The game I chose to play is Spyfall, a bluffing game designed by Alexandr Ushan. The game can be played both physically with cards or digitally on mobile devices. My friends and I opted for the digital version through a website, which made setup quick and accessible. The intended audience of this game is friends and family, as players need to be comfortable enough to lie to each other. It’s also recommended for ages 13+ due to the need for strategic thinking, subtle questioning, and understanding location prompts. Ideally, it’s played with 3 or more players because of the game’s social nature.
Spyfall is a bluffing game where all players receive the same secret location except for one player (the spy) who doesn’t know the location. Players then take turns asking each other vague but revealing questions to identify the spy. On the other side, the spy tries to blend in by acting like they know the location while also trying to guess the actual location before being discovered. Despite being a bluffing game, Spyfall fosters a unique kind of teamwork rooted in shared communication and mutual trust. Players collaborate by reading each other’s intentions, building off of each other’s clues, and learning how to understand each other.
This was my first time playing Spyfall, and I was initially apprehensive because I don’t do well in bluffing games. I’m a terrible liar and usually cave once players have even the slightest inkling that I am the spy. I prefer being on the guessing side because I love analyzing people’s behavior and putting together clues with others. However, after playing the game for over two hours, I came to love both roles.
In the first few rounds where I wasn’t the mole, I noticed that the core mechanism of crafting and asking creative questions added to the collaborative nature of the game. From yes or no questions to fully open-ended questions, the variety encouraged everyone at the table to contribute, even those who were unsure at first (including me!). Unlike Mafia, where players are limited to role-based or accusatory questions, Spyfall promoted more creative and interesting conversations. This made the game feel less intimidating compared to other bluffing games. There was no “right” answer, only shared understanding, which made the experience feel more like a group effort than individual competition. This aligns with the aesthetic of fellowship.
During the first few rounds where I was the mole, I struggled. I went unusually quiet, and my friends picked up the sudden change in my personality immediately. Even though I wasn’t a great spy, I still found the experience surprisingly enjoyable. There’s something unique about Spyfall’s sense of teamwork: everyone except the spy is working together to protect the location, but there’s also this subtle tension where you’re collaborating while still being suspicious of everyone around you. That balance of trust and doubt created a dynamic kind of group thinking. At one point, we even started asking each other personal questions (i.e. questions about our lives, hobbies, etc.) to narrow down who might be bluffing. For example, my friends started asking questions about whether I would go to this location with my younger or older sister. It became less about catching someone in a lie and more about using what we know about each other to achieve a shared goal. It felt like a unique kind of cooperative play, one that actually brought us closer together as friends.
To improve this game, I would want to further develop the location-specific roles in Spyfall. I noticed that we weren’t really using the roles in our questioning, and when we tried to integrate our roles into the question, it started becoming confusing. Moreover, I would add more locations because after multiple rounds, we started getting the same locations over and over again. This started making the game feel redundant.
In a bluffing game like Spyfall, it’s easy for moments of exclusion or misjudgment to feel personal, even if it’s just the core mechanisms of the game. I believe that designers aren’t entirely responsible for preventing hurt feelings, but they can implement systems that encourage inclusion and positive interaction to mitigate these ethical problems. In contrast, I think that much of the ethical responsibility falls on the players. It’s up to the group to establish inclusion, support, and understanding. Being mindful of each other’s emotional boundaries can go a long way in making the game feel safe and fun. At the same time, players who know they’re more sensitive to social rejection should feel like they have the agency to opt in or out, or to communicate their boundaries beforehand. Games like Spyfall thrive when players treat each other with empathy and remember that the goal is not to out one another, but to work together to have fun.
