Card CommonsCard Commons

Goal

Name the criminal and the accomplice. Right on both scores 1 point for each card still in the deck.

Cards

Use the Aces to 9s, the Jacks, and the Kings of a standard deck, 44 cards. The 10s, the Queens, and the Jokers aren’t used. Each suit is a suspect: Spades (♠), Clubs (♣), Hearts (♥), and Diamonds (♦). Ace, 2, and 3 answer question 1, 4, 5, and 6 question 2, and 7, 8, and 9 question 3. The Jacks and Kings only make the solution cards.

Setup

The app does this for you: every game starts with the two solution cards and the deck of 12 in place. To set up a real deck, follow these steps. Sort the cards face up in step 1. From step 2 on, keep every pile face down. “Top” and “bottom” mean the top and bottom of a pile as it lies on the table. “Set aside” means keep the card, face down, for the game. “Into the box” means out of the game, unseen.

1. Sort. Take the Aces to 9s, the Jacks, and the Kings, 44 cards, and sort them face up by rank into 11 piles of 4. Put every pile in the same suit order, ♠ at the bottom, then ♣, ♥, and ♦ on top. Any order works if every pile uses the same one. Then turn each pile over as a whole, so it lies face down with ♠ on top and ♦ at the bottom. Keep the piles in a row in rank order, Ace to 9, then the Jacks, then the Kings, so you can tell them apart face down.

2. Mix the answers. Shuffle the Ace, 2, and 3 piles among each other as whole piles, face down, without changing the order inside any pile, until you forget which is which. Stack them into one pile of 12. Do the same with the 4, 5, and 6 piles, and with the 7, 8, and 9 piles. Then do the same with the three piles of 12, for one pile of 36.

3. Add the Jacks and Kings. Put the Jacks pile on top of the 36, then the Kings pile on top of the Jacks. From now on, never look at the face of a card.

4. Deal four piles. Deal the 44 cards one at a time from the top of the stack into 4 piles, as if dealing to 4 players: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, and so on, 11 each. Put each card on top of its pile, so the first card dealt to a pile is its bottom card. Shuffle the 4 piles among each other as whole piles until you forget which is which, then lay them in a row. The leftmost is pile 1, then piles 2, 3, and 4.

5. Take the solution cards. Every pile now has its King at the bottom and its Jack just above it. From pile 1, set aside the King and put the Jack into the box. From pile 2, put the King into the box and set aside the Jack. The 2 cards set aside are the solution cards. Leave piles 3 and 4 as they are.

6. Start the deck. From pile 3, take the 1st, 4th, and 7th cards from the top all at once (spread the pile in a ribbon and pull them out together, so the count doesn’t change as you go), and set them aside in a new place: the deck. Put the rest of pile 3 into the box. Do the same with pile 4. From pile 2, take the 1st and 4th cards from the top and its bottom card the same way into the deck, and put the rest into the box.

7. Finish the deck from pile 1. Split pile 1 into 3 mini-piles, keeping the order inside each: its cards 1 to 3, 4 to 6, and 7 to 9 from the top. Shuffle the mini-piles among each other as whole piles until you forget which is which. Then lay them in a row and call them the first, second, and third, left to right. Put the top card of the first, the middle card of the second, and the bottom card of the third into the deck, and the other 6 cards into the box.

8. Shuffle the deck. Outside the box you now have the 2 solution cards and a deck of 12. Shuffle the deck. Nothing in the box comes back.

These steps are our simpler version of the setup by the game’s designer, etc_. They give exactly the same result: every possible crime is exactly as likely as with the designer’s own steps, below.

Designer’s original setup

1. Sort. Take the Aces to 9s, the Jacks, and the Kings, 44 cards, and sort them face up by rank into 11 piles of 4. Put every pile in the same suit order, ♠ at the bottom, then ♣, ♥, and ♦ on top. Any order works if every pile uses the same one. Then turn each pile over as a whole, so it lies face down with ♠ on top and ♦ at the bottom. Keep the piles in a row in rank order, Ace to 9, then the Jacks, then the Kings, so you can tell them apart face down.
2. Mix the answers. Shuffle the Ace, 2, and 3 piles among each other as whole piles, face down, without changing the order inside any pile, until you forget which is which. Stack them into one pile of 12. Do the same with the 4, 5, and 6 piles, and with the 7, 8, and 9 piles. Then do the same with the three piles of 12, for one pile of 36.
3. Add the Jacks and Kings. Put the Jacks pile on top of the 36, then the Kings pile on top of the Jacks. From now on, never look at the face of a card.
4. Deal four piles. Deal the 44 cards one at a time from the top of the stack into 4 piles, as if dealing to 4 players: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, and so on, 11 each. Put each card on top of its pile, so the first card dealt to a pile is its bottom card. Shuffle the 4 piles among each other as whole piles until you forget which is which, then lay them in a row. The leftmost is pile 1, then piles 2, 3, and 4.
5. Take the solution cards. Set aside the bottom card of pile 1, and put the bottom card of piles 2, 3, and 4 into the box. Then set aside the bottom card of pile 2, and put the bottom card of piles 1, 3, and 4 into the box. The 2 cards set aside are the solution cards.
6. Start the deck. From pile 3, take the 1st, 4th, and 7th cards from the top all at once (spread the pile in a ribbon and pull them out together, so the count does not change as you go), and set them aside in a new place: the deck. Put the rest of pile 3 into the box. Do the same with pile 4. From pile 2, take the 1st, 4th, and 8th cards the same way into the deck, and put the rest into the box.
7. Finish the deck from pile 1. Split pile 1 into 3 mini-piles, keeping the order inside each: its cards 1 to 3, 4 to 6, and 7 to 9 from the top. Shuffle the mini-piles among each other as whole piles until you forget which is which. Then lay them in a row and call them the first, second, and third, left to right. From the first, put its top card into the deck and the other 2 into the box. From the second, put its top card into the box, shuffle the other 2 together, and put one into the deck and the other into the box. Do the same with the third.
8. Shuffle the deck. Outside the box you now have the 2 solution cards and a deck of 12. Shuffle the deck. Nothing in the box comes back.

Play

1. The crime. There are four suspects: one criminal, one accomplice, and two innocents.
2. The questions. Each question has one true answer, the same for everyone.
3. Who lies. The criminal lies on 2 questions, the accomplice on 1, and the innocents never do.
4. The cards. The suit is who answered, and the rank is the answer, which also tells you the question: the 7♦ means Diamonds answered 7 to question 3.
5. Draw. Turn over the deck one card at a time. Each card is filed into the table.
6. Accuse. Name the criminal and the accomplice at any time, even before the first draw.

Scoring

1. Turn over the solution cards.
2. The King’s suit is the criminal, and the Jack’s is the accomplice.
3. Both right scores 1 point for each card still in the deck, from 0 to 12. Either one wrong is a loss.