We played this Tuesday evening for the first time, group of six. Each player is given a card either showiing their innocence or naming them as the murderer. This has no bearing on the game play, just proves to be a discussion point at the end. There is no real winner of the game - it is most like Piranha Pedro - just a single loser, the player found guilty.

During the set up each player is given three locations and asked to write a statement of how they happened to be in each. A murder location and weapon is then randomly assigned.

Each player receives a number of guilty cards - witnesses against you, weapons, motives, evidence etc. - and a lesser number of innocence cards - partial alibis, friends etc. On a players turn they have five actions which may be taken in any order, with the exception of getting rid of guilt cards which ends your turn. They are:

1. Move around town. Roll two dice and move your piece. The move can be extended by paying to roll extra dice or to move to any location. The rules do not explicitly state you cannot extend your turn by more than one additional roll, but given it would not make sense to pay to roll both dice unless the restriction was there we played this.

2. Buy and sell innocence cards. Any number may be purchased but only one sold. The rules state they can be bought from the discard pile, we realised this late and added this to the purchases from the draw pile. It is possible purchases should be from discards only.

3. Trade cards. These can be blind swaps of innocence cards or named trades. Again it is not clear whether the named trades can include guilty cards - we allowed this.

4. Mug a player. There is a reward for mugging someone - steal or plant evidence on them, and a penalty for failing.

5. Discard guilt cards. You need to be in the correct location and cards for that location can then be discarded - normally for reward - in a variety of ways depending on the type of card. This can include murdering witnesses.

The first part of the game ends when someone has a full alibi for there three locations from the start of the game. This is achieved by having either two partial alibis for each location or by bribing a witness (guilt card).

The game then moves to a trial. Each player in turn reads their statement and attempts to explain any cards left in their hand. Murder weapons or evidence linking to the murder location are particularly bad at this point. The other players are allowed to cross examine. This part of the game is by far and away the best part and the role play and story telling element is excellent. Anonymous votes for the murderer are tallied and if a majority indicate one player they are convicted. Otherwise, deliberations must continue.

There are rules issues. We are still not sure about how many times each action is playable, the rules do nor explain either way but different sections imply different interpretations. The website does not currently answer this. It is also not clear whether a witness who is murdered can testify in court as a friend!

The game states 1 to 2 hours and we played our first game including rules at exactly 2 hours. The first part of the game took the bulk of the time with only the last fifteen minutes being the trial, which was good fun. The first part of the game, I feel, takes too long. If it was 30 minutes of setting up the cards ready for the trial it would be ideal. Ultimately, a more charismatic, eloquent player will have a big advantage come the trial regardless of, maybe, having a slightly weaker hand. The game is good value, and with a playing without rules explanations and with clarifications will, hopefully, shorten the first part of the game. I would recommend a play or two, but it is not an essential purchase.