To Solve the Case: Find four clues and confront the Criminal to win. If Time or your Stamina runs out, the heiress is murdered and you lose the game and the Case.

Needed to Play:
The deck of 36 cards
4 YELLOW Investigate Dice
1 RED Paperboy Die
1 GRAY Underworld Connection Die
8 wooden cubes

Game Phases:
1. Storyline - Move the cube on the Time card down one hour and draw the top 3 cards of the Investigate deck. Do not look at their front sides. Choose 1 and place it face up in front of you (this is the current Storyline card); a 2nd card is placed on the discard pile face down; the last card is randomly placed back in the draw deck. Each Investigate card will display a letter designating the type of card - I for Informants, C for Cliffhangers and F for Follow a Lead.

2. Investigate - Check the time remaining in the game and locate the 3 numbered circles at the bottom left of the Storyline card. On the Storyline card, look at the circle in a row with a number closest to, but greater than, the hour marked currently on the Time card. This is the row of icons you must match by rolling your Investigate dice. You may only use the YELLOW Investigate dice to match the Storyline icons, unless you have certain Items that allow you to use the RED and GRAY dice, Twist icons, or your detective’s Special Action.

The Hunch - Roll each YELLOW Investigate die, one at a time, as dictated by your Stamina. You may also roll the RED and/or GRAY dice, if you have them. You may choose any of the dice to roll next and/or when to apply any rerolls. Each die shows four icons and each repeats two pairs of those icons, as designated by a *. Choosing which dice to roll and when depends on your detective instincts. Each die is different. If you need to roll a 5th or 6th YELLOW die, choose one of your current dice, noting its current face, and roll it again.

You may subtract an hour of time if your Stamina level is at 1 or 2 to roll an additional YELLOW die. This die may be rolled during the Investigate phase and is lost once the phase has ended.

You may use matching Twist icons, if you have them, in addition to the dice, by removing their marking cubes on the Criminal card.

If you can match the Storyline icons, you gain the reward shown in the white area in that row. If you cannot match the icons, you must lose Stamina, Time or your currently held Item, as shown in the brown area in that row.

If you have failed in your investigation, you may choose one icon from the YELLOW die faces shown and mark this in the Twist section on the Criminal card with a cube. You may save a maximum of 4 Twist icons in this manner.

3. Confront the Criminal - When the 4th clue is found, draw the top card on the Investigate deck and match the die icon shown to those of the 4 criminals on the Criminal card to discover who you must confront to save the heiress. The row of icons shown for this Criminal must be matched by rolling Investigate dice as listed by your current Stamina. You may only use the icons on the YELLOW Investigate dice to match the Criminal icons, unless you have certain Items which allow you to roll the RED and GRAY dice, saved Twist icons, or your detective’s Special Action. You may reroll a YELLOW Investigate die of your choice for every 2 hours of Time remaining in the game, rounding down. Match the icons, solve the Case, and win the game!

—description from the publisher

The Cats of Ulthar Card Game