Crime Scene Tamperer
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From "Welcome Back, Greater Than Games!":[1]
Prove your innocence… at least long enough for the infamous Dangeresque to accuse one of your fellow criminals! In this party game, work against other criminals and ne’er-do-wells to get rid of the evidence that pins you to the scene of the crime! Hide and plant evidence! Do some Crime Scene Tampering! All before Dangeresque catches you!
Crime Scene Tamperer (initially announced as Dangeresque: Crime Scene Tamperer) is a Dangeresque-themed social deduction party card game developed by the Brothers Chaps and Greater Than Games. Each player assumes the role of one of Brainblow City's criminals, moving and flipping Evidence cards to avoid suspicious matches. The objective is to have the fewest Guilt tokens by the end of three investigations.
The game was announced in 2022, was made available for pre-order in summer 2026 to be shipped in August.
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[edit] History
[edit] Announcement
The game was first teased on July 8, 2022 through social media posts.[2] A few weeks later, on the 28th, a teaser video announced Dangeresque: Crime Scene Tamperer — "the party card game for guilty parties". The game was described as supporting 2–6 players ages 14 and up.
[edit] Early promotion
A Dicebreaker article released alongside the announcement further described the game:[3]
Dangeresque: Crime Scene Tamperer [...] has players attempting to cover up a murder that they have committed. As the infamous action hero Dangeresque investigates the crime scene, players will need to deflect attention away from themselves and towards their opponents if they want to get away with their crime.As the social deduction game progresses, players will have the opportunity to shift the blame for the murder to the person sat next to them, hopefully putting Dangeresque's attention onto their opponent instead of them. However, other players will also have the chance to turn the blame back onto the other person, forcing them to quickly react once again. As the game's name suggests, players will be able to directly tamper with any evidence found at the crime scene but will need to be careful not to be caught.
The Brothers Chaps playtested a prototype of the game that August at Gen Con 2022. This version of the game utilized hand-drawn cards, indicating the game's design was still in an early stage.
[edit] Delays and revival
The game had only been announced as vaguely "coming soon-esque!", and updates on its development paused after the burst of activity in mid-2022. The Brothers Chaps' next convention appearance, Multiverse Convention 2025, did not feature a demonstration of Crime Scene Tamperer. In April 2025, in response to economic conditions, Greater Than Games laid off much of its staff and announced that "all new projects are suspended",[4] leaving the production of Dangeresque: Crime Scene Tamperer in limbo.
Greater Than Games was revived under its original ownership in May 2026, with an announcement that the Dangeresque game is "slated to release this summer."[1] The product page indicates a few changes have been made to the game in the years since its announcement. The game's title was truncated to simply Crime Scene Tamperer (though the box art features a "Dangeresque presents..." hatnote, and retains the tagline "the party card game for guilty parties"). The player info is updated to 2–4 players ages 8 and up. The GTG store also listed twelve CST-branded Dangeresque-themed pins (as well as a Trogdor character pin).
Pre-orders were announced through the Homestar Runner social media channels on July 29, and the game was demoed and available for purchase at Gen Con 2026, from July 30 through August 2.[5] Shipping began in August, and the game was announced more officially with a promotional trailer and companion soundboard on September 10.
[edit] Gameplay
- For complete instructions, see the official rulebook.
From the product description:
You are some of the worst criminals in Brainblow City. But not worst as in, like, worst offenders... worst as in: you’re all terrible at being criminals. And now you've all been caught red-handed at the crime scene. And here comes world famous private eye/crooked cop Dangeresque to investigate. Lucky for you, he likes to monologue. There's still a chance to tamper with the evidence and pin the crime on one of your fellow lawbreakers before he finishes his investigation! Each player must manipulate the Crime Scene to make another player Guilty while not incriminating themself. A game of Crime Scene Tamperer consists of three (3) scenes, during which you must remain as innocent-appearing as possible. The player with the fewest Guilt tokens at the end of all the investigations is the winner.
[edit] Setup
Each player gets 1 character card (either randomly or by choice), placing it character-side-up in front of them. Each character card has an evidence type they can stack (which allows that player to stack all face-up evidence cards of that type in their Pants, treating that stack as a single card until they're flipped, swapped, or moved) and a specialty (which may be used once per scene during their turn any time before the Guilt Check, and must be flipped to the gray side after use).
Separate the Evidence cards into groups of 10 Evidence cards with 2 of each type, then shuffle together as many groups of cards as the number of players in the game. (For example, 2 players would be 20 Evidence cards, 4 of each type.) From that shuffled deck, deal each player 4 cards. Each player plants 1 Evidence card from hand in the Crime Scene (face-down), and 1 Evidence card in the Pants of the player to their left (face-up).
Split the remaining cards in the deck into a number of roughly equal piles equal to the number of players. (For example, a 2 player game would result in 2 piles of Evidence cards.) Shuffle the Dangeresque cards and put 1 face-down on top of each pile, using only as many Dangeresque cards as piles and returning the rest to the box. Shuffle the piles separately to the Dangeresque card into each one, then stack them all back into one deck. (It is recommended that the players skip the Dangeresque cards if it's their first time playing.)
Shuffle all the cards in the Crime Scene, keeping them face-down. Plant them all back in the Crime Scene, one at a time, face-down. Flip half of them (rounded up) face-up.
Put the Dangeresque token in front of the first player, then Investigate (plant the top card of the deck into the Crime Scene, face-up).
[edit] Starting a Turn
Each turn, a player plays a card and acts according to the icons on it:
- Magnifying glass: Investigate. Plant the top card of the deck into the Crime Scene, face-up.
- Straight arrow: Move a card from one play area (Crime Scene or a player's Pants) to another, retaining the card's facing.
- Check mark: Check. Peek at any face-down card in any play area, with the option to flip it face-up. (You cannot otherwise look at any face-down cards in your Pants.)
- Swap symbol: Swap the location of any 2 cards in any play area, retaining both cards' facing.
- Curved arrow: Flip a card in any play area from face-down to face-up, or vice versa.
Whenever a player draws a Dangeresque card instead of an Evidence card, they immediately draw another card, then play the Dangeresque card. The Dangeresque card's effects that apply to the player who drew that card, or to every player (starting with the current one and proceeding clockwise) when played as an Investigate. After the card is resolved, discard it and proceed as normal.
[edit] Ending a Turn
The player's goal is to make sure none of the face-up cards in their Pants match any of the face-up cards in the Crime Scene. If this is the case at the end of a turn, or the deck and all players' hands are empty:
- Each player receives 1 Guilt token for each face-up card in their Pants that matches a face-up card in the Crime Scene (limited to the number of that card in your Pants, not the Crime Scene).
- The guilty player (if applicable) receives an extra 5 tokens going to the guilty player.
- If it's the first or second scene:
- Set up the game again (keeping the same characters) to begin a new scene.
- Put the Dangeresque token in front of the player with the most Guilt tokens.
- If it's the third scene:
- Players add up their Guilt tokens from the whole game. The player with the fewest Guilt tokens is the winner.
Otherwise:
- If all cards in the Crime Scene are face-down, shuffle them again and flip half of them face-up, then plant the top card of the deck in the Crime Scene, face-up.
- If there are no cards in the Crime Scene, each player puts 1 card from their Pants into the Crime Scene, then flip all cards in the Crime Scene face-up.
- The player draws one card from the deck (unless the deck is empty), and the turn moves to the next player clockwise, moving the Dangeresque token to in front of that player.
[edit] Items
The game box contains:
- A rulebook
- Evidence Cards
- 8 Joystick Cards
- 8 Curly Fries Cards
- 8 Nunchuck Gun Cards
- 8 Diskettes Cards
- 8 DNA Evidence Cards
- 12 Dangeresque Cards
- 10 Character Cards
- 40 "1 Guilt" Tokens
- 12 "5 Guilt" Tokens
- 1 Dangeresque Token
[edit] Evidence Cards
- Joystick — Investigate, move, move, move
- Curly Fries — Check, swap, swap
- Nunchuck Gun — Investigate, flip, flip, flip
- Diskettes — Flip, flip, move
- DNA Evidence — Check, move, move
[edit] Character Cards
- Baron Darin Diamonocle — Can stack Diskettes. Specialty: flip, swap
- Dagger Skew — Can stack Joysticks. Specialty: move, move
- Dangeresque Too — Can stack Nunchuck Guns. Specialty: check, move
- KILLINGYOUGUY! — Can stack Nunchuck Guns. Specialty: move, flip
- Pants Naysmen — Can stack Curly Fries. Specialty: check, flip
- Perducci — Can stack DNA Evidence. Specialty: flip, flip
- Professor Experimento — Can stack Diskettes. Specialty: flip, move
- Renaldo — Can stack Curly Fries. Specialty: swap, swap
- Sultry Buttons — Can stack Joystick. Ability: check, swap
- The Un-Dabbler — Can stack DNA Evidence. Specialty: move, swap
[edit] Dangeresque Cards
- Or Did I...? — Move 1 face-down card to the bottom of the deck!
- FREEZE, CRIMEWAD! — Move 1 card from your Pants to the Crime Scene and flip it face-up!
- Cool, Cool Glasses — Move 1 card from your Pants to the Pants of the player to your LEFT and flip it face-up!
- Looks Like I'm Gonna Have to Juuump! — Move 1 card from the Crime Scene to your Pants and flip it face-up!
- Six-Syllable Catch Phrase! — Swap 1 card from your Pants with 1 card in the Crime Scene!
- Yer Goin' Down, CRAPTAKE! — Swap ALL cards in your Pants with the cards in the Pants of the player to your LEFT!
- End of the Line, BAGBALL! — Swap 1 card from the Pants of the player to your LEFT with 1 card in the Crime Scene!
- Tonight, Dyin's Not On the Menu! — Flip 1 face-down card!
- I WORK ALONE! — Plant 1 card from your hand into your Pants face-up! Move 1 card from your Pants to your hand!
- Hands Up, Dirtbag! — Plant 1 card from your hand into the Crime Scene face-up! Move 1 card from the Crime Scene to your hand!
- Nobody Do Anything ...Dangeresque — Plant 1 card from your hand into the Pants of the player to your LEFT! Move 1 card from their Pants to your hand!
- The Mighty Oak Has Fallen! — Flip 1 card in the Pants of the player to your LEFT!
[edit] Credits
Creators: Matt & Mike Chapman
Designers: Christopher Badell, Christopher Burton, Matthew Kroll
Developers: Paul Bender
Art: Matt & Mike Chapman
Graphic Design: SaRae Henderson
Playtesters: Josh Arsenstam, Matthew Bender, Josh Bingaman, Darrell Louder, Bailey Pittman, Twuana Price, Evan Ritt, Jane Ritt, Tony Srimongkolkul, Gwen van Dall-Friedman, James Yeung, and many more at conventions and playtest events!
[edit] References
- ^ Nale, Katie. "Greater Than Games Ownership Returns to Original Founders". Greater Than Games, 12 May 2026.
- ^ @StrongBadActual tweet (8 Jul 2022) & @strongbadactual Instagram post (8 Jul 2022)
- ^ Meehan, Alex. "Spirit Island studio reveals Strong Bad party game Dangeresque: Crime Scene Tamperer". Dicebreaker, 27 July 2022.
- ^ "Greater Than Games Team Reduced in Response to Tariff Crisis". Greater Than Games, 17 April 2025.
- ^ Nale, Katie. "Greater Than Games at Gen Con 2026". Greater Than Games, 1 July 2026.
[edit] See Also
[edit] External Links
- Crime Scene Tamperer at Greater Than Games
- watch "Dangeresque Crime Scene Tamperer Promo"
- watch "Dangeresque Crime Scene Tamperer Promo" on YouTube
