Intro
Kill Doctor Lucky is a nice party game. It falls under the miniscule amount of games that support 8 players, and can definitely be the event of the night.
You are invited to Doctor Lucky’s mansion for a get-together. However, you hate Doctor Lucky, and are there to kill him. You’re going to need to find some alone time with the Doctor to take him out. Unknown to you, however, is that everyone else at the party is also trying to kill him!
Kill Doctor Lucky Setup
Now, there are a lot of variants in this game, so I’m going to cover the base game setup.
- Give player cards to each character based on color
- Players start in room 1
- Lucky starts in room 15
- Each player draws 6 cards (7-8 players draw 5)
- Random player goes first, then clockwise (turn order WILL change)
The goal of the game is to kill the Doctor, but only the person who takes him out wins!
How to Play Kill Doctor Lucky
Each turn the players will do the following actions:
- Move 1 space
- Playing a movement card increases this by the value on the card, OR moves you to that space. (you can just stay still too)
- Hallways do NOT count against movement, only rooms.
- Action:
- Draw
- This can only be done when NO ONE can see you (I’ll cover sight later), even Doctor Lucky.
- Attack
- This can only be done if you are alone with Doctor Lucky AND no one can see you.
- Everyone’s strength starts at 1, and you can use 1 weapon to add to this value (value varies on card and location).
- OTHER PLAYERS must play Failure cards to reduce the Strength of your attack to zero (-1 for each clover on the card)
- Failures are played in order, starting to your left, players can choose to not play, and hope that other players waste their cards.
- You get +1 permanent strength for each attempt (put a used luck card under your character card)
- If they can’t reduce you to zero, you win.
- This can only be done if you are alone with Doctor Lucky AND no one can see you.
- Draw
- Move Doctor Lucky
- At the end of each players turn, move Doctor Lucky to the next room.
Keep In Minds:
- Messy Turn Order:
- If Doctor Lucky walks into a room with another player, that player immediately takes a turn, continuing the order from there.
- A player can choose to walk with Doctor Lucky, following his path, but if they walk into a room with a second player, the second player takes a turn.
- All players must have had a turn before this rule takes affect.
- Sight
- A player in a room has sight leading out of all doors, draw a straight line from those doors, and if it goes into another room’s door, the player can see into that room.
- Failure Cards
- If you choose to not play failure cards, you are not allowed to play them during that murder attempt.
- It is possible for someone to win if players skip playing Failures.
Game End
Whoever deals the final blow to Doctor Lucky is the victor. All other players lose.
doctor lucky will return
(see rules for what happens after!!)
Conclusion
7.324 out of 10
BREAKGEEK.COM
Good party game, best served with a few drinks!
This is a good one, it’s not very threatening to new players. Once you have the turn order down you’re good to go. I grabbed this on a whim while up at a friends when we drove by a game shop, we didn’t end up playing it until a few weeks later, but we liked it! I will admit it’s not my absolute favorite, and replayability is somewhat lacking, but it’s a good time. Check it out on BGG
I’ve run into an issue with how the base game is laid out. Some players only get their first turn because of the “walking & talking” mechanic. If you’re trying to warm someone up to more complex board games, this is a nightmare scenario. I have found a way to fix this…
Try Kill Doctor Lucky a Different Way!
You’ll find out pretty quick that messing with the turn order doesn’t turn out too well for some players. I’ve actually played a game in which someone only was able to play one turn before the game ended, while another player played dozens of turns.
Here are some suggestions:
- Rock Solid Order: The turn order does not continue from the left of the player who got a bonus Turn from Doctor Lucky walking into them, but rather back to where it was before it was interrupted.
- Don’t Run Out: Players draw a card each turn
I don’t think I can suggest much else, because there is a lot built in for alternative gameplay. Did I mention the board has 2 different sides? There’s even a cat and dog in the game!
