No.305
Raja, Mantri, Chor, Sipahi
Japanese name: ラジャ・マントリ・チョール・シパーヒ
Materials
- 4 equal-sized slips labelled king, minister, thief and police officer
- A score sheet
- Writing materials
How to play
- Fold the four role slips identically, mix them and draw one each. Look privately. Basic scores are king: 1,000; minister: 500; police officer: 300; thief: 0.
- The king reveals their slip and calls for the minister. The minister reveals theirs, then tries to identify the thief among the two players still hiding their roles.
- Those two keep their roles secret until the minister chooses one. If deciding takes too long, require a choice within 30 seconds.
- Reveal all roles. A correct guess gives everyone their basic score. On a wrong guess, the minister gets zero and the thief gets the minister’s 500 points; the king and police officer keep their basic scores.
- Record scores and mix the slips for the next round. Agree on four or eight rounds, for example, then compare total points. Ties share the same placing.
Ways to adapt
Younger primary: illustrated roles and a score chart. Older primary and adults: compare totals over several rounds.