Foul Play. Which of you is the killer?

1. 

   Ūpis lays out the case

   Everyone reads the introduction: who has vanished, where and when. The last page shows a map of the scene. Then each of you gets a character — roles are dealt at random.

2. 

   Your secret character sheet

   Motive, alibi, secret and a personal goal. The text shows only while you hold a finger on the card, so your neighbor cannot read it.

3. 

   Three acts

   In each act you get a private clue about someone else. During talking time (2, 3 or 4 minutes) you can pin it to the shared evidence board or slip it to one player in a secret note — and bluffing is allowed.

4. 

   Between the acts

   After act one comes the mini-game “Whose is it?”: which object belongs to whom. After act two comes the hot seat: Ūpis asks each of you one question, you answer out loud, and the others tap “Believe” or “Don’t believe”.

5. 

   Accusation and reveal

   Everyone votes for one other character and can also guess how it was done. Then Ūpis reveals it step by step: the votes, the killer, the method, an epilogue and what everyone else was hiding.

• 
  Midsummer Night (Jāņu nakts)The lake house “Līgotnes”. By the bonfire its owner Gunārs promised to share news at midnight that some would not like, then went to the sauna. At midnight the sauna is empty. A rural farce with cheese, flower crowns and a feud over a fence.
• 
  Opening Night (Pirmizrāde)The theater “Zelta priekškars”. Before the show, director Maestro Bruno promised news after the curtain call. He never came out to bow. A backstage comedy with a diva under a ghost’s bedsheet.
• 
  Lighthouse Night (Bākas nakts)A fishing village on the Kurzeme coast, a herring festival, a storm on the way. Smokehouse owner Valdis climbed the lighthouse to light the festival beacon, but it never lit. On the freshly painted railing: only his captain’s cap.
• 
  The Last Slow Dance (Pēdējā lēnā deja)Riga, 1996, the nightclub “Kosmoss”. Owner Ēriks “Lāzers” went down to the cellar for champagne, and the lights went out across the club. Four minutes later Ēriks was gone. Neon, pagers and hairspray.

The killer is fixed by each case, so one group plays each case once. The host picks the case in the room.

• Everyone has something to hide

  The innocent have secrets and goals of their own too. At the end Ūpis reveals them all — and it turns out nearly everyone had a reason to lie.

• Clues have to be shared

  You know something about your neighbor, your neighbor knows something about you. Pin it to the board for all, whisper it to one person in a secret note, or save it for the last act — your call.

• The game happens at the table

  The phone deals the roles and clues, shows the map and the board, and keeps the time. Everything else is talk, accusations and bad alibis.