M

any years ago, the old mansion in the

countryside was the site of a horrendous
crime. A crime in which the inhabitant
of the home was unfairly convicted, after
which, he was sentenced to death. His soul was
not able to rest in peace and has returned to the
walls of his home, harassing the new owners. In
desperation, they turn for help to an elite group
of investigators, which consists of: the famous
medium, an exotic visitor from the Far East,
the beautiful gypsy witch, a famous detective,
an inquisitive journalist and an officer of the
law. This group has traveled to the house to
unravel the mystery and release the spirit
forever.

Goal of the Game:

Mysterium is a social cooperative game for 2-7 players who share a common goal. Their task is to discover
the identity of the perpetrator of the crime from the past. One player takes on the role of the Spirit, and the
other players are the investigators. The spirit uses cards to try and steer the investigators to the right track
leading from the murder weapons, the places related, and the perpetrators. The entire investigation must be
completed within seven days.
If during the seven rounds of the game, players correctly establish the identity of the perpetrator of the
crime, the game will end with a common victory for all players. If the final round of the game comes to an
end and the players have not discovered the identity of the perpetrator, everyone loses.

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Game Components
84 Dream Cards

1 Calendar Board

6 Investigator Boards

1 Round Marker

Investigator Cards

Spirit Cards
(blue backs)

(brown backs)

19 Character
Cards

19 Character
Cards

6 Investigation
Progress Tokens
19 Location
Cards

19 Location
Cards

12 Investigator Markers
20 Item
Cards

20 Item
Cards

Game Setup
Decide which player will play the role of the Spirit. The other players
take on the roles of the Investigators.
Shuffle each deck of investigator cards separately: Character Cards,
Locations and Items. Then, depending on the number of players and
the difficulty level, draw the corresponding (defined on the table below)
number of cards of each type and place them face up on the table. The
rest of the investigator cards are returned to the box - they will not be
needed in this game.
Number of Cards: Item / Locations / Characters:
Number
of Players
Including
Spirit

Difficulty level:
Easy

Normal

Difficult

Very
Difficult

2*

10

11

12

* A variant of the game for two players is explained at the end of the instructions

For your first game, we recommend you play on easy.

Example: in the variant for 4 players on the easy difficulty
level, you will need six cards Items, six cards and six Character
cards. If you have six and you wish to play on hard difficulty,
then use 10 cards, Items 10 and 10 cards form.
Put the calendar board next to the investigator cards. Place the
round marker on the first space. The fields on the board
represent days of the week (rounds of the game).
Each of the Investigators receives the following items in the
appropriate color:
1 investigator board which they place in front of them to show
their progress
1 Investigator token (clock), which is placed on the upper
field of his board next to the word czym? (Polish for what)
1 wooden round marker disc in their player color

An example of a 4 player setup on easy.

The Spirit receives the dream card deck and one wooden player
token of each player color.
EXAMPLE:
Its a four player game. One players is the spirit, while the others are the
Investigators. The investigators choose a color: white, red, blue, and then
select the appropriate components of the game in their color. The spirit
then takes a wooden disc in the colors white, red, and blue.
Other unused components should be put back in the box, they will
not be used during the game.
The spirit searches through his 3 decks (Characters, Locations and
Items) to find the cards that match the investigator cards face up on
the table. The rest of the blue spirit cards are placed back in the box.
EXAMPLE:
Seven item cards are on the table: a fork, a fire extinguisher, a spider,
a letter, a Shuriken, an iron, and a syringe. The spirit searches through
their deck and takes out these same exact items.

Then, out of those cards, the spirit chooses for each investigator one
character, location and object. Do not show the players which cards
are selected. Those cards are laid facedown into groups for each player.
Each group should contain a character, location and item.
On each stack of cards, the spirit should place a matching color
investigator disc to show which player they belong to. Any unused
spirit cards are placed back in the box.

n this way, the Spirit creates combinations that determine who

(Character) was in the mansion, where he was (Location),
and what he did (Item) at the time the crime was committed.
These exact combinations are what the investigators must reveal
to find the true culprit and win the game.
Note: The spirit may, at any time during the game, view the face down
sets of cards, but may not exchange individual cards between them.
Once these preparations are finished, the spirit draws 6 cards from
the Dream deck.
You are now ready to begin your investigation!

The game setup for the Spirit, for 4 players.

Gameplay
The game lasts up to seven rounds and is divided into two stages:

RECONSTRUCTION OF EVENTS
FINDING THE TRUE CULPRIT

Reconstruction of events

In this stage, investigators must determine where (Location) each person

(Character) was in the property, and what he was doing (Object) at the time
of the crime.
As long as the players are in this part of the game, each round consists of
the following phases

DREAM

INVESTIGATION
MYSTERIOUS SIGNS

Dream

In this phase, the Spirit sends a dream to the investigators and passes them
hits about the suspects of the crime.
The Spirit carefully inspects the face down sets of cards chosen for each investigator,
and then selects one or more Dream cards from the 6 in his hand that he thinks will
help the investigator deduce which of the face up cards on the table is theirs. In the first
round, the investigators must deduce the ITEM card. After that has been guessed, then
the LOCATION, and lastly, the CHARACTER. The Spirit passes this card(s) to the
corresponding investigator.

he Spirit may not give Dream cards about the Location or

Character until the investigator has correctly guessed the
item card.
Spirit lays out the Dream cards face up in front of each investigator, visible
to all players. Investigators may discuss each others Dream cards among
themselves as much as they like.
After giving a Dream card(s) to an investigator, the Spirit draws their hand back
up to 6 cards. This way they should always have 6 Dream cards to choose from
for each investigator.

The Spirit then chooses the next investigator to give Dream cards to.
The Spirit can choose the order in which investigators are given
Dream cards, deciding each round what order cards are given out.
However the Spirit cannot give additional cards to an investigator
who has already received cards that round.
Note: If the Spirit decides that all 6 Dream cards in their hand are
not useful as hits, they may discard all 6 cards and draw 6 new cards.
Depending on the difficulty level chosen for the game, the amount
of times a Spirit can discard and redraw may be limited:
EASY: Once per round
NORMAL: Three time per game
DIFFICULT: Once per game
Very Difficult: Never

Investigation
As soon as an investigator has received a Dream card, all investigators
may proceed to this phase.
Players analyze the received Dream card and try to figure out what
the Spirit is hinting at. Investigators can discuss, advise and share
assumptions. After discussing, each investigator must decide on
what his Item/Site/Character is.
To do this, each investigator places his wooden player disc on the
investigator card they think their Dream card(s) is referring to.

uring the game, the Spirit may not speak or use gestures
to help the investigators. The only way to communicate
with the rest of the players are through Dream cards.
After all players have placed their wooden marker, the players move
on to the MYSTERIOUS SIGNS phase.

Note: Should the Dream card deck ever run out of cards, reshuffle the discard pile
and make a new draw deck.

s soon as an investigator has received a Dream card, the players may

begin their discussion on which card they think the Spirit is indicating.
The Spirit may need a moment to decided on which card he will choose
next, instead of waiting, the players can use this time to begin the investigation.

Mysterious Signs
In this phase, the Spirit announces to the other players whether their
choices were accurate or not. If the investigators chose the correct card,
spirit flips over the matching Item/Location/Character card.
Correctly guessed item and location cards can be returned to the game
box, they will no longer be needed. However, correctly guessed character
cards should be kept on the table, they will be needed during the Finding
the True Culprit phase.
When a player correctly guesses one of their cards, they move their clock
token down to the next field on their investigator board. Any Dream cards
they used to make the previous guess are discarded.
When a player has correctly guessed all 3 of their Item/Location/Character
cards, they have finished guessing and are ready for the Finding the True
Culprit phase. They may now help other players who havent guessed all
three of their cards yet.
If an investigator guessed the wrong card, do not discard the Dream card
they were given. They will be given more cards in later rounds and may make
comparisons to the previously given dream cards to make their guess.
Once all players learn whether their decision was correct or not, the round
ends. Move the time marker to the next day on the calendar board.
Investigators should take back their wooden discs they used to make their
guesses.

Once all players have correctly guessed their Objec

t,
Location, and Character cards, the game moves on
to the
final stage. Put all the investigator cards back in the
box,
with the exception of the Character cards that have
been
identified by the players - you will need them for
the final
stage of the game.

Finding the
True Culprit
In order to put the spirt to rest, the investigators must
find
out who actually committed the crime.
The Spirit takes all the character cards that were
assigned
to the players at the start of the game (the ones with
blue
backs) and shuffles them. He then draw one of these
cards,
looks at it and places it face down in front of him.
This is
the true culprit who the investigators must now ident
ify.
The Spirit will once again use Dream cards to give
hints
to the investigators, all other cards can be returned
to the
box.
This stage is divided into 2 phases:
The Common Dream
Joint Investigation

A new round now begins.

EXAMPLE OF A ROUND:
The game is being played by three investigators (Danuta, Paul and Leszek). They are playing on easy. It
is the second round of the game.
Danuta in the first round correctly guessed her item card, so there are only 5 Item cards left on the table. a
Danutas progress marker on her investigator board is on the "where?" field.
Consequently, this round the Spirit gives him a card which hints of the correct location. The Spirit then
draws his hand back up to 6 Dream cards.
Neither Paul nor Leszek guessed correctly in the first round, which is why their investigation marker is
still on the what? space of their investigator board. The Spirit passes Paul two Dream cards, which
should help steer Paul on the right track.
The Spirit then draws back up to 6 cards and chooses a card to pass to Leszek.
Pawe

Leszek

Danuta

After analyzing their cards and discussing with each other, the players then guess which card the Spirit
was trying to steer them to - Danuta chooses a location, and Paul and Leszek an item. After they have all
placed their markers, the Spirit announces which investigators were correct.
Danuta did not choose the correct location, so she leaves her Dream card in front of her. This time Leszek
was able to identify the correct Item, therefore he discards the Dream cards and moves his investigator
clock to the next field on his card (Where?).
In the next round, Danuta and Leszek will both try and identify their location. Paul, having failed
again, will receive another round of Dream Cards pertaining to his item card.
At the end of the round, the Spirit moves the time tracker one space to day 3 and begins a new round.

Common Dream

ts phase, the Spirit has 6

Just as in the previous Reconstruction of Even
or more cards to give as a
Dream cards in his hand. He then selects one
s this card(s) face up in front of
hint for the group of investigators. He place
out who really committed
them and the investigators must now figure
the crime.
tors are
he Spirit should remember that the investiga
card. He
rit
culp
watching him when he chooses the real
s to the
hint
e
subtl
should be careful not to give away any
at the
ng
stari
or
ns
investigators. This includes facial expressio
en card.
chos
the
al
reve
face up character card in a way that would
s left in his hand that
The Spirit also shows the investigators the card
know the cards that the Spirit
werent chosen. This way the investigators
correct character.
didnt consider appropriate as hints for the

Variant for 2 Players

In a 2 player game, one player takes the role

of the Spirit, and the
other player the investigators.
The investigator player, however, plays 2
investigators. They receive
2 investigator boards, 2 clock tokens, and
2 wooden discs, all in the
appropiate colors.
The Spirit then prepares 2 sets of Item/Loc
ation/Character and
places a wooden disc from the investigator
on each combination.
Thus, the investigator player must identify
two sets during the
reconstruction phase.

Joint Investigation

mine the identity of the

During this phase, players must jointly deter
ided by the spirt, players
prov
(s)
card
perpetrator. After analyzing Dream
committed a crime.
indicate the character who they believe has
decision was correct. If
Then the Spirit tells the players whether their
perpetrator, the Spirit reveals
the players have discovered the identity of the
of him and the game ends with
the face down card character card in front
a victory for all players.
ers do not discard the Dream
If players were wrong, the round ends. Play
will give them additional
cards they were given this round, the Spirit
marker to the next position on
time
the
cards in a new shared dream. Move
then the players are out of
the calendar board. If it was already Sunday,
, a new round begins, starting
time and the game is lost. If there is still time
with the Common Dream.

Game End

rit within 7 rounds, they

If the players correctly identified the true culp
win the game.
owner of the house, and the Spirit,
The investigators receive a reward from the
peace forever.
whose innocence has been proven, may rest in
er is on day 7 (Sunday), and
If at the end of the round, the time mark
rit, the players lose
the players have not discovered the true culp
the game.

All rights reserved. Republishing and publishing of

the game rules,
game components and illustrations without permission
of
rightholders are prohibited.
2013 for Polish edition: PORTAL GAMES
ul. w. Urbana 15, 44-100 Gliwice
portalgames.pl, portal@portalgames.pl

2013 IGAMES
29000, Ukraine, Khmelnitsky,
POB 77
http://igames.ua, igamesukr@gm
ail.com

GAME DESIGNER: Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko

PROJECT BOARDS, CHIPS, BOXES AND INSTRUCTIONS:
Rafa Szyma
PROJECT INSERTS: Maciej Mutwil
ILLUSTRATORS: Igor DartGarry Burlakov, Mariusz Gandz
el,
Karolina Wcka, Mateusz Bielski
COVER: Igor DartGarry Burlakov
INSTRUCTIONS: ukasz Piechaczek, Maciej Molenda
TRANSLATION: Tony Mastrangeli
THANKS: Nikolai Ambrozyak, Larysa Melnyk, All Tester
s, Merry.

Dear Customer
Our games are assembled with special care. However, if there are any
issues with
your copy of the game, we apologize. Please let us know at
portal@portalpublishing.pl

www.boardgamesthattellstories.com
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