KEEP AN EYE OUT

INTRODUCTION

Keep An Eye Out is a handcrafted, limited edition game for 4 or more players. Turn any evening into a murder mystery party with a new take on a classic parlor game.

Directions

Shuffle and deal out the coasters at random. Look at the bottom of your coaster in secret. If you find an open eye you are an Inspector; if you find a closed eye you are the Villain.

If the Villain makes eye contact and winks at you directly you must count to five silently and then die dramatically. Be sure everyone is well aware of your sudden demise! You must not indicate who killed you.

To stop the Villain, you must catch them in the act of winking at someone else and successfully accuse them within the five second time limit. If you believe you saw the Villain wink at a victim other than yourself you must point out the suspected Villain and yell out your accusation: “Keep an Eye Out!” If the victim dies before you make your accusation, the Villain gets away with it.

When the Villain is caught in the act, or all Inspectors have been winked to death, the game ends. Take a deep breath and play again!

Bystander Clause

If there are more players than coasters, the excess players become Bystanders; Bystanders can be killed but they cannot accuse, even if they see the Villain in the act of winking.

Inspectors may interrogate a Bystander as a witness. An Inspector asks a living Bystander if they saw [suspect name] wink, and the Bystander may implicate with a yes or no.

The Villain must kill o all Bystanders before Inspectors can be winked at.

 

ODDITIES

  • The Villain no longer kills. Instead, when winked at victims are no longer allowed to speak or indicate anything at all.

  • Coasters are shuffled every 2 minutes and dealt back out between living players & bystanders at random.

  • Rather than winking, the villain quickly sticks out their tongue like a poison dart frog. Players targeted by a Dartmouth Villain should gag and spew upon their death.

  • When winked at victims have 5 seconds to finish their drink before the poison takes effect. If victims can chug their whole beverage in that time they may survive the wink, but are rendered nonsensical for the rest of the game (they must speak in nonsense and gobbledegook and should not accurately indicate their Apothecary).

  • The Villain may now fake their death.

  • Commit to your character. When you receive your coaster announce your new Victorian name, who are you now, player? When/if you die: commit to the death. Choose to either remain corpselike for the remainder of the game or to return from beyond the grave in spooky whispers and other ghoulish noises.

 

ALTERNATIVES

GEMINI

*Requires two Villains

The Gemini is best played with at least 6 total coasters (4 inspectors and 2 villains.) Additional bystanders are encouraged. The Gemini follows the same rules as traditional Keep an Eye Out. Unlike the traditional gameplay, players must flip their coaster to reveal their identities upon their untimely demise.

The two Villains must carefully intuit the identity of their fellow partner-in-crime without giving themselves away. Their goal is to eliminate all other inspectors/bystanders without accidentally winking at their counterpart.

If one of the Villains dies, the game ends instantly in tragedy! Inspectors win by catching both villains in the act of winking, individually. Villains can still win collectively, even if one of them is caught by an inspector and removed from gameplay.

SUITABLE ODDITIES

• The Hypnotist
• The Dartmouth
• The Apothecary
• The Gambit - Sparr Favorite for Gemini
• The Thespian Troupe

MONARCH

*Requires at least one Bystander

The Monarch is best played with 6+ coasters. Additional bystanders are encouraged. The Monarch follows the same basic rules as traditional Keep an Eye Out.

Before handing out the coasters, choose one Bystander to be the Regent. Anytime the villain kills a player, play immediately halts. The Regent must execute another player for the murder before play can resume. The Regent may not be targeted by the villain or for execution. Play ends when either the Regent chooses to execute the Villain (Inspectors win) or when the Villain has wound up alone with the Regent (Villain wins).

SUITABLE ODDITIES

• The Hypnotist
• The Dartmouth
• The Apothecary
• The Thespian Troupe

MESMERIST

*Requires several Bystanders

The Mesmerist is best played with 4+ coasters and at least 4-6 Bystanders. The Mesmerist follows the same basic rules as traditional Keep an Eye Out. Unlike the traditional gameplay, The Villain cannot wink at Inspectors at any time, they may only wink at Bystanders. When the Villain winks at a Bystander, the Bystander now becomes a mesmerized servant of the villain. 

A mesmerized Bystander must now act as a traditional villain, and wait for the opportune moment to wink at the Inspectors in the Villains behalf. Bystanders cannot wink at their fellow un-mesmerized Bystanders. 

Inspector/Bystander interrogation is vital in this alternate.

Inspectors must watch the Bystanders closely, and work to catch them in the act of winking. If a mesmerized bystander is caught, they are removed from the game and play continues. Inspectors may also choose to kill a suspected bystander by majority vote amongst those with coasters. If a Bystander is selected to be killed, they immediately reveal if they have been mesmerized by the Villain. If yes, they are removed from the game and play continues. If no, the inspectors immediately lose collectively.

The Villains and Mesmerized Bystanders win when all Inspectors have been killed, or a Bystander is wrongfully executed. The Inspectors win when the Villain no longer has Bystanders left to Mesmerize.

SUITABLE ODDITIES

• The Dartmouth
• The Apothecary
• The Thespian Troupe

COMING SOON

• The Commissioner
• The Séance

 
 
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Keep An Eye Out is our second handmade game.

Each batch is very limited, but we plan on continuing to make more in the future. Join our mailing list to stay up to date on new editions, new handmade games, and what comes next.