kill the old snooping for cards. After taking his free move, he plays In this kind of turn, you take two steps: Move- man with whatever is on hand, or just poking him in the a Move-1 card, moving himself into the Nursery. ment, and Murder. Both steps are optional. When you eye with your finger. Now Player 1 tries to kill Dr. Lucky. There are no take this kind of turn, you’re not snooping, so you can’t If you use a Weapon, your murder attempt has the other players in the Nursery, and no one can see them, draw a card. value of that Weapon. For example, a murder attempt so the attempt is legal. He plays the Billiard Cue Weapon In the Movement step, you can move yourself one with a 4-point Weapon has a value of 4 (not 5!). The card, so it will take 2 Failure points to stop him. room, and you can also play Move and Room cards. You better your attempt, the harder it will be for your oppo- WW M Player 2 has the first chance to stop the murder, can take your regular move before, after, or between nents to stop you. but it’s early in the game and he feels confident that oth- playing these cards, and you can play as many of these Once you’ve made your murder attempt, everyone Play this card to foil ers will be able to. He passes the chance to play a cards as you wish. else gets one chance to foil it, by playing Failure cards. a murder attempt. Failure, although he has several. So does Player 3. Move Cards: These cards can move you, or they Starting with the player to your left, every player may FAILURE! Player 4 has watched Players 5’s hand dwindle to can move Dr. Lucky. There are 14 move cards, includ- either play one or more Failure cards, or pass. 2 cards, and feels a little reluctant to leave even one ing 8 Move-1’s, 4 Move-2’s and 2 Move-3’s. When you To foil a murder requires one Failure point for Failure up to him. However, he has only one Failure play one of these cards on Dr. Lucky, you can send him each point in the murder value. Failure cards are worth point, and he plays it. in any direction; he doesn’t have to follow 1, 2, or 3 points each. Player 5 also has only one Failure card left, and his numbers. Note: Even though your early murder attempts Base Value: 2 it’s worth 3 points. Although it’s overkill, Player 5 must Room Cards: Use these cards to probably won’t succeed, it’s important to keep trying, so Worth 5 points in the play this F-3 card to stop the murder attempt from suc- jump either yourself or Dr. Lucky to a par- that you force the Failure cards out of other players’ Billiard Room. ceeding. He does, and Player 1 is foiled. ticular room. There are 20 different Room hands. The fewer Failures everyone else holds, the bet- BILLIARD After his turn ends, Player 1 moves Dr. Lucky into cards. k ter your chances of winning. CUE the Armory (Room 11 to Room 12).

Kill Doctor Lucky • 9 Strategy Hints: About Cheapass Games:

10 • Cheapass Games in Black and White RR 11 WW

Play this card to move yourself or Dr. Lucky to the Carriage House. Base Value: 3 Play this card to move CARRIAGE yourself or Dr. Lucky Worth 4 points in the 1MOVE-1 room in any direction. HOUSE TrophyDUCK Room.

F-3F-3

WW DECOY V

As you approach the Doctor, you tumble BaseBIG Value: RED 4 FthroughAILURE! a trap door. F-1F-1 HAMMER F-2F-2 a “This tastes like n Rat Poison! I love Rat Poison!” FAILURE! You have somehow mistaken a child’s toy FforAILURE! Doctor Lucky.

Kill Doctor Lucky • 11 Editions and Variants Kill Doctor Lucky has gone through several editions in its long and complicated life. Some were just slight updates and fixes; others were pretty major. The original version won the Origins Award for “Best Abstract Board Game of 1997” and was featured in the 1997 GAMES 100. In 2000, the game joined our list of boxed games, with no major changes to the content. In 2002, we released the “Director’s Cut,” which included some variant rules as well as a “commentary track” that gave a little of the same back story found in these pages. In 2006, we licensed the game to Titanic/Paizo Publishing, for the first full-color edition. This was during a period of hibernation for Cheapass Games, while we stopped printing things for a while and let other publishers take care of our most valuable games. In 2016, we brought the game back in-house, with the “19.5th Anniversary Edition” including a huge rules overhaul. I think the new version is strictly better than the old, but you can judge for yourself. Other games and products in the Doctor Lucky series:

Save Doctor Lucky, a game where players try to hand their life vests to the Doctor aboard a sinking ship. Get Lucky, the card game version. The Island of Doctor Lucky, an alternate version set on the Doctor’s mysterious island, which is also trying to kill the players! Moon Base Copernicus: An expansion for the original Save Doctor Lucky. The Doctor Lucky Ambivalence Pack: One new board for each of the original Kill and Save Doctor Lucky games. [Redacted], an expansion board set in a location for which we didn’t have permission. We got a nasty letter, and this board was revised and became part of the Director’s Cut.

12 • Cheapass Games in Black and White in black and white

In the summer of 1996, game inventor James Ernest began making board games at his home, and selling them at local game conventions.

From these humble beginnings, he built an empire.

The idea was simple: Players already had their own dice, pawns, tokens, and play money. All they really needed was the “new” part of every new game.

Cheapass Games were bare-bones, stripped of all unnecessary production cost, and sold at a fraction of their true value. Or so Ernest would have you believe.

This book contains the rules and history of more than 100 of these games, so now you can judge for yourself.

Do not squander this unique opportunity.