Blend in, spot the pattern, unmask the other spies.
Players3–10 players
Duration~15-45 min
Every player secretly becomes one of the suspects on the board. Slide rows and columns to rearrange the grid, gather intel with Investigate, and use Reveal to unmask rivals before they unmask you.
Objective
Earn trophies by correctly revealing the hidden identities of other players. In free-for-all, you are racing solo; in team sub-modes, your team's trophies are pooled together.
The first player (or team) to reach the trophy target for the current sub-mode wins immediately.
Board Setup
The board fills with random suspects, and its size scales with how many players are seated: 5×5 for 3–4 players, 6×6 for 5–6 players, and 7×7 for 7 or more players (7, 8, 9, or 10).
Each player is then secretly assigned one of the on-board suspects as their hidden identity - this is what everyone else is trying to figure out.
ℹ
Match length scales with player count and board size: roughly 15-20 min for a 3-4 player game, 20-30 min for 5-6 players, and 35-45 min for larger 7-10 player games.
Reveal and Investigate both reach the 8 cells around your identity - the same rule at every board size.
You
Your identity
Valid target (adjacent)
Player Setup
When the room is created, seats are automatically assigned to teams based on position - you never pick or claim a team yourself.
In team sub-modes, teammates immediately see each other's hidden identities. Nothing is secret within a team, but you must never reveal a teammate's identity out loud or visibly to your opponents.
Play proceeds in ordinary seating order, one player after another, looping back around the table - this holds for free-for-all and every team sub-mode alike.
Turn Structure
Turns rotate strictly in seating order, one player at a time - there is no separate "team vs team" alternation, even in team sub-modes.
On your turn, choose exactly one action: Shift, Reveal, or Investigate. Once you act, your turn ends and play passes to the next seat.
Teams
Spy Games can be played free-for-all or in one of six fixed team formats. Team size and total players are fixed per sub-mode - you never choose a format independently, it is set when the room is created.
Free-for-all
3, 4, 5, or 6 players, each playing solo with no teams.
2v2 (4 players)
Two teams of 2.
3v3 (6 players)
Two teams of 3.
2v2v2 (6 players)
Three teams of 2.
3v3v3 (9 players)
Three teams of 3 - the only sub-mode with a 5-trophy target instead of 3.
4v4 (8 players)
Two teams of 4.
5v5 (10 players)
Two teams of 5 - the maximum player count for the mode.
Teammates can never be Revealed - any attempt always resolves as a miss.
You must not verbally or visibly reveal a teammate's hidden identity to opponents.
Aside from keeping identities hidden from opponents, teammates play openly with each other, knowing exactly who each other is hiding as from the very start.
Actions
Shift
Spy
Slide a whole row or column by one cell to rearrange the board.
Pick any row or column and slide it one cell in either direction. The cell that falls off one edge wraps around to the opposite edge.
This is the same mechanic used in Inspector vs Mafia: it changes who is adjacent to whom, which shifts what Reveal and Investigate can reach next turn.
Valid targets: Any full row or column on the board.
Targeting yourself: Not applicable - Shift moves a whole row/column, not a single suspect.
⚠
Anti-reverse rule: you cannot immediately undo the last shift on the same row or column by shifting it back in the opposite direction.
Reveal
Spy
Accuse a suspect next to your own identity of hiding another player.
Choose a suspect within the 8 cells adjacent to your own identity and accuse it of being another player's hidden identity.
A correct hit earns you the identity as a trophy, and that player instantly gets a brand-new secret identity from the deck - they are never eliminated, just reassigned.
A miss simply ends your turn with no other penalty.
Valid targets: A suspect among the 8 cells adjacent to your own hidden identity.
Not a legal target: Your own identity cell.
Targeting yourself: Not allowed - you cannot target your own identity with Reveal.
Targeting a teammate: Not possible - attempting to Reveal a teammate always resolves as a miss, so teammates can never be caught by accident.
⚠
You may not Reveal your own identity cell - only cells adjacent to it.
⚠
A Reveal aimed at a teammate always resolves as a miss - there is no way to accidentally catch your own team.
A miss against a teammate
You suspect the Antique Dealer next to you is a rival - you Reveal it, but it turns out to be your own teammate. The action resolves as a miss: no trophy, no penalty, your turn simply ends.
A teammate sits adjacent to you. Reveal never lets you accidentally catch your own team.
You
Teammate - Reveal misses
Teammate identity
Your identity
Investigate
Spy
Check a nearby suspect (or your own identity) to reveal who is hiding close by.
Choose a suspect adjacent to your own identity, or your own identity itself, and investigate it.
Everyone at the table instantly learns the names of every player whose hidden identity is either the investigated suspect or one of the 8 suspects adjacent to it.
This never eliminates, arrests, or reassigns anyone - it is pure public information, with no trophy attached.
Valid targets: A suspect adjacent to your own identity, or your own identity itself.
Targeting yourself: Allowed - you may investigate your own identity cell.
Targeting a teammate: No restriction - Investigate never removes or catches anyone, so it carries no risk to teammates.
⚠
Unlike Reveal, self-targeting is explicitly allowed here - Investigate can be aimed at your own identity cell.
Scouting the neighborhood
You Investigate the Jazz Singer suspect. The table learns that both the Bartender (hiding as the Jazz Singer) and the Chauffeur (hiding one cell away) are revealed by this check - no trophies change hands, but everyone now knows where they are.
Investigate can target your own identity - it just reveals who is on or near that cell.
Investigate self: allowed
Investigate: self allowed
Reveal: self is never a legal target
Step 1 of 2
Win Conditions
Every sub-mode needs 3 trophies to win, except the 3v3v3 (9-player, 3-team) sub-mode, which needs 5 trophies.
In team sub-modes, trophies are pooled - any teammate's successful Reveal counts toward the shared team total.
The first player (free-for-all) or team (team sub-modes) to reach the trophy target wins immediately.
Surrender and Elimination
A player can surrender at any time. They become eliminated, are skipped in the turn rotation from then on, and may keep spectating the rest of the match.
The game only ends early because of a surrender if too few active players or teams remain to continue; otherwise, play simply continues around the surrendered seat.
Caught, Not Eliminated
A player who is successfully Revealed is never removed from the game. They immediately receive a brand-new secret identity drawn from the deck and keep playing as normal.
This means the board is always full of active hidden identities - a successful Reveal only resets who someone is, not whether they are still in the game.
