One player is secretly and randomly chosen to be the murderer, the rest are detectives (Jessica Fletcher) trying to determine which player is the murderer. The murderer player wins if he/she can murder five witnesses and escape off of the game board before he/she is discovered. A detective player wins by being the first to correctly deduce the identity of the murderer, before the murderer escapes. Players mark which locations they have visited and in which order. This information, along with the living or dead status of the witnesses, is used by the detective players to deduce who is the murderer player.