Spyfall

This entry I'm going to talk about one of my new favourite party games, Spyfall from Cryptozoic.  It is a relatively simple social deduction game, that can be played over any number of rounds you choose, so one game can be as short or long as you like.

Each round is started by picking a deck of location cards without looking at them.  You remove cards so there is one less than the number of players (5 in a 6 player game), then shuffle in a spy card.  These are dealt out to each player and everyone looks at their card.  All but one of the players will know what location they are at, but one will just have a card that says "Spy".  All the players except the spy will have the same location card.

The round then starts.  A timer is started and players take it in turns to ask another player one question.  That player answers and then they can ask any other player (except the one that asked them) a question and so on.  These questions can be anything from "what was being served for lunch?" to "why are you dressed like that?".  In fact it can be anything the players like apart from "are you the spy?" or "where are we?".

The questions will carry on until the timer runs out but any player can stop the timer during the game.  A player with a location card can stop to call a vote on who they think the spy is, if the majority of players agree the round ends and the accused has to show their card.  If it is the spy the players win, if it isn't the spy wins.  If players don't agree then the timer restarts and the round continues.  The Spy can stop the timer at any time and reveal themself to try and guess the location the other players are at, if they get it right they win, wrong and the players win.

If the timer runs out each player, starting with the dealer, gets to call a vote on who the spy is the same as if they had stopped the timer.

When the round is over points are awarded based on who won and how then another location deck is picked and a new round is started.  The game carries on like this until you reach the agreed upon number of rounds when scores are added and whoever got the most points is the winner.

If players want to add an extra layer of depth each location card has a role on it as well that the players can answer as if they are that role.  These could be different employees or visitors to the location.  The rules say this is a more advanced game but it is easy enough to add and I think can actually make some of the locations easier to answer questions on if you have a set person to roleplay.  I don't see any reason not to use the roles and even non gamers have picked it up quickly with the roles.

To make it easier to set up I store my game with each location deck in a separate bag (included in the game) with the spy card on the bottom of the deck.  This means even if I pick the deck up I can't see the location card just a spy card.  I then remove cards from the top of the deck until I have the right number for the group and shuffle.

The game also includes a  list of all the locations in the middle of the rule book so the spy knows all the possible locations.  There are about 35 locations included in the base game so it is handy for people that have played before as well.  The issue is that if someone keeps looking at the list it could be obvious they are a spy.  It is worth looking at if you aren't the spy so you know your answer or question can't be linked to just one location and completely giving the game away, but really analysing it is a spyish thing to do.  To get round this we hand it round before people look at their cards each round so everyone gets a chance to look, then when you select someone to ask a question to you hand them the sheet so they have it in their hand and can't be caught looking at it in the middle of the table.

The Good
The card quality is really good on this game and the box is small enough that it is portable and just big enough to store everything bagged up.  So I'm happy with the components.

The game is fast and a really nice twist on other social deduction games like Werewolf or Resistance.  In Spyfall both sides are trying to work something out instead of one trying to guess a traitor (or werewolf) and the other just stay hidden.  Guessing the location as the spy is hard but when you guess correctly is really satisfying.

I really like being the spy because there is a real sense of tension every time someone asks you a question.  It can also be really funny when you aren't the spy and the spy answers a question in a way that make so little sense for the location that it's funny.  You can also get some really cagey answers off people that don't want to give anything away to the spy that can really be hilarious.

The game is also easy to pick up, I have played it with non gamers and had them win overall.  I've even managed to play it with my sister, who previously has only been willing to play Bang! the Dice Game and One Night Ultimate Werewolf, so if you are looking for a party game that has enough for gamers to enjoy but easy enough for non gamers to join in this would be a good pick.

The Bad
There isn't much wrong with this game, as a party game it is one of my favorites and I have always had a good time playing it.

If I had to pick a few things one would be the number of  location can be an issue as it is hard for the spy to know them all without the list in the rules.  Looking at that isn't good for the spy to stay hidden but it can be hard to narrow the location down without it.  I explained what we do to help out with this but passing it around has started to bend and damage the rule book a little so I'm thinking of printing off some smaller individual lists to hand out to people.

Another slight issue we found is that people who know the location sometimes make the game really hard for everyone else on their team.  This is, in my experience, worse with people that are gamers.  They can be so desperate not to give information to the spy that they don't give enough information to their team for the team to rule them out as a potential spy.

Overall
If you haven't guess already I like this game.  Even the negatives add to the game.  Players not giving enough information is one of the parts I like about the game.  Trying to give enough detail in your answer that players know you aren't the spy while at the same time not giving so much away the spy can guess where you are is hard and really interesting.  Similar with the number of location, it can mean you have to rely on looking at the list when you are the spy, but with so many locations there is a lot of reply value and it makes randomly guessing harder.  As a spy you just have to look at the list without being noticed (a skill any good spy should have anyway) if you don't have a good enough memory to remember the whole list from your look before the round starts.

I'm yet to show it to something that didn't enjoy it, from my regular gaming group to the manager of a pub we were playing in who after joining in and winning was trying to convince me to leave it at the bar to be a "pub game" so she could keep playing it.