The following are the characters used in this Crime Club Card Game:—

Lemmy Caution
Hercule Poirot
Mr. Colbeck
Dr. Harlow
Superintendent Battle
Mr. Glapthorne
Mr. Woodspring
Inspector Macdonald
Peter Vernon
Mr. Evans
Janet Murch
Carlotta

RULES

CRIME CLUB

CARD GAME

For any number of players. For more than 6 players 2 packs are necessary. With. 6 players 2 packs are recommended.

The pack consists of 50 cards—6 series of 8 cards and 2 Joker cards.

There are 3 Detective series indicated by a Handcuff symbol and a RED, LIGHT BLUE, AND YELLOW square in the top left and bottom right corners. In addition there is a Joker card attached to these Detective suits showing the handcuff symbol only and the figure of Justice.

There are 3 Crook Series indicated by a Revolver symbol and a DARK BLUE, DARK PURPLE, AND GREEN square in the top left and bottom right corners. In addition there is a Joker card attached to these Crook series showing the revolver symbol only and a Masked Man.

Each Detective Series consists of the following cards:—
Detective
Assistant
Police Car
Main Road
Bridle Path
Bloodhounds
Crook's House
Handcuffs

Each Crook Series consists of the following cards:—

Crook
Assistant
Crook's Car
Main Road
Bridle Path
Hide-out Cottage
Flashlamp
Loot (in Dark Blue and Green series only)
Body (in Dark Purple series only)

The Card values for trick purposes are as on previous page, i.e., DETECTIVE takes ASSISTANT or lower card. CROOK takes ASSISTANT and so on in their respective suits. The DETECTIVE JOKER card is naturally "master of all Detective cards and the CROOK JOKER of all Crook cards. This order of value is natural because in the Crook Series the CROOK will, with his ASSISTANT, get into their CAR, drive down the MAIN ROAD, until they come to the BRIDLE PATH. This leads them to the HIDE-OUT COTTAGE where they will need the FLASHLAMP to either discover the LOOT or to dispose of the BODY before they leave the cottage.

In the Detective series the DETECTIVE and his ASSISTANT take a POLICE CAR, drive down the MAIN ROAD until they reach the BRIDLE PATH. Here they will need the BLOODHOUNDS to lead them to the CROOK'S HOUSE where they will then use the HANDCUFFS to make the arrest.

For the convenience of players commencing to play the game an extra 4 copies of the card values is given in addition to that printed in the book of rules.

This is done to aid any player who may find it a little difficult to remember the order of the cards. After a few games this becomes easy but the distribution of these slips for reference may save time in explaining values when introducing new players to the pleasure of CRIME CLUB.

DEAL

Shuffle and deal the cards one at a time, face up to each player. The first player to get either of the JOKER cards becomes the dealer for that round. (After the first round the deal passes to the player on left and so on).

Cards are then collected, re-shuffled and dealt face down. Before dealing the following number of cards must be taken from the top of the pack and placed, face down, on one side where they remain unused until a new round is commenced :—

When using 2 packs discard

The above are MYSTERY cards. They add considerably to the interest of the game as each player may be making a serious effort to avoid a Penalty Joker when it is possibly in the stack of Mystery cards.

Deal commences with player on dealer's left. Deal 6 cards to each player, dealing 3 cards at a time. Balance of pack is placed at hand for following deals.

PLAY

After examining his hand each player discards 2 cards {as ready, and not necessarily in turn) face down in the centre of the table. When all have thus discarded dealer gives three more cards to each player, face down, from the undealt cards.

Once again players discard 2 cards each to the centre stack and dealer gives them 3 more. This continues until the undealt cards are exhausted when the dealer takes the centre stack of discards and deals from these.

Skill is required during the first part of the game to collect a hand, as far as possible that will enable you, during the second part of the game, to collect as few tricks as possible with Penalty cards therein. Players will find the game become more and more interesting each time it is played and as their skill at knowing the correct hands to collect, improves.

The method of discard and deal continues until there are no cards left in the centre stack of discards, when dealer announces that no more discards shall be made. When this stage is reached the hands collected by each player have to be played out in the form of tricks and the object of each player, during this second part of the game, must be to avoid taking any tricks containing Revolver symbol (CROOK) cards and particularly to escape taking the JOKER (MASKED MAN) card.

The player on left of dealer makes the first lead and after that the winner of each trick leads. When all cards have been played out each player counts the number of Crook cards in the tricks he has taken and is penalised 2 points for each such card. The player having the CROOK JOKER card in his tricks is penalised 10 points.

In play every player must follow suit when able to do so, i.e., must play a card of the same coloured suit as has been led. Failure to do this (if able) incurs a penalty of 10 points. When unable to follow suit a player can discard any card of any suit —not necessarily a Detective card on a Detective suit or a Crook card on a Crook suit—and will naturally try to get rid of the Crook cards or if he has none of these, high ranking Detective cards.

Play continues until one player has a score of 50 (or 100) points as agreed. The winner is the player with the least number of points at the close of play.

 

CRIME CLUB CARD VALUES

Each Detective Series consists of the following cards:—

Detective

Assistant

Police Car

Main Road

Bridle Path

Bloodhounds

Crook's House

Handcuffs

Each Crook Series consists of the following cards:—

Crook

Assistant

Crook's Car

Main Road

Bridle Path

Hide-out Cottage

Flashlamp

Loot (in Dark Blue and Green series only)

Body (in Dark Purple series only)

The Card values for trick purposes are as printed overleaf, i.e., DETECTIVE takes ASSISTANT or lower card. CROOK takes ASSISTANT and so on in their respective suits. The DETECTIVE JOKER card is naturally master of all Detective cards and the CROOK JOKER of all Crook cards. This order of value is natural because in the Crook Series the CROOK will, with his ASSISTANT, get into their CAR, drive down the MAIN ROAD, until they come to the BRIDLE PATH. This leads them to the HIDE-OUT COTTAGE where they will need the FLASHLAMP to either discover the LOOT or to dispose of the BODY before they leave the cottage.

In the Detective series the DETECTIVE and his ASSISTANT take a POLICE CAR, drive down the MAIN ROAD until they reach the BRIDLE PATH. Here they will need the BLOODHOUNDS to lead them to the CROOK'S HOUSE where they will then use the HANDCUFFS to make the arrest.