Spy Connection
Spy Connection Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 double-sided game board
- 5 Start Mission cards
- 43 Mission cards
- 60 Agent discs (15 in each color), with 15 Logo stickers per color
- 4 Spy meeples (1 in each color)
The game board shows Mission spaces, Connection spaces between cities, and City spaces for each of the 12 European cities. Each Mission card shows a set of City goals, with a space to record Assigned Agents.
Setup
Place the game board with the light colored side faceup in the middle of the playing area. Players choose a color and then take the Spy meeple and 15 Agent discs in their color, and place them in front of themselves as a supply.
Variant with 14 Agents
If you have already played Spy Connection, you can choose to play with 14 Agents (instead of 15) to make the game more challenging. All players return 1 Agent back to the box.
In a mixed game of new and experienced players, let the new players play with all 15 Agents.
Shuffle the 43 Mission cards and place them facedown next to the game board to create the Mission deck. Then place 1 Mission faceup on each of the 4 Mission spaces on the game board. Randomly determine the start player.
First Game
Shuffle the Start Mission cards and then deal each player 1 Start Mission to place faceup in front of them. Return any remaining Start Mission cards back to the box. You won't need them for this game.
Advanced Game
Shuffle the Start Mission cards and reveal 1 card for each player. Return any remaining Start Mission cards back to the box. You won't need them for this game.
The player to the right of the start player, chooses 1 of the revealed Start Missions and then the remaining players choose a Start Mission in counterclockwise order. The start player has no choice and will take the last remaining Start mission.
Everyone then places their Start Mission faceup in front of them.
Immediately place 1 Agent on the circle of the City whose name is highlighted in red on your Start Mission. Then place your Spy in the same City on the game board.
Now, the game can begin.
Game Overview
Players take turns in clockwise order.
On your turn, take 1 of the 4 Missions on display or use your Agents to create a connection to a new City for your Spy to travel to.
If your Spy reaches a City depicted on 1 or more of your Missions, you may place 1 Agent in the area for the respective City on each corresponding Mission card.
A Mission is completed when you have Agents in all of the Cities on the Mission card. Once 1 player completes their seventh Mission, all other players will have 1 more turn before the game ends. Then everyone counts their victory points and the player with the most victory points wins.
Game Play
Beginning with the start player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes a turn.
When it is your turn, choose 1 of the following 3 options:
A) Accept 1 new Mission B) Connect 1 new City to your network AND move your Spy to this City. C) Move your Spy to another City on your network.
A) Accept 1 new Mission
Your employers offer you 4 new Missions. The newer the Mission, the more Agents you will have to assign to the Mission for planning. Planning for the oldest Mission has already been completed. Choose your Missions wisely, because the Agents assigned for planning will not be available for other tasks.
Take 1 of the 4 faceup Missions on the game board and place it faceup in front of you.
Important: You may not have more than 3 open Missions at any time.
To the right of the chosen Mission card space on the game board, you will see how many of your Agents must be placed on the Assigned Agents space in the lower left corner of the Mission card. The oldest Mission is free. The other 3 Missions will require you to place 1 or 2 Agents on the Assigned Agents space.
Assigned Agents will not be available again until you complete the Mission (or discard it).
To finish, move all of the faceup Missions down 1 space and then reveal the top card from the Mission deck to place in the open space at the top of the Mission display.
Note: You may discard any of your incomplete Missions at any time during your turn. Place all Agents from a discarded Mission back into your supply. They are now available again.
Example: Lisa already has a Mission to send her Spy to London and Madrid. In the display, there is another Mission that has Madrid as a destination, so Lisa decides to accept it. Since the Mission was revealed recently (as shown in the Mission display), Lisa must place 2 of her Agents in the Assigned Agents space in the lower left corner of the Mission.
Lisa will only get these 2 Agents back when she completes the Mission or discards it.
To finish, Lisa moves the top Mission down 1 space and draws the top card of the Mission deck and places it faceup in the open space in the display.
B) Connect 1 new City to your network AND move your Spy to this City
Your Spy must travel undetected, so you must secure connections between Cities with your Agents thereby creating a large network in which your Spy can safely move in subsequent turns.
Before you connect a new City to your network, you may move your Spy to any City in your network.
Your network includes all of the Cities that your Spy can reach from their current position via continuous connections that your Agents have secured. (Of course you may also choose for your Spy to remain in their current City.)
It is not possible to move your Spy on the first turn, as you must first create a connection.
Now connect 1 new City to your network by placing 1 of your Agents in each space between your Spy's current City and the neighboring City you want to connect to your network.
All players can place Agents in each space. If there is already at least 1 Agent belonging to another player in the space, then you must place 2 of your Agents to secure the space. If there are already 1 or 2 of your Agents on a space, you do not have to add more to that space.
(Even if there are Agents from several players already in the space, you still only need to place 2 of your Agents there.)
If you don't have enough Agents to create the new connection, you can take back Agents first. (See Take Back Agents below.)
If you still don't have enough Agents to create the connection, you can't create it.
After the connection is made, immediately move your Spy over this new connection to the City that was just connected.
Example: Lisa's Spy is in London. From there, she could connect to either Paris or Berlin. She decides to connect to Paris because she plans to connect Madrid on her next turn since it's depicted on 2 of her Missions.
She doesn't need to place an Agent on the space next to London, because she already has 1 of her Agents there from a previous move. The next space contains other players' Agents so Lisa has to place 2 Agents there.
Finally, Lisa moves her Spy to Paris over the new connection and ends her turn.
Take Back Agents
At any point during your turn, you can take back Agents on the game board and place them in your supply.
If you take back Agents from a space on the board with 2 of your Agents, you must take back both Agents.
Your Spy and all of your Agents remaining on the game board must always be in a coherent network. (A City counts as a connection between 2 adjacent Agents.)
In addition, you may take back Agents from your Mission cards in front of you, but never any that are in the Assigned Agents space in the lower left corner of the Mission. (You only get those Agents back when you complete or discard the Mission.)
Example: For this example, we assume that Lisa doesn't have enough Agents in her supply to build the Paris to Madrid connection on her next turn.
She decides to take back the Agent on the space between Berlin and London. She leaves the Agent next to London in its space. This could be an obstacle for other players later.
Lisa would not be able to take back Agents on the London to Paris connection that she created on her previous turn as this would leave her Agents on the London-Berlin connection disconnected from her network.
C) Move your Spy to another City on your network
A large network allows for more efficient movement. And more efficient movement enables you to complete your Missions more quickly!
Move your Spy to a City in your network without adding 1 new City to your network.
Note: You normally only use this option if you have an unfulfilled Mission objective for a City that has already been connected. You can only complete Mission objectives at the end of your turn (See next section.) If you connect 1 new City to your network first, you would have to immediately move your Spy to the new City.
Example: On a later turn, Lisa wants to travel to London to fulfill a Mission objective there. Since she has already built the connection between Madrid and London, she can use this action to move her Spy to London and end her turn there.
End of Turn: Complete Mission Objectives
At the end of each turn, check which City your Spy is in. (Other Cities your Spy has traveled through during the turn are not important.) You can now place 1 Agent in the circle for the matching City objective on each of your Mission cards with that City.
If you now have Agents on all of the City objectives for a Mission card, the Mission is complete. Immediately return all of the Agents for this Mission to your supply and turn the Mission card facedown in front of you.
Note 1: You can use these Agents immediately if you have this City as an objective on other Mission cards.
Note 2: If you don't have an Agent in your supply, you may take back 1 or more Agents from the game board or other Missions first, following the rules for Take Back Agents above.
This number indicates how many victory points you will receive at the end of the game if you have completed this Mission.
This symbol indicates an extra turn. If you complete a Mission with this symbol, you immediately take another turn. If you complete several Missions of this type, you will be able to take several extra turns in a row.
Example: Lisa's Spy arrives in Madrid on her next turn. Lisa has accepted 2 Missions that include Madrid.
First she places 1 of her Agents in the Madrid objective on the Mission where she has already placed an Agent for the London objective.
(If Lisa doesn't have an Agent in her supply to put on the Mission card to complete the Mission, she could first take back Agents to her supply from the game board or other Missions as usual.)
Since this Mission is now complete, Lisa immediately returns all Agents on this Mission back into her supply. Then she places 1 Agent on her second Mission, which also has a Madrid objective.
Lisa immediately takes another turn for completing a Mission with an Extra Turn icon. At the end of the game, the completed Mission will provide 2 victory points.
End of Game
The end of the game is triggered as soon as the first player has completed 7 or more Missions.
Now, all other players will take 1 last turn (in usual turn order). Then the game ends and players total their scores.
Note: If you complete a Mission on your last turn that gives you an extra turn, you still carry it out (and possibly others).
Scoring
- For each completed Mission, you gain the victory points indicated on the respective Mission.
- For every accepted but incomplete Mission, gain 1 victory point for each City objective you have covered with an Agent.
The player with the most victory points wins. If there is a tie, the tied player who took their turn later in the turn order wins.
Variant: Advanced Setup
Play with the darker reverse side of the board. On this side, when you accept a new Mission, you must place 1 additional Agent in the Assigned Agents space for the Mission.
(This means that overall you will have fewer Agents available, especially if you have 2 or 3 incomplete Missions.)
Important: If you don't have any open Missions in front of you when you accept a new Mission, you don't have to place any Agents on the Assigned Agents space regardless of which space the Mission was on in the Mission display.
Note: You should always play this variant with 15 Agents.