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How to Play

Letters from Whitechapel

2-6 players 90-90 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

In Victorian London's Whitechapel district, one player controls Jack the Ripper while others play cooperating police detectives. Jack moves secretly across a numbered street network, attempting to claim five victims and escape to his hideout undetected. Detectives patrol openly, trying to track and capture Jack before he completes his murderous spree through deduction and teamwork.

Published 2011

Letters from Whitechapel

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Place Jack's pawn
Place 1 black Jack pawn on the 1st space of the Night track
2
Collect Jack's components
Jack collects a move track sheet, 5 Crime Scene tokens, 19 Clue tokens, 8 Woman tokens, 3 Coach tokens, 2 Alley tokens, and the Time of the Crime token
3
Collect optional components
Jack collects 4 Letter tiles and 3 False Clue tokens (optional rules)
4
Choose hideout secretly
Jack secretly chooses his Hideout location
5
Prepare detective components
Detectives take 5 Policeman pawns and corresponding sheets, 5 white Wretched pawns, and 7 Police Patrol tokens
6
Shuffle investigation tiles
Shuffle the 5 Head of the Investigation tiles and pile them face-down
7
Collect night-specific tokens
According to Night 1/2/3/4, Jack collects 3/2/2/1 Coach tokens, 2/2/1/1 Alley tokens, 8/7/6/4 Woman tokens, and 5/4/3/1 marked tokens
8
Place Woman tokens
Jack places Woman tokens face-down on red numbered circles (from 2nd night on, not on spaces with red Crime Scene tokens)
9
Place Police Patrol tokens
On 1st night, place 7 Police Patrol tokens on yellow-bordered crossings; from 2nd night on, place 5 on Policeman-occupied places and 2 on yellow-bordered crossings
10
Reveal Woman tokens
All Woman tokens are turned face-up and those marked red are replaced with Wretched pawns
11
Set Time of Crime token
The red Time of the Crime token is placed on "I" of the move track

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Decide to kill or wait
Jack decides whether to kill or wait when Time of Crime token is on "V"
2
Move Time of Crime
If Jack waits, the red Time of the Crime token is moved
3
Move Wretched pawns
The Head of the Investigation moves each of the Wretched pawns
4
Reveal Police Patrol
Jack reveals 1 Police Patrol token
5
Replace Wretched with Crime Scene
Jack replaces 1 (or 2 during 3rd night) Wretched pawn with 1 (or 2) red Crime Scene token(s)
6
Record Crime Scene number
Jack records on his sheet the number of the Crime Scene token just placed
7
Place Jack pawn on move track
Jack places the 2nd black Jack pawn on the space marked by the Time of the Crime token
8
Reveal all Police Patrol
Detectives reveal all Police Patrol tokens not yet revealed and replace color-marked tokens with Policeman pawns
9
Remove Wretched pawns
Remove all Wretched pawns from the board
10
Move Jack secretly
Jack moves to an adjacent numbered circle (or uses a Coach or Alley token), plots it secretly, and moves his black Jack pawn on the move track
11
Use special movement
Jack can use Letter tiles each night (optional rules from 2nd night onward)
12
Check for Jack's arrival
Determine if Jack moves onto his Hideout
13
Check for move depletion
Determine if Jack runs out of moves
14
Move detective pawns
Detectives move their pawns
15
Collect False Clue tokens
Jack can collect and use False Clue tokens (optional rules)
16
Choose detective action
Each detective either looks for clues or executes an arrest

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Jack wins
Jack wins the game if he successfully reaches his Hideout or survives all 4 nights without being caught
2
Jack loses
Jack loses the game if a detective successfully executes an arrest on Jack's current location
3
Repeat nights
The game repeats for 4 nights, giving detectives multiple opportunities to catch Jack

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Listy z Whitechapel - zasady

Listy z Whitechapel - zasady

Instructional

Board Game Story - Letters from Whitechapel

Board Game Story - Letters from Whitechapel

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FULL rules

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PDF RULEBOOK

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