Spyfall
Walk a mile in the shoes of a spy! Or was it a kilometer in clogs?
SPYFALL is an easy-to-learn card game of bluffing, probing questions, clever answers, and suspicion. At the start of each round, players receive a secret card letting them know where they are – a casino, space station, pirate ship, circus, (30 unique locations!) – except that one player receives the SPY card instead of the location. The Spy doesn’t know where he is, but wins the round if he can figure it out before he blows his cover!
Players then start asking each other questions during the intense 8-minute rounds. Non-Spy players want to ask questions and give answers that prove to the other players that they know where they are. But watch out! If your questions and answers are too specific, the Spy will easily guess the location and win, so you need to practice a bit of subtlety. But if your questions and answers are too generic, you might be accused of being the Spy. The Spy will also sometimes be asked questions (just like any other player would) and have to come up with questions of his own, without knowing anything about where he is! If you listened carefully to the other players, you’ll be able to come up with a plausible question or answer… hopefully.
Once per round, each player may accuse another player of being the Spy. If all players agree, the game ends and that player’s secret card is flipped up. If the Spy is captured, each of the Non-Spy players win the round. If a Non-Spy is revealed, the Spy wins. Finally, if the Spy figures out where he is, he can reveal his card and make a guess. If he’s right, he wins the round. If not, the Non-Spy players win.
The game is played over a series of rounds and points are awarded each round. A complete game is typically five rounds and the cards are randomly dealt each round. You could even be the Spy two rounds in a row! After the last round, the player with the most points is the winner.
User Reviews (2)
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Spyfall is an interesting social game. In this game, players will be given a card, that will show an illustration about the location that players are in. The twist is that one player will be the spy and his card won’t show the location. When the game begins, starting from the first player, he will ask a question about the location to another player, which that player need to answer in a way that he can convince other players that he’s not the spy but in the same way, doesn’t reveal any clue to the spy about the location itself. Then that questioned player can ask another player with different question.
The twist in the game lies in the deduction process among the players with certain directed questions. Players need to careful structure their question in a way that’s not really exposing but hit the spot to those who know the answer. The down side is that the players sometimes couldn’t come up with good questions, its hard to get the safest but helping question without giving away any clue to the spy. And in addition, for new players they need to consider the available locations provided in the game, so that they can figure out what aspect is relevant to that specific location.
It’s a fun game, though some group might encounter frustrating stages with the questions so that the game could work smoothly.
Meanwhile, experienced players usually take this easier cause they already have experienced in the past about what kind of questions that good or bad, so they can use that element to consider what is the suitable questions and answers. So they need to constantly check the other locations available to give clearer sense about the scope of questions and answers.
For the spy, since it’s a random game, there’s a possibility that he’s the one to go first to ask or answer, this is very dangerous cause he will go without any clue at all. This is critical timing to mark hit or miss game.
The game really shines with more players, since the deduction and discussion could blend in and give a good play rather than a restricted topic and easily tracked discussion among few players.
I struggle to find games that my friends and families will enjoy… or even sit through learning the instructions for. if it isnt cluedo or monopoly they lose interest very quickly.
Everyone got into spyfall at christmas and really enjoyed the social / deception aspects of the game. Super simple, super fun. It has more depth then it seems too if you play with people that are particularly good at how to phrase the questions…