Objective:  Be the first player (or team) to correctly identify the murderer, the motive, and the murder weapon by strategically using deduction and the information provided on the cards.

Components:

• Game board depicting the Walton mansion layout (including rooms and connecting hallways)

• Character cards with information about the suspects and the victim (Mr. Walton)

• Location cards representing various rooms in the mansion

• Clue cards revealing details about the suspects, their motives, and the murder weapon

• Solution envelope containing the correct answers (keep this sealed until someone solves the mystery)

• Tokens or pawns (optional, for marking locations of suspects on the game board)
  

Setup:

1. Place the Game Board:  Unfold the game board in the center of the playing area and lay it flat.

2. Character Cards: Shuffle the character cards face down and place them within reach of all players. Each player draws one card and keeps it hidden, representing the suspect they will be secretly investigating throughout the game.

3. Location Cards: Shuffle the location cards face down and place them in a separate draw pile.

4. Clue Cards: Shuffle the clue cards face down and place them in another separate draw pile.

5. Solution Envelope: Place the sealed solution envelope somewhere out of reach of players, to be opened only after someone solves the mystery.
   

Gameplay:

The game is played in turns. Here's what happens on each turn:

• Starting Player: Decide who goes first, you can play a quick round of another game, flip a coin, or simply agree on who starts.

• Taking a Turn: On your turn, you have two main actions:

  • Ask a Question: You can ask a question about two different elements related to the suspects, the motive, or the murder weapon.  For example, you could ask "Does the murderer have brown hair AND live on the east side of town?"

  • Draw Clue Cards: If you choose not to ask a question, or if nobody has the information to answer your question definitively, you can draw three clue cards from the deck and add them to your hand. These clue cards might reveal information about suspects, motives, or the murder weapon, helping you narrow down the possibilities.

• Responding to Questions: Other players listen to your question and must answer truthfully based on the information on the cards in their hand (including their secret character card).

  • Certain Knowledge: If a player has a card that definitively proves or disproves your question (e.g., "Ms. Rose has blonde hair" for a question about hair color), they must reveal that information.

  • Limited Knowledge: If a player has some information related to your question but it doesn't definitively answer it (e.g., "Mr. Green lives somewhere other than the east side of town"), they can choose to reveal that information or keep it hidden.

  • No Knowledge: If no player has any information relevant to your question, you simply move on without drawing clue cards.

• Making an Accusation: At any point during your turn, after gathering information through questions and clue cards, you can choose to make an accusation. To make an accusation, you must declare the murderer, the motive, and the murder weapon.

• Verifying the Accusation: If you make an accusation, open the solution envelope and check if your answer matches the correct solution.

  • Correct Answer: If your accusation is entirely correct (murderer, motive, and weapon), you win the game!

  • Incorrect Answer: If any part of your accusation is wrong, your accusation is disproven, and your turn ends. The game continues with the next player in turn order.
    

Additional Notes:

• Awkward Guests uses a "Brilliant Deck System" where all the cards within a specific case (e.g., The Walton Case) are interconnected. This means that if a clue card eliminates a suspect from having the murder weapon, all other clue cards related to that suspect and the weapon will also be irrelevant.

• The game can be played competitively (each player trying to solve the mystery first) or cooperatively (players work together to share information and solve the case).

• Some versions of the game might include additional components like suspect tokens or a scoring system for points based on asking good questions and drawing informative clue cards.