Smoking Gun

Race to unravel the truth — and outwit everyone else. In Smoking Gun, every clue, theory, and bluff can turn the tide.

• Bluff, debate, and accuse — turn conversations into crime-scene drama.
• 1,200+ mystery combinations — replay again and again without repetition.
• Push your luck: plant red herrings, question motives, or expose the killer in style.

As a junior detective on this high-profile case, you’re racing rivals to solve it first. Search the manor, question suspects, study the victim, and piece together clues to reveal the weapon, scene, motive, and killer.

It’s a contest of logic and misdirection, where every claim is a gamble and any clue could be bait. Follow the leads. Build your case. Reveal the Smoking Gun!

Here’s what you know about the suspects—and the victim.

A Shared Case Board

The Shared Case Board is Smoking Gun’s spotlight—where players reveal theories, bluff boldly, and push the investigation in their favor. Each card builds suspense as rivals wonder: evidence or deception?

Prompts help every player become a confident storyteller, and tension spikes as verified evidence stack up. Then comes the final twist—someone unveils all four truths (who, how, where, and why) and drops this Smoking Gun, ending the case in dramatic fashion.

Blending deduction, misdirection, and narrative flair, Smoking Gun lets players feel the thrill, pressure, and satisfaction of cracking a realistic murder case.

Cards Guide. You Decide.

In Smoking Gun, stating your case isn't just an action—it is a performance. Inspired by the storytelling mechanics of the highly acclaimed Smalltown Tales, Smoking Gun gives players the tools to craft bold, dramatic stories with just the right mix of logic and flair.

Knowing that Mrs. Gelp was murdered in the Greenhouse by electrocution, how would you use the cards above to cast suspicion on Mr. Gelp?

Built for sleuthful storytelling, Smoking Gun lets you craft bold accusations through deduction, creativity, and smart use of Suspect and Plot cards—each offering guidance for clever theories, twists, and memorable reveals.

Red Herrings: Bluff & Misdirect

The real fun starts when you’re no longer sure what to believe. Players plant doubt, bluff with confidence, and slip fake “evidence” into the case—sparking suspicion, laughter, and sudden twists. It’s the moment you feel clever, devious, and one step ahead… or realize someone else just outplayed you.

Special Abilities

Each player gets a one-time Special Ability with two narrative ways to activate it, adding strategic choice, replayability, and thematic storytelling to your case.

• Story-Driven Power — Trigger your ability through one of two murder narrative prompts.
• Meaningful Decisions — Choose the option that best supports your theory.
• Story + Deduction — Abilities strengthen the core experience of weaving evidence into a compelling case.

Endless Replayability

Every game begins with a new configuration of hidden clues, motives, and suspect connections—there are over 1,200 unique murder plots and thousands of randomized combinations, so memorization is useless and stacking the deck is impossible. What matters is how you interpret the evidence—and how convincingly you spin it.

The game ends when any one of the following occurs:

• A full round is completed after the last Suspect or Plot card is drawn.
• A player states a Smoking Gun case (contains all 4 Verified Evidence types).

At the end of the game, the player with the most Credibility points wins. Credibility points come from one source:

• Card Points – Sum the points from all cards in your personal discard pile (those replaced when stating your case).
• Tiebreaker: The player with the most cards in their discard pile wins.

Elegant Solo Mode

In the Solo Version of Smoking Gun, you are the lone junior detective assigned to a murder at Gelp Manor. Your opponent is the Lead Detective—represented by the Plot Deck and a single Lead Detective Rule Card. The Lead Detective applies pressure, muddies clues, and advances the investigation with each Plot card you draw.

This solo variatant:

• Uses all existing components: Suspect Cards, Plot Cards, Location Mats, Clue Cards, sliders, markers, Red Herring, Case Progress
• Requires only one additional component: the Lead Detective Rule Card (included)
• Follows the structure and core rules of Smoking Gun Version 3.3
• Offers Rookie (more forgiving) and Experienced (standard) difficulty levels.
• Preserves the full investigative experience—movement, clue discovery, misdirection, and narrative case-building

Step Into a Realistic Murder Investigation

Smoking Gun delivers the tension of a tightening, real-world investigation—bluffs, surprises, and shifting suspicion at every turn. Players feel the thrill of uncovering clues, the satisfaction of catching someone in a lie, and the joy of crafting a clever story that just might fool the table, and ultimately deliver the Smoking Gun that solves the case.

How closely does Smoking Gun match real investigative work?

Flipbook Rules To Smoking Gun