Spyfest
Spyfest Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 28 Non-Fictional Character cards
- 28 Fictional Character cards
- 2 blank Character cards
- 24 Keyword cards
- 14 Action cards
- 16 Red Carpet Line cards
- 2 Spy standees
- 2 standee bases
- 2 dry-erase markers
- 2 double-sided Character sheets
- 2 double-sided Keyword sheets
- Game Rules
You might also need a timer — you'll find one on any smartphone.
All of the time limits listed in the rules are subject to the group's approval. Setting a timer will help to settle any disputes and will also intensify your rivalry.
Game Overview
Players split up into two teams. The game is played over a series of rounds, where one player becomes the Spy and receives a Character card. The Spy's goal is to describe their Character in such a way that their team could guess who they are and the other, intercepting, team couldn't. Each team's goal is to be the first to guess the Character the Spy is talking about. The intercepting team always gives the first answer when the game is stopped, but the Spy's team has a significant advantage: they know a Keyword. The Keyword is a special item used by the Spy during their description.
The intercepting team has the full lists of Characters and Keywords.
The sooner the Spy's Character is guessed, the more points the corresponding team scores and the further their standee is moved along the Red Carpet Line made up of cards.
Whichever team makes it to the last card of the Red Carpet Line first, wins.
Setup
Set aside the 2 Red Carpet Line cards with "Start" and "Victory!". Shuffle all other Red Carpet Line cards and place them in a row face-up so they form a Red Carpet Line. Place the "Start" card at the beginning of the line and the "Victory" card at its end. Place 2 Spy standees on the "Start" card.
Players split up into 2 teams of similar size and skill. Each team receives a Character sheet, Keyword sheet, marker, and Action deck with either of 2 backs. Each team places their Action cards in front of them, face-up.
Decide together which characters you want to guess — either Fictional or non-Fictional. Place both Character sheets with the corresponding side up. Sort Character cards by the symbols on their faces into two piles. Take the corresponding Character deck, shuffle it thoroughly and place it in the middle of the table, face-down.
Decide which Keywords you want to use. Place both Keyword sheets with the corresponding side up. Sort Keyword cards by letters А and В on their faces into two piles. Take the corresponding Keyword deck, shuffle it thoroughly and place it next to the Character deck, face-down. Put all unused Character cards back in the box and set aside all unused Keyword cards, away from the play area.
Study the list of Characters and make sure each player knows them. If any of the Characters seem unfamiliar to you, read their short overview at the end of this rulebook or search for additional information on the Internet.
The team with fewer players goes first. If the number of players is equal, the first is the team which has more electronic gadgets placed on the table. If there is still a tie, the first is the team with the lowest charge level. Put all gadgets away except one to use it as a timer.
Red Carpet Line
- You may shorten the playing time by placing less Red Carpet Line cards.
- If the Red Carpet Line cards don't fit on your table, place them in two rows so they form a U-turn.
Restrictions for the Spy
The Spy should describe the Character in the first person to avoid giving away the Character's gender.
The Spy may not:
- Refer to letters in the Keyword. Example: "My name starts with the third letter of the Keyword."
- Refer to details in the picture. Example: "My hand is raised."
- Refer to the Character or Keyword sheets. Example: "The Keyword listed below mine would help me during my work."
- Use personal information that some players are not aware of. Example: "I starred in that movie we watched yesterday."
- Whisper or speak quietly so somebody couldn't hear them.
The Spy may:
- Mention Keyword's shape, materials or parts. Example: "From the material of our Keyword you can do what I do for a living." (Keyword: Candle, Character: Michelangelo.)
- Connect the Keyword with Character's relatives, friends or enemies. Example: "I don't use the Keyword, but one of my friends could." (Keyword: Swimsuit, Character: Tin Man.)
- Use public information. Example: "Last year they released a movie about me."
Use other characters with similar names. Example: Homer — the ancient Greek poet and the character of Simpsons.
Gameplay
At the start of the round, the team whose turn it is chooses one player to be their Spy.
The Spy looks at the Red Carpet Line card with their team's standee on it and reads its effect out loud. The effect is resolved either immediately or during the round depending on the card's text. Then, the Spy draws the topmost cards of the Character and Keyword decks without showing them to others. The Spy looks at both cards and passes the Keyword card to their team, face-down.
The Spy starts talking about themselves as the Character. The other players don't know which character the Spy is, but they have the full Character list on their sheets and they are trying to guess.
During their description, the Spy somehow tries to refer to the Keyword known by their teammates but not known by the intercepting team.
Questions to the Spy
Any player may ask the Spy a question without interrupting them. If the Spy wants, they may answer the question, but they also may refuse to answer it.
When the game is stopped for an attempt to reveal the Spy (see below), questions may not be asked anymore.
Exception for both cases: when the "Ask the Spy a question" Action card is used, they must answer honestly: "Yes" or "No". See Action Cards below.
Notes on the Sheets
All players within one team (except the Spy) may covertly discuss the Spy's possible identity and take notes on their sheets (e. g. write a question mark next to the Character that seems to fit the description and show the sheet to their teammates). You may not show your notes to the Spy because they will start playing along.
Guessing the Spy's Identity
Both teams have 3 shared attempts to reveal the Spy's identity. Each attempt consists of 1 guess by each team. At any point during the game, any player (except the Spy) may stop the game to try and guess which Character the Spy is. Regardless of who stopped the game, both teams make one guess each. The intercepting team is always the first to make their guess, and the Spy's team is the second.
The intercepting team has 30 seconds to discuss and make their guess.
Then, if the guess is not correct, it's the Spy's team's turn to discuss the Spy's identity for 30 seconds and make their guess. If both teams don't guess the Character, the game is continued and the Spy may keep going with their description.
- When the game is stopped, both teams must make their guesses. If any of the teams don't make their guesses, the attempt is spent anyway.
- If there are several answers given accidentally, only the first one is taken into account.
- When the game is stopped, the Spy may not continue talking about their Character or answer questions (except when the "Ask the Spy a question" Action card was played, see page 5.)
If the Character is named correctly, the Spy reveals their Character card. Then, both teams cross that Character out on their sheets and the team that got the Character right scores victory points (VPs) and moves their standee along the Red Carpet Line as follows:
- The Spy is revealed from the first attempt — 3 VPs, the team moves 3 cards forward.
- The Spy is revealed from the second attempt — 2 VPs, the team moves 2 cards forward.
- The Spy is revealed from the third attempt — 1 VP, the team moves 1 card forward.
Note:
- You may mark wrongly named Characters with minuses on your sheets to remember which Characters are not taking part in this round.
Round End
The round can end in three ways:
- either the Spy is guessed, or
- all three attempts of both teams fail, or
- the Spy is done with their description and hasn't been adding anything for 1 minute.
At the end of the round, the Spy discards their Character card so everyone can see it, both teams cross that Character from their sheets since its card is out of the game now. The Keyword card is shuffled back into the Keyword deck and might be drawn later in the game.
It's another team's turn now and the new round begins.
Game End
Whichever team's standee is the first to get to the "Victory!" card on the Red Carpet Line, wins the game.
Red Carpet Line Effects
While advancing along the Red Carpet Line, both teams will apply additional effects from the cards they stop on. Some of the effects are resolved at the beginning of the round, some of them — at the end. The "Start" and "Victory!" cards don't have any additional effects.
Important! You must resolve the effect of the card (and only that card) that the Spy's team's standee is standing on.
Both teams flip their Keyword sheets and replace the Keyword deck: at the beginning of the round, both teams flip their Keyword sheets, take the unused Keyword deck, shuffle it and replace the current Keyword deck with it.
VPs are scored in reverse: the first attempt scores 1 VP, the third attempt — 3 VPs: during this round, the first attempt scores only 1 VP, the second attempt — 2 VPs, the third — 3 VPs. On one hand, it's better to wait until the third attempt to score more VPs, on the other hand, someone else might prefer not to wait and guess the Spy's identity earlier.
The teams have a maximum of two attempts to reveal the Spy: the round is over after two failed attempts instead of three.
The teams have a fourth attempt to reveal the Spy: It scores 1 VP: the round is not over after the third failed attempt, both teams may make a fourth attempt according to the usual rules.
The Spy draws two Characters instead of one and keeps any one of them: at the beginning of the round, the Spy draws two Character cards instead of one, picks one of them and shuffles the other one back into the Character deck.
The Spy draws another Keyword: at the beginning of the round, the Spy draws an additional card from the Keyword deck, looks at it and gives it to their team saying "This is the second Keyword". Now, the Spy may use both Keywords during their description.
The Spy reveals three Keywords from the deck: at the beginning of the round, the Spy draws the three topmost cards from the Keyword deck and lines them up, face-up, next to the Red Carpet Line. The intercepting team now knows that those Keywords are out of the current round. At the end of the round, the Keywords are shuffled back into the deck.
The Spy must describe the Keyword based on the Character: this round is played in the opposite way: the Spy draws a Character card and a Keyword card, but they keep the Keyword card to themselves and they pass the Character card to their team. Now, their goal is to describe the Keyword based on the Character. All other rules stay the same.
Action Cards
Each team has a set of 7 Action cards. They provide a significant advantage, but each of them can only be used once. Action cards belong to the whole team, and any player of the team may resolve an Action card if their teammates agree. Once an Action card is used, discard it in the box.
Ask the Spy a question. They must answer honestly: "Yes" or "No": At any point during the game, discard this card to ask the Spy a question. They must answer your question honestly, but the only thing they may say is either "Yes" or "No". This card can be used even when the game is stopped and the Spy can't answer questions: the Action card takes precedence over this rule. This card can be used before your attempt to reveal the Spy or after the other team's attempt. In addition to the usual restrictions, you may not ask if it's a certain Character or a Keyword. For instance, you may not ask: "Is it Cleopatra?" or "Is it an umbrella?"
Make two guesses per attempt: During your attempt to reveal the Spy, before naming a Character, discard this card in the box and name two Characters. If one of them turns out to be correct, you score VPs. Both guesses are considered a single team's attempt to reveal the Spy.
The Spy crosses out a quarter of the Characters: At any point during the game, discard this card to make the Spy cross out one whole quarter of Characters (one of the four parts of the list divided by two lines) on both teams' Character sheets (it must be the same quarter for both teams.) There must be no Spy's Character among the ones that got crossed out. Thus, the list of Characters shortens significantly. This card can be resolved after the intercepting team's guess.
The Spy draws two Characters instead of one and keeps any one of them: At the beginning of the round, discard this card to make the Spy draw two Character cards instead of one, pick one of them and shuffle the other back into the Character deck.
The Spy draws another Keyword: At any point during the game, discard this card to make the Spy draw an additional card from the Keyword deck, look at it and give it to their team saying "This is the second Keyword". Now, the Spy may use both Keywords during their description. If there are several cards of the same kind played, their effects stack ("This is the third Keyword", "This is the fourth Keyword" and so on.)
If you want to make it harder, don't use Action cards at all or reduce their amount.
Tips
Tips for the Spy:
- It's important not to give away either the Character or the Keyword to the intercepting team. If they get the Keyword, the chances of both teams will be equal.
- Try to use the Keyword during your description as much as you can, all other descriptions will be too obvious for the intercepting team.
- Don't try to be too obscure while describing your Character, there is a chance that not only the intercepting team won't get you, but yours won't either.
Tips for all players:
- Don't try to save your Action cards for the future, otherwise, your opponents will get ahead of you.
- Don't forget to erase all temporary notes from your sheets between the rounds and leave all played or removed Characters crossed out during the game.
Game Variants
If you want to use any of the variants listed below, decide together which ones you want to use before starting the game.
- You may describe the Character not in the first person, but using the words "My Character", but you should stick to one gender for all of your descriptions.
- You may allow everyone to search for the info about the Characters on the Internet during the game.
- You may cross some of the Characters out on your sheets and remove their cards from the deck if they seem too difficult or unfamiliar. We advise not to remove more than three Characters.
- If you don't have the ability to place the Red Carpet Line (for instance, while traveling), you may play without it and score your points in the corner of your Keyword sheets. The first team that scores 15 VPs wins.
- You will find two blank Character cards in the box. You may write the names of your own Characters and add them to the game. In order to do that, shuffle your Character into the deck of either Fictional or Non-Fictional Characters depending on where they fit and add the Character's name to the same quarter of both sheets. You may either add your Character to the existing ones or replace any of them with yours (don't forget to remove the card of the excluded Character and cross their name out on both Character sheets.)
Timer Use
If you want, you may use a timer during the game:
- When the game is stopped to reveal the Spy, each team has 30 seconds to discuss and make their guesses.
- You may limit the Spy's description to two-three minutes (decide together whether you want to use this variant before starting the game.)
- When the Spy doesn't know what to add to their description you may set a timer for 1 minute, and if they don't say anything else and the game doesn't get stopped by any of the teams, the round is over.
Round Example
George is the Spy. He looks at the Red Carpet Line: his team's standee is on the card saying "The teams have a maximum of two attempts to reveal the Spy". He understands that this round will be shorter than usual and he should describe their Character in a simpler way.
George draws a Character card and a Keyword card. He got "Joan of Arc" and "Spacesuit". He shows the card with "Spacesuit" to his team. At first glance, the Keyword and the Character have nothing in common, but George starts saying:
"I don't need this Keyword at all, but I definitely used something similar, of the same shape and function. More to say, I was famous for it."
George meant Joan's armor, she is usually depicted wearing it.
Ann, George's team member, thinks that she got it and stops the game. According to the rules, the other team is the first to make their guess, so Ann waits for her turn. Even though the second team has so little information, they must try to guess the Character. Steve, a member of the intercepting team, names Michelangelo thinking that the Keyword is a screwdriver that looks like a trowel. His guess is wrong, so it's George's team's turn to make their guess. Ann names Julius Caesar: she got the link about the armor, but she didn't get the details about the Character. Both answers are wrong, so the players mark both guesses as wrong and George proceeds with his description, trying to lead his team to the correct guess.
Character Overviews
Non-Fictional Characters
- Abraham Lincoln — The 16th president of the United States, national hero and slavery abolisher.
- Vladimir Lenin — A Russian revolutionary and creator of the USSR.
- Harry Houdini — An American illusionist and stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts.
- Ludwig van Beethoven — A German composer and pianist. At the age of 26, he started developing deafness.
- Marie Curie — A Polish and naturalized French scientist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, was awarded The Nobel Prize in physics and chemistry.
- Confucius — A Chinese philosopher and the recognized founder of Confucianism, a system of social and ethical philosophy.
- Pocahontas — The daughter of a Native American tribal chief, she married a British tobacco planter, traveled to England and was presented to English society.
- Leonardo da Vinci — An Italian artist and scientist of the Renaissance. "Mona Lisa" is one of his most well-known pieces of art.
- Charles Darwin — An English naturalist and traveler best known for his contributions to the theory of evolution, natural selection and the origin of species.
- Napoleon Bonaparte — A French statesman and military leader who established the foundations of modern public administration.
- Joan of Arc — A national heroine of France of the Hundred Years' War period. Nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" for leading the French army to victory at Orléans.
Fictional Characters
- Baba Yaga — A Slavic folklore character who appears as a ferocious-looking old woman dwelling deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs.
- Pinocchio — The protagonist of the children's novel by Carlo Collodi, a wooden puppet dreaming of becoming a real boy.
- Heracles — An ancient Greek mythological divine hero, demi-god and son of Zeus known for his twelve labors and enormous power.
- Jay Gatsby — The title character of the F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, a millionaire with a mysterious past and a questionable source of wealth.
- Minotaur — An ancient Greek mythological character, the son of a mortal woman and a bull, locked at the center of the Labyrinth, a maze-like prison on the island of Crete.
- The Little Mermaid — The protagonist of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid who fell in love with a human and was willing to give up her voice and tail to gain human legs.
- Tom Sawyer — The title character of Mark Twain's novels, a light-hearted and merry boy who loves books and adventures.
- Tin Man — A character in the fictional Land of Oz created by L. Frank Baum, an ordinary man trapped in a mechanical body and dreaming about a real heart.
- Cinderella — The title character of a European fairy tale, a young girl, mistreated by her step-mother and step-sisters.
- Mowgli — The protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book stories, a boy raised by a bear, a panther and a pack of wolves.