Overview

A Joker has slipped into the city — and he’s a wanted killer. In each round, one player becomes the Informant, who knows the Joker’s location in the grid and provides clues distorted by dice rolls. The rest of the players are Vigilantes, racing to kill the Joker and bring justice.

Vigilantes earn points for killing the Joker. The Informant scores nothing. After every player has served as the Informant, the Vigilante with the most points wins.

Components

• A standard 52-card deck (use one Joker — or substitute a Jack/unique card if Jokers are unavailable).

• One six-sided die (d6).

• A 5x5 grid play area (tabletop, mat, or improvised).

Setup

1. Shuffle the deck and select one Joker (the Killer).

2. Shuffle 25 random cards and place them face-down into a 5x5 grid.

3. Randomly replace one card in the grid with the Joker. Only the Informant knows the Joker’s location.

4. Choose one player to be the Informant for the round. All others are Vigilantes.

Turn Sequence (Investigators)

On their turn, an Investigator does the following:

1. Probe a card → Point to any face-down card in the grid.

2. Roll the die.

3. Informant responds → Reports the distance between the probed card and the Joker’s location, using Manhattan distance (rows + columns).

• Example: Joker at row 2, col 5. Investigator probes row 5, col 2 → true distance = 6 (3 rows + 3 columns).

4. The die determines how accurate the Informant’s answer must be:

• Roll 1 → Answer within ±1 of the true distance.

• Roll 2 → Within ±2.

• Roll 3 → Within ±3.

• Roll 4 → Within ±4.

• Roll 5 → Within ±5.

• Roll 6 → Within ±6.

5. The Informant has a fuzzy memory from a life of doing drugs, and may choose any number within that range, but the answer cannot be a negative number.

6. Players are allowed to keep a notepad where they record helpful information. They can even keep track of which cards cannot be the answer by using deduction.

Final Accusation

• Instead of probing, a Vigilante may shoot: pointing to the card they believe is the Killer Joker.

• If correct → that Vigilante scores 1 point.

• If wrong → their turn ends, and they cannot accuse again until after another Vigilante has made an accusation. The card they shot must be turned over.

End of Round

• A round ends when the Joker is shot and killed.

• The round’s Informant scores nothing.

• All other Vigilantes continue tracking their points.

• Rotate the Informant role clockwise for the next round.

Winning the Game

• Play until every player has been the Informant once.

• The Vigilante with the most total points is declared the winner.

Variants

Team Mode

• Split into two teams of Investigators. The team that finds the Joker gets the point.

Roles

• Informant → Knows the Joker’s location, but their clues are clouded by the die. Scores no points.

• Vigilante → Compete to be the first to kill the Joker.

• Killer Joker → The hidden card.

• Winner → The Vigilante with the most points after all players have been Informant.