Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Edition and player count: This entry covers Grey Fox Games' English base game Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, BGG 156129, using the publisher-hosted English base rulebook. The selected PDF has no revision number. It supports 4–12 players. For 4–5, use a Murderer, a Forensic Scientist, and Investigators; from 6–12, the Accomplice is optional, and the Witness is optional only when playing with the Accomplice. Other products are outside this base-game account.

Roles and setup: The base rules provide one Forensic Scientist, one Murderer, eight Investigators, and optional Accomplice and Witness roles. Each player receives four Clue cards and four Means cards, displayed face up in front of them. Roles are hidden except for the revealed Scientist, who returns their Clue and Means cards and uses Scene tiles. Every non-Scientist receives a badge for one formal solve attempt. By default, return the Event tiles to the box unless playing the Event variant. Face the card text and pictures toward the other players. Pictures are references only; use imagination based on the text, rather than treating the depicted artwork as the only possibility.

The Murderer's evidence and the Scientist: The Murderer secretly selects one of their visible Clue cards as the Key Evidence and one Means card as the Means of Murder. The Scientist knows both correct cards but cannot name them or explain clues through free speech. Instead, the Scientist uses Scene tiles and bullet markers, and answers yes or no when a player makes a formal solve attempt. If using the Accomplice and Witness, follow the rules' secret identification steps; the Witness knows both culprits' identities but not which is the Murderer or how the crime was committed. For secret confirmation, everyone closes their eyes; the Murderer and Accomplice open theirs while the Murderer indicates both cards to the Scientist. After acknowledgement they close their eyes. The Witness, if used, opens their eyes separately and is shown both culprits without identifying which is which, then closes their eyes before everyone wakes. The Accomplice therefore knows the solution as well.

Scene tiles and bullet clues: Set aside all Location of Crime tiles and Cause of Death, choose one Location, and display it with Cause of Death and four randomly drawn ordinary Scene tiles. Place one bullet marker per tile, on one listed option, until all six are down; a placed marker cannot be repositioned. Non-Scientists may discuss from the first marker onward, and the Scientist can listen before selecting later options, order and placement pace. The sixth marker ends first Evidence Collection. No spoken hints, extra gestures or eye signals may convey the answer; natural placement timing does not authorize arbitrary codes.

Three rounds of discussion: The investigation has three rounds. After each set of markers, non-Scientist players discuss the evidence and then make short presentations clockwise, beginning with the player to the Scientist's left; about 30 seconds each is a guideline. At the start of rounds two and three, the Scientist draws a new Scene tile to replace one non-fixed tile and moves its bullet marker to an option on the new tile. Cause of Death and Location of Crime remain in place. Interruptions are not allowed during presentations except for a formal solve attempt.

Formal solve attempts: Each player except the Scientist may use their badge once at any time in play, including interrupting a presentation, before the last player's presentation in round three ends. Point to one Clue card and one Means card in front of one other player; both must be the Murderer's selected cards. The Scientist answers only yes or no. A wrong answer costs the badge and the player cannot try again, but they continue discussing and presenting. A player who has not used the badge before the final presentation ends loses the opportunity. Both cards must be correct for a solve.

Winning and the Witness reversal: If a player correctly identifies both cards, the Scientist and Investigators normally win, while the Murderer and Accomplice lose. If the Witness is in play, after a correct solve the Murderer may confer with the Accomplice and guess who the Witness is. A correct guess kills the Witness and allows the criminals to escape; a wrong guess leaves the Investigators' victory in place. If nobody solves the crime by the end of the final third-round presentation, the Murderer side wins. The Scientist communicates through clues, not spoken hints. If all non-Scientists have already exhausted their solve opportunities through wrong guesses, the criminals win immediately without playing out three full rounds.

Boxed variants: By default Event tiles stay out. To use them, shuffle them into the remaining Scene deck after the first Evidence Collection; when one appears in round two or three, read its instructions aloud and follow them. Reading a rule instruction does not permit free spoken clues from the Scientist. For an easier investigation, deal three Means and three Clue cards each; for a harder one, deal five of each. The complete two-card solution, one formal attempt per non-Scientist and Witness reversal remain unchanged.

Communication and participation: Do not interrupt or disturb a presentation except to announce a formal solve attempt. During Evidence Collection, players can ask one another questions, but answering is optional. The Scientist may run secret setup, progress the procedure and read required Event instructions, but investigation hints come only from bullet choices on Scene tiles and yes/no responses to formal guesses, with no extra spoken, gestural or eye signals. A spent badge removes only the formal-guess opportunity: that player still discusses and presents rather than being eliminated.