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Spyfall, among the three kings

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16 Jun 2015 09:58 #204400 by charlest
Spyfall is the best social deduction game since One Night Ultimate Werewolf. There are three seats at the table and they're occupied by these two games and Resistance: Avalon.

Each of these games has their own distinct flow and personality and does things their own way. Avalon is great because of the depth of possible interaction with limited data known at the table. The Merlin/Assassin mechanic is genius and the end of this game is always tense and memorable.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf really shook things up when it came out early last year as it hits hard in a slim five minute ordeal. It's easier to get to the table than Avalon and boasts stronger variety and tension. Aficionados of this genre will tell you one of its main qualities is the evolving metagame and manipulating that to come out on top, this game does it best as the meta evolves so rapidly it's dizzying. With the boundless possibilities presented in the Daybreak expansion this game will have staying power for decades. I've already played 80ish plays and am not anywhere close to being sick.

Spyfall, is the new kid on the block and again, takes a different route. What's interesting about Spyfall is that there is simultaneously more structure and more freedom in its slim mechanics. There is one spy amidst a group and the majority are trying to ferret him out. You do so by taking turns asking each other questions. The advantage the non-spies have is that they know what location the game is set in (think Office Party, Carnival, Zoo, etc.) and are trying to pose questions to each other to see if the other player knows the location. The trick is you don't want to alert the Spy to the location we're at so the art of the question is as important as the answer.

I've seen genius stuff like a person ask, "How harrd is your job?" Just slightly rolling the R and making the rest of us smile, knowing we're on a Pirate ship. The Spy never caught that because it was subtle.

Spyfall is great and you owe it to yourself to try it if you like this genre. I imagine I will give it a full review in the future but I wanted to come here and give it a shout out. You can play it for free with its online implementation (you play in person but use a website to facilitate dealing out the roles/location info) and I urge you to give it a try. It plays 3-8 and succeeds at all player counts, although learning the game at 3 is a bit rough. It does feel very different depending on the player number and most will probably get maximum enjoyment with 5-8. I had a hell of a time fighting off sleep in my hotel room at Origins while playing many 3 player games, which offer their own challenges and rewards.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DeletedUser, MacDirk Diggler, scrumpyjack, Gregarius

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