If any of the accomplices you play to carry out an action, have the symbol of the action, those accomplices will return to your hand once the action is complete. Cards that do not have the symbol will go to the exit pile (discard pile).

A family of greedy rural farmers is determined to make its fortune and has devised a diabolical stratagem to achieve this goal: Invest in an inn so they can rob traveling guests, getting rich without arousing the suspicions of the police! In the event of a tie, the winner is the richest player who has the most corpses under his annexes. If there is still a tie, then the game ends in a tie, and you must play again!! While it might be hard to identify with your role in the game, The Bloody Inn isn’t gruesome. The murderous actions are tongue in cheek and are not glorified. The unflattering stereotyped presentation of characters extends this handling of the theme to reinforce the waggish humour and light heartedness. The artwork is excellent and befits the combination of humour and sombre context. The Carnies contains 52 new cards spread across three separate modules that can be used in any combination. Except for the following modifications, the base game rules remain unchanged:The Bloody Inn is an economic and hand management card game for 2-4 players that takes about 45 minutes to play. In our experience, The Bloody Inn plays best with 4 players. Game Overview:

Finally, each card still in a player’s hand costs them 1 Franc per card they wish to retain for the next round. Any money you do make will need careful management. Unexplained wealth draws unwelcome attention. There’s a limit on how much you can earn without laundering the cash. To do this you’ll need to visit the crooked notary. But doing so takes time you could otherwise spend on more profitable pursuits. The face up guest whose annex we have built will now either grant us an instant or ongoing ability. The dead side reminds you of the rank of the guest and also shows you the other number from the guest card that I have not yet explained. It has a coin behind it and is how much money this guest has on their person. The higher the rank, the more money they will carry. You will gain this money only when you bury the guest Finally, when it comes to player scaling, The Bloody Inn plays well with any of its player count. I do think the game plays best with four players though. Not only does it have more cards coming into the game, but since you can bury your corpses under any players annex, it allows you to spread out the wealth a little bit. In a 2 player game, I never wanted to bury under my opponent’s annex because it’s giving both of us money. Final Thoughts: Even if you kill a guest, you are not allowed to rob them until they get a proper burial. We’re civilized people after all…Example: Madeline wants to build the distillery associated with the distiller she has in her hand. Because the distiller is rank 2, she plays 2 other cards from her hand 1.

Running an inn can be a lucrative business. If you know how to handle your guests you can make a killing. In the Bloody Inn players are greedy members of a poor farming family. Having invested in an inn, they undertake to make their fortune robbing and murdering guests but it's a lot of work, too much for one person. You’ll need accomplices. Fortunately, everyone has their price. Travellers of various professions can be bribed to help you accomplice your unsavory activities. Great games start with great ingredients and on its surface, The Bloody Inn should be a game that I love. It has beautiful art, a quirky (if macabre) theme, cards that serve multiple purposes, and a publisher with a strong pedigree. Unfortunately, it’s peppered with enough bitter elements to temper my opinion. But rather than focus on the negative, I’ll give credit to what the games does right and how it’s almost a great game.

The Bloody Inn casts you as an innkeeper of questionable morals trying to earn as much money as possible.. Rather than earning an honest wage, you’ve decided that murder and theft are more your style. It’s certainly more lucrative. Your plan is to appeal to the darker side of some your guests to help you murder the other guests, dispose of the bodies, and take their money while eluding police suspicion. Your actions may be reprehensible, but no one can say you didn’t work hard for your wealth. An Inn and Its Guests How it Plays The First Player is responsible for welcoming travelers for this round. He must perform the following steps: The Bloody Inn is a really good game, the theme is going to split people. I love it, but I can understand it’s not for everyone. There are so many board games, and there are themes that get repeated so often. When a game like this exists with such a unique theme, I think it deserves to be lauded. I would much rather new games be made with unusual themes like this, than the same old Fantasy or Cthulhu or Cowboys. The Gamekeeper Final Score:

This action allows you to take a Guest card from the inn into your hand. Guests in your hand are your accomplices, who will help you in your macabre enterprise. Select the Traveler you want to kill from the inn (in a room of your choice or in the bistro; it's possible to kill the Peasants). And again from a purely thematic viewpoint, ‘Build an annex’ is a strange term to be using. Are my accomplices and I actually building these places to bury the corpses in? They are given names on the card and some examples are: Butchers shop, Park, Brewery, Chapel. I’m not saying I have a better term, but it doesn’t quite fit in with what’s happening in the game that we have time to build a butchers shop. Something like ‘Expand your operation’ may not roll off the tongue, but i think gaining these new locations in this way, makes more sense thematically. I stress, this is a very minor complaint and obviously doesn't affect the gameplay, but can make the game easier to understand for new players.

The game is played over the course of two seasons and an unknown number of rounds. Each round is separated into three phases, the welcome phase, the action phase, and the end of the round. I like it that it makes the game full of hard choices and a bit of risk taking. Do I draw up cards or go for the kill. Do I build this annex or convert some of my money. You will ALWAYS have a hard time deciding what to spend your limited actions on each turn. France 1831: In a remote corner of Ardèche, the little village of Peyrebeille sees numerous travelers pass through. Running an inn can be a lucrative business. If you know how to handle your guests you can make a killing. In the Bloody Inn players are greedy members of a poor farming family. Having invested in an inn, they undertake to make their fortune robbing and murdering guests but it’s a lot of work, too much for one person. You’ll need accomplices. Fortunately, everyone has their price. Travellers of various professions can be bribed to help you accomplice your unsavory activities.