My team plays a whole lot of social party games when we are away on trips or just conversing during preseason. Our favorites include Mafia, Spyfall, and Riddles such as “Click-Click-Bang”. So when we were assigned this project and I saw that Spyfall was on the list, it was a great excuse to gather some of my buddies together and play some more of it.
Response:
Spyfall – an analog party game made by Alexander Ushan – is arguably a game for friends and family, although supports total strangers as well. My teammates and I love playing it because we know each other so well, yet we always get to see a different side of each other when someone is the spy. In our most recent session, I played with 5 of my friends: Shane, Jackson, Alfonso (Fons), and Emma. While there is the online version linked in canvas, we like just using pieces of paper and writing down random places to make it even more interesting than a set list of locations for the secret meeting. In our first game, the place was “The Axe and Palm”. While we didn’t know it at the time, Fons was the spy and the rest of us were regulars. I started off by asking Emma “what time of day do you usually visit this place?”, to which she said “late in the night”. This lead me to believe that she knew the correct location, and narrowed down the spy to Fons, Shane, or Jax. Emma then asked Fons “What do you usually do at this location?” and Fons replied “hang out with my friends”, which in all honesty, kind of made me think he knew it, although in hindsight that’s fairly generic of an answer. Fons then asked Shane “What do you usually bring with you to this place?” and Shane said “wallet for sure”. Fons made a funny face at this, which because we all know him, made us start suspecting him, so Shane then asked back to him, “how many people can be in this place at once?” and Fons hesitated before saying “20”. At this point we all thought it was Fons so we called him out as the spy. He then guessed Rose and Crown as the location, but obviously that was incorrect. It was a rather quick round, but Fons is known for overextending himself when he is the spy and trying to guess too many details when he doesn’t know the place.
Playing this game always highlights my binary nature. I typically see stuff in fairly black and white and try to be as specific as possible. So my answers and questions in this game are usually to the point and more direct than others might be. With that said, in contrast, I am also very non-confrontational and so when people like Jackson who are very confrontational start pulling at a thread, especially in this game where the 1-on-1 interrogation mechanic heightens the intensity, I’m usually the one that deflects heat and tries to keep things level. Furthermore, since there is only one spy, I don’t feel the need to be too worried or paranoid, so I usually extend more grace to everyone than others might, I think the choice to have a single spy and not a couple is a great mechanic and presents a fun kind of mix between multiple competition and unilateral competition in regards to the players. The rules are fairly simple, as you can ask one question at a time with one answerer at a time, and you can call out the spy whenever. It’s neither sensory overload or deprivation. It leaves the perfect amount of room for different variations to occur within it, which is something I love in games; replay-ability. It is also fascinating with its objectives, I find it to be a combination of outwit and forbidden act, similar to Mafia, another game I love. And with its zero sum outcome, it makes every person try their hardest as there are clear winners and losers. Despite not being confrontational, I am very competitive and this game is perfect for me as I can focus on my individual game and show my competitive side by being the smartest I can be, while not having to directly attack people, but instead watching and learn from others.
All in all, I love this game. I think it is perfect in its mechanics, it is super simple. In fact the first time I ever played, I was the spy and I won, which I think demonstrates how easy it is to pick up. My one place for improvement is just expanding the locations to include both more places and places that have a higher importance for the group that is playing together – however, this is easily achievable by making your own cards (pieces of paper) like my friends and I have done.
Ethics:
While we can all agree that lying is a morally wrong thing to do, we find that it is socially acceptable to do in these bluffing games because of the context around the game. That last word is key, it is a game and when you play with friends, everyone knows this. What is said in the game stays in the game, and when we play we create characters of ourselves that are not a direct 1-to-1 representation. It’s like DnD, the characters you play there aren’t us, and what they do isn’t necessarily something that we would do. It’s just what is needed for the game. While DnD is a more literal example of paying a character, the same idea applies to bluffing games like Spyfall. When we sit down, the magic circle is the room that you’re in, and there you are a person who has a simple operative – either find out who is the spy, or find out where the location is. Anything to get to that point, barring physical or emotional damage to others, is acceptable, as that’s what that character needs to do.
I think where this game differs from others in this list is that many of the other ones includes rounds where you either apply more and more rules each round, or you get rid of more and more people. Spyfall however, is (at least how we play) essentially a single round game. You have one try to find the spy and get rid of them, which only heightens tensions and makes everything that is said even more critical – further allowing for lying I would say since you don’t have nearly as much time to be composed and try to play “clean”.
