About Kill Doctor Lucky
Kill Doctor Lucky is the first Cheapass Game, designed by James Ernest and sold in a laser-printed envelope in 1996. It is a “pre-mystery”: instead of solving a murder, everyone at the table is trying to commit one. You all want old Doctor Lucky dead, nobody knows the others feel the same, and the old man has an uncanny knack for slipping out of harm’s way. The game won the Origins Award for Best Abstract Board Game in 1997.
This free print-and-play is the mostly original version. The package from Crab Fragment Labs, James Ernest’s company, holds the 1997 board, the rulebook from the sixth printing (2000) and the cards from the 2002 Director’s Cut. The publisher points out that these are not the rules of the current Anniversary Edition. It suits groups of 3 to 7 who enjoy bluffing and ganging up on whoever is closest to winning; the publisher gives about an hour per game.
How to play in one minute
- Everyone starts in the Drawing Room with six cards. Cards are Rooms, Move cards, Weapons and Failures, and Doctor Lucky starts in the room of the first Room card dealt.
- On your turn, either snoop (move one room and draw a card if you stop in a named room) or act: move with your step plus any Move and Room cards, then try a murder.
- To attempt a murder you must be alone with Doctor Lucky and out of sight of every other player. A bare attempt is worth 1; a Weapon card sets its value.
- Going around the table, each other player may play Failure cards (worth 1 to 3 points each) to cancel the attempt. Played Failures leave the game for good.
- Doctor Lucky moves room to room between turns, and whoever he walks in on takes the next turn. The first player whose attempt is not foiled wins.
What’s in the PDF
- A ZIP of five PDFs: the board (one 17 x 22 inch page in 8 sections; print it large or tile it across Letter sheets), 96 cards on 6 Letter pages with crop marks, a page of card backs, the fold-in-half rules sheet and the 1999 envelope art.
- A one-page read-me with printing instructions. Everything is black and white.
- An optional alternate second board from the Director’s Cut, as a separate PDF.
- You add a pawn for each player and one for Doctor Lucky.
In the PDF
- Game board, 17 x 22 in (1 large page, print on a large-format printer or tile it)
- 96 cards (6 Letter pages) and a page of card backs
- Rules (1 double-sided Letter page that folds into a booklet)
- Original envelope cover art and a read-me with printing notes
