Awkward Guests: The Walton Case

Introduction

It is night time, and you and your fellow investigators have been summoned to the Walton Mansion after receiving an urgent call. Once there, the housekeeper announces the reason for such an unexpected meeting: Mr. Walton has been found dead in his Study!

Woodruff Walton had one of the greatest fortunes in the nation. It’s likely that his remarkable business instincts and his unscrupulous nature were the key factors behind his achievements. Money gave him power, and as we know, money can turn people into selfish, tyrannical and miserable beings. This wasn’t Walton’s case; he had been a jerk long before acquiring his high status. To top it all off, he had a dark sense of humor and a pathological love for cruel jokes. As you can now imagine, Mr. Walton didn’t have as many friends as he did enemies.

Left behind on his desk was a letter…

If you are reading this note, it is because tonight…

I have been murdered!!!

For the last two weeks, someone has been trying to put an end to my life. I know many people with ample reason to want to kill me, but there are only seven stupid enough to carry it through: my old and mediocre university classmate, Stanley Smithe; my slow-witted nephew, Mortimer W. Mollow; my late associate’s despicable daughters, Beatrice and Berenice Berwick; my incompetent bodyguard, Greg Gaffney; my former housemaid, now a renowned medium, Claudette Cazelar; and, of course, my unbearable “friend” Angelica Albinson.

I decided to gather them tonight in my mansion to unmask whomever has been behind it all.

Unfortunately, something must have gone terribly wrong. My father always warned me that people who wish you dead make for

AWKWARD GUESTS

Now, stop wasting time and find my murderer!

Woodruff Walton

Game Description

AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case is an innovative card game of mystery and investigation where each game recreates the night Mr. Walton was murdered.

It offers a possible total of 3,600 different case solutions, each of which may be reached through thousands of different card combinations. This means that millions of different game decks can be generated, so… you won’t ever play two similar games! What’s more, its engaging BRILLIANT DECK SYSTEM will actively involve you in the investigations, allowing you to use genuine detective abilities to solve each case.

Will you be the first to solve the mystery?

• WHO killed Mr. Walton?
• WHY did they kill him?
• HOW did they put an end to his life?
• Was there an ACCOMPLICE?

To solve the mystery, you must interrogate the suspects, question the household staff about the incident, examine the Crime Scene, search for clues around the Walton Mansion, consult the police reports… You will do all of this while exchanging information with your opponents or hiding it from them. Get ready to use all your gumshoe skills!

Game Contents

The AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case game box contains:

• 243 game cards.
• 1 discard pile drawer.
• 1 “Classified Information” card.
• 1 notebook with tracking sheets.
• 1 starting player standee of the infamous Mr. Walton.
• 8 case solving tokens.
• 8 player screens.
• 12 offer tokens.
• 4 inquiry tokens.
• 6 suspect profile cards.
• 1 rulebook.

(*) solo mode requires AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case App (not included). Available on Android and iOS.

Card Anatomy

• Information Value: It represents the amount of valuable information the card contains and it ranges from 1 to 3.
• Card References: They refer to the suspects or the rooms in the Walton Mansion that the card information is related to.
• Card Information: This space contains the case-related card information, along with how to jot it down in the tracking sheet.
• Card Number: Located on the back, it identifies each card.

Game Objective

Investigate clues and exchange information with your opponents to be the first player to solve the mystery of Woodruff Walton’s murder. The solution must correctly answer these four questions:

1. WHO killed Mr. Walton?
2. WHY did he/she kill him?
3. HOW did he/she put an end to his life?
4. Was there an ACCOMPLICE? and, if so, WHO and WHY?

How to Use the Tracking Sheet

This is the AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case tracking sheet. It’s where the information discovered during the game is written down. It is designed to provide quick and easy access to the information at all times.

The Suspects and their motives

This area is reserved for everything related to Mr. Walton’s guests and their possible motives for killing him.

• Guest name: Identifies each of the 6 suspects.
• Possible motives: These are the guest’s possible motives for killing Mr. Walton. Next to each personal motive is the general motive type icon it belongs to.
• Testimony and Evidence: Check these boxes when you find testimonies () or evidence () that supports that specific motive.
• Dismissed motives: If a motive is dismissed by the information in one of the game cards, cross out its box.

Walton Mansion

The Walton Mansion area is used to keep track of where the suspects say they were at the time of the murder and also the rooms through which they could have moved.

• Initial Rooms: These are the rooms that the guests can claim to have been in at the time of the murder.
• Number of People: This box is used to write down the number of people that were in the room at the time of the murder. The housekeeper provides this information.
• Crime Scene: This is the room (Study) where Mr. Walton was murdered.
• Routes: These arrows represent the possible routes guests could take between rooms.
• Possible Murder Weapons: These are the possible murder weapons found in each room.

Possible Weapons

Lastly, the Possible weapons area is a list of weapons that the murderer could have used.

• Weapon Type and Name: Organized by category (Blunt weapons, Firearms, Bladed weapons, Poisons, Suffocating weapons).
• Location: Room where each weapon is located.
• Signs: Signs the weapon leaves behind in the Crime Scene when used (e.g. “defensive wounds” and “traces of a dark powder”). The legend shows all possible signs left behind by weapons in the crime scene.
• Dismissing Weapons: Box to cross out when a weapon is dismissed.

Game Setup

1. Give every player a tracking sheet and a screen. Each player chooses a case solving token. Place the offer tokens and inquiry tokens in the center of the table within everyone’s reach.
2. Choose a case from the end of this rulebook or from the AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case App. Make a note of the case reference number: this is necessary for referencing the solution.
3. WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE CARD FRONTS, separate the 70 cards specified by the case according to the unique card number on their backs. These cards make up the game deck and will provide a unique solution to the questions that must be answered to solve the case. Return the remaining cards to the game box.
4. Shuffle the game deck and deal 6 cards to each player.
5. Place the remaining cards in the center of the table within everyone’s reach. Place the discard drawer next to the deck for discarded cards with the “Classified Information” card on top. Leave space for a revealed card pile. At the beginning of the game the revealed card pile is empty.
6. The starting player of the first round will be the player considered by the host as the most awkward guest. Place the starting player standee in front of their player screen.

Turn Order and Overview

AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case is played over several rounds, with each player taking a turn during the round and continuing on in an anti-clockwise fashion. Each round starts with the starting player of that round.

Each player’s turn is divided into 3 phases:

1. Inquiry Phase
2. Offer Phase
3. Exchange Phase

At the end of each round, the following phases take place:

1. Solution Phase
2. and, if the game continues, the Discard Phase

1. Inquiry Phase

The active player must request information out loud regarding 2 different references.

Possible references are:

• Mr. Walton’s guests: Angelica Albinson, Claudette Cazelar, the Berwick Sisters, Stanley Smithe, Greg Gaffney, and Mortimer W. Mollow.
• The rooms in the mansion: the Billiard Room, the Library, the Vestibule, the Living Room, the Trophy Room, the Garage, the Bedroom, the Kitchen, the Shed, and the Study that is the Crime Scene.

A player can therefore request information regarding 2 suspects, 2 rooms, or 1 suspect and 1 room.

The active player can use inquiry tokens and the back of this rulebook to pinpoint the references about which they are requesting information.

2. Offer Phase

Starting with the player sitting to the right of the active player, and following an anti-clockwise order, the non-active players CHOOSE from their hands the cards they would like to offer in exchange.

• The players can offer as many of their cards as they please provided that each card contains at least one of the requested references.
• It is NOT ALLOWED to offer cards that do not contain any of the requested references.
• Each non-active player places the cards they would like to exchange face down on the table. They then inform the other players of the sum total of the information values of their cards and place an offer token on top with that number.
• Once declared, the decisions are final and cannot be modified.

EXAMPLE: It’s Pendergast’s turn, and he has requested information regarding the Berwick Sisters and the Living Room.

Mrs. Marple checks her hand. If Mrs. Marple wants, she could offer Pendergast any combination of the cards A, C, D and E. Let’s suppose that Mrs. Marple decides to offer cards A, C and E and keeps D for herself. She therefore places the chosen cards face down on the table and declares that the total sum of their information values is 4. She then places an offer token of value 4 on top of the cards.

3. Exchange Phase

Once all non-active players have made their offers, the active player decides with whom to exchange cards:

• They MAY EXCHANGE CARDS WITH AS MANY PLAYERS AS THEY PLEASE.
• The active player must give each chosen player cards from their hand (regardless of their references) that sum up to a total amount of information points EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN the amount that was offered.
• Exchanges are always for the TOTAL information points offered. It is NOT ALLOWED to negotiate for a fraction of the amount.
• Exchanges are done all at once and players add the cards received to their hands. Once all exchanges have been completed, it will be the next player’s turn.
• If, and only if, NONE of the players offer cards to exchange: the active player may draw 3 cards from the game deck (if the deck runs out, see section What to do when the game deck runs out) and the turn passes on to the next player.

EXAMPLE (continued): Pendergast has decided to exchange cards with Mrs. Marple. To make the exchange, Pendergast must give Mrs. Marple any combination of cards (regardless of their reference) with values that sum up to 4 or more. Considering his hand, among other options he could give her cards G and K; I and J; G, H and I… If he felt generous or found a purpose to it, he could even give her cards J and K.

It is only at the end of the round (when all players have played an Inquiry Phase) that players have the chance to solve the mystery in the Solution Phase.

End of Round Phases

Solution Phase

All players take their case solving token. They must decide if they want to place the token on the table showing its bright side to solve the mystery or the dark side to continue with the investigation. Once they have made up their mind, they will secretly place the token on the table, covering the result with their hand.

When all players are ready, the tokens are revealed. The players that chose to solve the mystery must then write in their tracking sheet:

• Who killed Mr. Walton,
• their motive to do so,
• and the weapon used.
• If they believe that there was an accomplice, they must also write the name of the accomplice and their motive for aiding and abetting.

Remember that in the “Beginner”, “Very easy”, and “Easy” difficulty cases there is NEVER an ACCOMPLICE.

After this, one by one, the players that decided to solve the case check the solution in the SOLUTIONS section of this rulebook.

• These players MUST NOT REVEAL THEIR GUESS OR THE SOLUTION.
• If any player guesses ALL the crime details (murderer, motive, weapon, accomplice and their motive, if any) correctly, the game ends and they are proclaimed winners.
• If none of the players guess correctly, the players that tried to solve the mystery are eliminated from the game and their cards are revealed to the rest of the players. After being publicly examined, the cards are placed FACE UP in the revealed card pile.
• A new Solution Phase starts. When none of the players want to guess the solution, the game continues. If only one player is left in the game, the game ends.

If you use the AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case App: Players may check their solution in the app. When a player guesses correctly, they win the game. But when they don’t, they are not eliminated from the game (the app does not show the solution). As a penalty, they are NOT allowed to participate in the Solution Phase of the next round.

Discard Phase

If the game continues, a Discard Phase takes place:

1. All players still in the game must discard cards from their hands until their hands are each down to 3 cards. Discarded cards are placed FACE DOWN in the discard pile drawer, under the “Classified Information” card.
2. The starting player then passes the Mr. Walton standee to the player on their right.
3. The new starting player is now responsible for dealing cards, one by one, to all players still in the game. They deal out as many cards from the game deck as necessary until all players replenish their hands back to 6 cards (if the game deck runs out, see section What to do when the game deck runs out).
4. Once this has been done, a new round starts.

What to do when the game deck runs out

When the game deck runs out:

1. Take the discard pile (all the cards under the “Classified Information” card) and shuffle the cards well.
2. Place the top 3 cards FACE UP on the table, revealing their information. After being publicly examined, they are placed in the revealed card pile. In this way, all the detectives still in the game receive additional information.
3. The rest of the shuffled cards are placed where the previous deck was, becoming the new game deck.

Game Card Types and How to Use the Tracking Sheet

Let’s take a close look at the cards you’ll find in AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case and how to jot down their information on your tracking sheet.

Alibi Cards

These cards provide information regarding the suspects’ alibis.

• The suspects can only declare to have been in one of these four rooms at the time of the murder: Billiard Room, Vestibule, Living Room, or Library.
• The room where the MURDERER claims to have been at the time of the murder is the room they were originally in. From there, they left in search of the murder weapon and then headed to the Study to kill Mr. Walton.
• The murderer will try to come up with plausible alibis. For example, if they assert that they were in the Library at the time of the murder, they will declare that they were either alone or accompanied by other suspects that were truly in the Library at that time.
• If a suspect claims to have been with another suspect at the time of the murder and vice versa, either neither of them is the MURDERER or they are the MURDERER and the ACCOMPLICE.
• Although the BERWICK SISTERS count as 2 guests, they move and act as 1.

Motive Cards

These cards either dismiss or provide supporting evidence regarding the motives behind Mr. Walton’s murder.

• These are the character’s three possible motives. If you dismiss all three motives of a suspect, the suspect is INNOCENT.
• If the police dismiss a motive, this does NOT mean that whoever exposed the motive was lying. It means that the motive did indeed exist, but it was not the reason for the murder.
• There are ALWAYS 2 testimonies and 1 piece of supporting evidence of the crime motive. But be careful! There are motives with 2 testimonies and 1 piece of supporting evidence that turn out not to be the crime motive.

Opportunity Cards

These cards provide information regarding the suspects that were capable of carrying out the crime.

• If a suspect could not access the Study (the Crime Scene) because there are no possible routes connecting them to the Study, then the suspect is NOT the murderer.
• The MURDERER ALWAYS had access to the room where the murder weapon was.
• These cards can connect the murderer with the Walton Mansion rooms:
  • If one of the suspects named in this card is the MURDERER, then he or she passed through the named room on their way to the Study.
  • If the room named in this card is the location of the crime weapon, then one of the named suspects is the murderer.
  • Otherwise, this card has no useful information.
• The MURDERER could have crossed occupied rooms on their way to the Study (the Crime Scene) and even grabbed the murder weapon from one of them.

Method Cards

These cards provide information regarding the murder weapon.

• Each weapon leaves behind two signs, and not observing one of them is enough to dismiss it as the crime weapon.
• The cards that dismiss the most weapons are those with the reference of Study (the Crime Scene).

Conspiracy Cards

These cards provide information regarding the suspects that could act as accomplices.

• If there is an ACCOMPLICE in the game, the service staff will ALWAYS find them conspiring. But BE CAREFUL! There are guests conspiring that were NOT the ACCOMPLICE.
• The ACCOMPLICE only helps the murderer by providing an alibi for them. They will both declare to have been in the same room at the time of the murder. The ACCOMPLICE will NOT lie regarding the room they were in at the time of the murder.
• The ACCOMPLICE will NOT expose the MURDERER’s motives and vice versa.
• In the “Beginner”, “Very easy” and “Easy” difficulty cases there is NEVER an ACCOMPLICE. In the rest of the difficulty levels, there might or might not be an ACCOMPLICE.

Two-Player Game Variant

A 2 player game of AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case is played the same way as the 3-8 player game with the following changes:

• Inquiries: When making inquiries, you must request information regarding 4 different references instead of 2. A player can therefore request information regarding 4 suspects, 3 suspects and 1 room, 2 suspects and 2 rooms, 1 suspect and 3 rooms, or 4 rooms.
• Exchanges: In the Exchange Phase, cards received in an exchange are not placed in players’ hands. Both players look at the cards they received, make any notes they wish on their tracking sheet, then immediately discard those cards.
• No offers: Only in cases where the active player doesn’t receive an offer, they draw 2 cards from the game deck, make any notes they wish on their tracking sheet, then immediately discard those two cards.

Solo Mode Game

To enjoy the solo mode of AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case you will need its mobile app, available on Android and iOS. On launching the app, choose ‘Solo Mode Game’. The app will explain how to play the solo variant.

Advice

AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case is a game of logic and association. If you use your deductive skills, you will be able to extract more information from the cards as a whole than if you focus on them individually.

• The police, the coroner, the housekeeper and the rest of the Walton Mansion service staff DO NOT LIE.
• Pay attention to the innocent guests. They are still awkward, but they DO NOT LIE regarding who they were with at the time of the murder.
• Be organized and accurate when jotting down the information you receive on the tracking sheets. A misplaced piece of information could ruin the investigation.
• In order to increase your chances of exchanging information with your adversaries, try to keep cards in your hand with different values and references.
• Don’t hesitate to exchange information at the beginning of a game. As the game progresses and you have well-founded suspicion regarding a suspect, selectively hide the information you find most critical from your adversaries. In any case, do not stop exchanging cards with them or it will be impossible to solve the murder before anyone else.
• If you always return the same information that was exchanged with you, your adversaries will lose interest in exchanging information with you in the future. Try to find a balance of what cards to exchange.
• If you are lost trying to determine the murder weapon used, request information regarding the Study, that is the Crime Scene, and carefully consider the possible routes taken by the guests in the Walton Mansion.
• If you run out of tracking sheets or need some in a bigger size, drop by www.awkwardguests.com to download them for free.

Investigation Example

Mr. Wang has collected the following information during his investigation:

• As we can see, Claudette Cazelar claims to have been in the Library at the time of the murder. We also know that if she were the murderer, she must have been able to walk to the Study from the Library. However, the information provided by Mr. Walton’s selfless service staff dismisses such a possibility. There is no doubt that Madame Cazelar is innocent.
• On the other hand, Mr. Wang has heard that Angelica Albinson claims to have been in the Living Room at the time of the murder. With this information in hand, the only possible routes connecting the suspect to the Study are those that have been drawn by the canny investigator.
• At the time being, he cannot dismiss Ms. Albinson as the murderer. However, he has discovered the murder weapons she could have possibly used (the ones in the rooms she could have entered: the Blunderbuss, Rat Poison, Letter Opener, Pillow or Leather Strap). If all of the weapons in the Living Room, Kitchen, Bedroom and the Garage were dismissed, Ms. Albinson would also be dismissed as a suspect.
• Mr. Wang has decided to request information regarding the Billiard Room and the Vestibule in his next Inquiry Phase. If any other guests claim to have been in these rooms at the time of the murder, this would immediately confirm their innocence.

Cases

AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case comes with 39 predesigned cases classified in 7 levels of difficulty on a scale from “Beginner” to “Perfect Crime”. If this is the first time you play AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case, start off with a case in the ”Beginner” difficulty level and play several additional cases in this category before advancing to the next one.

For more cases, download the AWKWARD GUESTS: The Walton Case App for Android and iOS.

Credits

Version 31 (September 2021)
Original Game by MEGACORPIN GAMES

• Game Design: Rodrigo Gonzalo
• Art & Graphic Design: Samuel Gonzalo, Laura Medina
• Game Development & Testing: Javier Mayans
• App by MATERIA WORKS: Diego Aguado, Alejandro García, Kevin McLeod (incompetech)
• Made in Poland by: FABRYKA KART
• English Translation: Cristóbal Morales Capita
• English revision: Emily Gendrolis, Jim Berry, Glenn Wigmore, Tom Walker, David Lockard

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our 758 backers who funded the game in 2016 because the investigation would have never begun without them.