Get Lucky
The Kill Doctor Lucky Card Game
Playtest Rules 4.0.1, © 2013 James Ernest, Cheapass Games
August 28, 2013
Introduction: Welcome back to Lucky Mansion. Once more, you and a collection of similarly
evil-minded people have gathered for a seemingly innocuous dinner party. It will be an evening
of stimulating conversation, quiet music, and desperate murder attempts. Because each of you,
unbeknownst to the others, wants to kill Doctor Lucky.
Get Lucky is the card game adaptation of the classic board game Kill Doctor Lucky. Players
control multiple murderous house guests, each with a secret desire to take the old man out. He’s
not called “Doctor Lucky” for nothing, though. He’s more resilient than a bad habit and twice
as irritating. But take heart, villains! His famous luck won’t last forever. Gather around the card
table and see who can Get Lucky!
Players: 3 to 6
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Components: 15 character cards, 57 game cards, and a marker or pawn to represent Doctor
Lucky. (Testers: Print the character cards on a different color of paper, or use different sleeves.)
The Object: Kill Doctor Lucky. That might sound easy, but he’s a pretty lucky fellow. Many
attempts will fail before one succeeds.
The Table Layout: Each player controls two characters at a time. In the center of the table is the
“Drawing Room,” containing three more characters. There is also a deck and a discard pile.
The Basics: Doctor Lucky spends the game moving from one character to the next, in numeric
order, and the turn moves with him. So, if Doctor Lucky is visiting one of your characters, it’s
your turn. You can do one thing on your turn: either Draw, Play, Swap, or Kill. If you try to kill
Doctor Lucky, everyone else can play Luck cards to stop you.
Shrinking the Party: There are 15 character cards in all. Use all of them only if there are six
players. Otherwise, remove two character cards from the game for each player below six. For
example, if there are five players, remove two character cards. It doesn’t matter which ones you
take out, but to make the counting easy we usually remove the highest numbers.
To Begin: Shuffle the character cards, and deal two of them face-up to each player. Put the
remaining three characters in the “Drawing room,” which is the center of the table.
Shuffle the main deck and deal a hand of six cards to each player. The rest of this deck becomes
the draw pile, with space for a discard pile beside it.
Place Doctor Lucky on the lowest numbered character that is controlled by a player (i.e., not in
the Drawing Room). That player will take the first turn.
On Every Turn: You may do exactly one of the following things: Draw a card, Play a card,
Swap a character with the Drawing Room, or make a Murder Attempt. You may also Pass if
you don’t want to do anything else.
Option 1, Draw: Take the top card of the deck into your hand. There is no limit to the number of
cards you can hold. If the deck is empty, you can’t draw. The deck is never replaced.
Option 2, Playing Cards: The cards are Weapons, Motives, Opportunities, and Spite. When
played on a character, all these cards are worth +1 to the value of murder attempts.
Weapons, Motives, and Opportunities: These cards are all roughly the same. You can play
them on either character in front of you. A character can have only one of each type.
Matching Cards: Each Weapon, Motive, and Opportunity has a specific character for whom it
is ideal, designated by the small number in the upper left, and the character name under the card
name. Matching cards have two special properties: Bonus Points, and Stopping Power.
Bonus Points: When played on the matching character, the card (Weapon, Motive, or
Opportunity) is worth 2 points towards the murder attempt, not 1. Play the card sideways,
so that everyone can see it’s worth 2 points.
Stopping Power: During a murder attempt, one matching Weapon, Motive, or
Opportunity card is sufficient to foil an attempt of any size. This is discussed in more
detail under Murder Attempt, below.
Spite Cards: Spite Cards play like W, M, and O cards, but there is no limit to the number of
Spite cards that can be played on the same character.
Option 3, Swapping a Character: You can exchange one character with one from the Drawing
Room. Cards that are played on a character must move with it. If Doctor Lucky is visiting one of
these characters, he moves along with the character.
Option 4: Making a Murder Attempt: If Doctor Lucky is visiting one of your characters, that
character may try to kill him.
The value of a murder attempt is equal to one point per card in the stack, including the character
card. For example, a character with a Weapon, a Motive, and two Spite cards will make a murder
attempt worth 5 points. A character with no cards is still worth one point, and can still make a
one-point murder attempt, often referred to as a “poke in the eye.”
Foiling the Murder: When someone tries to kill Doctor Lucky, the other players must play
enough Luck to equal the value of the attempt, or the attempt succeeds. For example, if an
attempt is worth five points, then five points of luck (or more) will stop it.
In addition to their usual function, most cards have one or two shamrocks on them, representing
“Luck.” (This is different from the board game, where “Failures” are a separate card type.)
Starting with the player on the murderer’s left, and proceeding once around the table, all players
have one opportunity to discard Luck to save Doctor Lucky. You can play as many cards as you
wish, or you may pass. If the murder is not foiled, Doctor Lucky dies, and the murderer wins!
“Stoppers” As mentioned above, a Weapon, Motive or Opportunity card that matches
the murderer is an automatic stop, regardless of the value of the murder attempt. For
example, if the murderer is Character 5, then any one of the Weapon, Motive, and
Opportunity cards for Character 5 will foil the murder attempt.
Moving the Doctor: After every turn, Doctor Lucky moves to the next numbered character in
order. If he’s on the highest number, he moves back to the lowest.
Doctor Lucky also visits the characters in the Drawing Room, as well as those in front of players.
The Next Turn: The turn passes with Doctor Lucky, so if he moves to a player, it’s always that
player’s turn. If he moves to the Drawing Room, the turn passes to the left.
Ending the Game: The game ends as soon as someone kills Doctor Lucky.
Strategy: It’s important to follow the Luck in this game. You want to hold Luck in your hand
while forcing it out of everyone else’s. You can do this by making a lot of murder attempts, but
you must also pass a lot when other people make attempts. But be careful: If you overestimate
the Luck in other players’ hands, you might wish you had played a little more yourself!
You’ll also want to pay attention to which matching cards have been played, and which are still
unaccounted-for. This will help you know when other players can stop or steal your characters!
Credits: Get Lucky was designed by James Ernest and Rick Fish, based on the Kill Doctor Lucky
board game by the same authors. Playtesters included Toivo Rovainen, Tom Saxton, Cathy
Saxton, Carol Monahan, Nora Miller, Joe Kisenwether, Zoe Miller, Robert Gifford, Jason Mai,
Don Flinspach, Ahna Blake, and many more of the Cheapass Games Guinea Pigs.
This is Playtest version 4.0.1. If you have feedback, we’d love to hear it. Email cheapassjames
(at) gmail (dot) com, or start a conversation on our Facebook page!
Possible new Spite Rule: We will be testing this change next, but it’s as of yet untried. Two
changes to the way Spite works:
When you play Spite for its luck value (during a murder attempt) you may also attach it
to one of your characters, rather than discarding it. There is no limit to the amount of
Spite a character can accumulate. (As above)
2. Spite attached to a character is useful for only one murder attempt, and is then
discarded. (This is an older rule that returns if Spite becomes easier to play).
1.