Who are the people in the shadows? What silent supremacies have power over governments? What are their motives? Can they be trusted? Can they be stopped? Throughout the twentieth century, secret agents were used in a hidden war upon which the fate of nations very much depended.

You are in control of a country’s secret service agency, with a small team of spies to put to work. Your task is to use Intelligence cards to influence your country into taking wise decisions. The trouble is, enemy spies have infiltrated and are influencing your country into taking less wise decisions! Develop your culture to make it easier to spot enemy spies, improve science to get access to more elaborate cards, further your military to increase the number of spies at your disposal, or invest in economy to pay for bonus actions, known as Secret Directives.

Aim: There are four different types of Intelligence cards which are used to make progress on 4 corresponding development tracks. The winner of the game is the first player to reach the end of any one of these tracks. As players progress up the tracks, which each have 10 spaces, they also unlock various benefits:

• Economy: Increases income of coins. Coins are spent on bonus actions, which happen at the end of a round.

• Military: Increases number of spies you have. More spies means more actions can be taken in each round.

• Science: Makes more cards available. There are three levels of cards; at the beginning of the game, players only have access to the most basic cards.

• Culture: Means capturing enemy spies is easier. At the end of a round, players who have developed culture can roll 0 - 2 dice to try to capture enemy spies.

SECRET

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In addition to trying to progress on development tracks, players need to build a deck of cards made up of Intelligence cards and Action cards. Cards can be added to their deck through research actions, which allow players to take cards from a shared supply. Most of the time, cards that are played return to that players deck by reshuffling their discard pile. However, playing Intelligence cards into another player’s country removes that card from their deck more permanently, and can also slow their opponents progress on the development tracks.

1 M I L I T A R Yhome or abroad

1[intelligence]

1 S C I E N C Ehome or abroad

1[intelligence]

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12

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56

78

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Military

12

34

56

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Science

12

34

56

78

910

STOP

STOP

Culture

12

34

56

78

910

STOP

12

3

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2

34

5

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on a beach

HQJail1

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A D M I Nhome

1[action]

1 card / +11 research

Enemy spy foundwashed up on beach

A S S A S S I N A T Ehome or abroad

2[action]

L E A Khome or abroad

2[action]

Play up to 2 intelligence cards1 card / +2

P A R A C H U T Ehome or abroad

2[action]

Move a spythen play one card

Move enemy back 2 stepson development track

S A B O T A G Eabroad

3[action]

Convert an enemy to work for you.Trash after played

H O N E Y P O Tabroad

3[action]

Convert an enemy to work for you.Trash after played

H O N E Y P O Tabroad

3[action]

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1 E C O N O M Yhome or abroad

1

[intelligence]

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1

[intelligence]

A D M I Nhome

1[action]

1 card / +11 research

1 S C I E N C E

home or abroad

1

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1 M I L I T A R Y

home or abroad

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Hand

Player (country) board

Discard pile

Deck (10 cards)

Development board

Science decks

Science cards

Trash piles

Secret Directives (2 each)

Bank of coins

First player marker

Three Spies

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Set up for a 2 player game

11

12

Setup

1) Sort the action cards into the three research levels (each level is written on the bottom right of each card next to the conical flask (science) symbol).

2) Shuffle Secret Directive cards (black backs) and deal two to each player.

3) Pull out the starting deck (all science level 1) for each player, consisting of:

• 2 Economy Intelligence cards, • 2 Military Intelligence cards, • 2 Science Intelligence cards, • 2 Culture Intelligence cards, • 2 Administration Action cards.

4) Each player shuffles their starting deck and deals him/herself a hand of 5 cards.

5) Each of the three science levels decks are then shuffled separately. Turn over the top three cards of each of the three research decks.

6) Give each player a country player board, and place 3 spies of their corresponding colour in their HQ, setting aside unused spies. Each player also takes one coin from the bank.

7) Each player places a maker of corresponding colour on each of the four development tracks.

8) First player marker given to a player at random.

Game structure

The game is played over a number of rounds. Each round consists of a number of turns. A turn is one spy doing something. A round ends when all spies from all players have been used to do something. At the end of each round there is an opportunity to play a Secret Directive bonus action, followed by development scoring, culture rolls and some tidying up.

Starting items for each player: • 1 coin, •3 spies of corresponding colour, •Player (country) board, •10 card deck from which 5 cards dealt to form the players’ hands, •2 Secret Directive cards.

At the start of the game, place development cubes on the “0” on each of the four development tracks.

Options on a turn (choose one): • Move, •Play Intelligence card, •Play Action card, •Research (home only), •Collect income (home or abroad), •Pick up a Secret Directive (home).

End of round sequence: •Play Secret Directive, •Development, •Discard, •Rehabilitation, •Culture rolls, •Flip spies back and deal five cards from deck (shuffle discard pile if deck runs out). •Move first play marker

Turn in detail

Starting with the first player, each player takes turns selecting a spy and deciding what action they will take. One turn is the doing of one thing by one spy. This spy is then flipped over to the “X” side to show that it has been played. Once a player’s spy has taken one turn, play proceeds to the next player (clockwise). Once a spy is flipped, it cannot take another action that round. The end of the round is when all spies, from all players, have been flipped. The options for spies are as follows:

1) Move. Take a spy from HQ to another country’s Capture track. Place the spy on the “0” space, “X” side up. If the spy takes a further action in the country, they move up the capture track one space, making them more likely to be captured (see later in the clean up phase). If all the capture tracks are occupied, then no one else can spy in that country. Spies can be also be moved between other countries, or back to the home HQ.

2) Play Intelligence card. Intelligence cards are marked as such on the lower left of the card. Intelligence cards are played into the intelligence slots of the country that the spy is currently located. You want to play intelligence cards in your own country as these move you up the development track (towards

v ictory) . P laying an intelligence card in a n o t h e r c o u n t r y cancels out one of their own intelligence cards (owing to conflicting influences leading to i n d e c i s i o n , f u l l y explained in the End of Round section).

1 S C I E N C Ehome or abroad

1[intelligence]

1 C U L T U R E

home or abroad

1

[intelligence]

3) Play Action card. These are special cards that give

you additional benefits, and are identified by “Action” being written on the bottom left. Some action cards can only be played in certain locations (home or abroad, i.e., when the spy is in yours or an enemy country). Either way they go in to your own discard pile after use. Each action card is explained in the Appendix at the end. Cards with multiple actions can be performed in any order, but all steps must be performed.

4) Research. (home only) You can research a card to add to your deck. You are limited by the science level you are at (initially only level 1 science cards can be researched). By progressing up the science development track, you can unlock the upper levels. To research, draw two cards from the top of any deck available to you then choose one card from those two, or any face up card available. Replace any face up cards chosen, and trash used cards.

5) Income. (home or abroad - if abroad move up capture track) Flip over a spy and collect the amount given by coin symbol amount on the Economy track.

6) Pick up a Secret Directive. (home only) Draw one card from the top of the Secret Directives deck. You can hold an unlimited number of Secret Directives. If there are none left, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Note: It is not possible to “pass”, you must flip one spy on one turn.

Play continues until all the spies are flipped. Sometimes one player will have more spies than the others, in this case they get extra turns after everyone else has played all spies.

Example Action card

End of round

This is where Secret Directives are played, progress is made on the development tracks, and spies are captured. Do the below in the following order:

1) Secret Directive. Each player may take one additional bonus action written on one of their Secret Directives. He/she pays the associated number of coins to the bank. If more than one player want to play a secret directive at the same time, default to the order from the first player marker. However this order is not fixed, i.e., players can respond to a secret directive even if they are earlier in turn order, provided they have not already played a Secret Directive that round. After playing a Secret Directive, put the card in a discard pile. If you have less than two Secret Directives, draw back up to two.

2) Development. For each country, the development is calculated as the difference between the most influenced area and the second most. Players then move their development cubes up the track which they have scored in (see examples). If a player reaches the “10” space on any one of the development tracks, they have won (see Winning the Game). Some spaces have STOP points which limit the development that can be done per round.

3) Discard. Place remaining cards from your hand in to your discard pile. Also, place all intelligence cards from your country in to your discard pile.

4) Rehabilitation. Move spies from rehabilitation to HQ, and from being Found washed up on a beach (a consequence of assassination) into rehabilitation, and get more spies into HQ (if progressed on Military track).

Example secret directive card

5) Culture rolls. The more culture you have, the more likely it is that you can root out enemy spies. On the Culture development track there are positions with a book and a number. The number tells you the number of times you can roll a 6 sided die to try to capture an enemy spy who is currently in your country. For a successful capture, you must roll less than or equal to the enemy spy’s position on the capture track. The capture track starts at “0”, so it is impossible to capture a spy on that space. Captured spies are taken from the capture track and placed in the capturing player’s Jail. The enemy country can pay the ransom (immediately, or during a subsequent clean up phase, which must be accepted) of one coin to the capturing country to retrieve the spy. That spy needs to spend the following round in Rehabilitation, however.

6) Deal yourself a new hand of 5 cards from your deck. If your deck runs out of cards, shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck. Move first player marker round one space clockwise.

Winning the game

The game is won by being the first person, during the Development phase to get to the “10” space. If two players get there at the same time, the winner is whoever has the second highest development track, and so on. If 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th tracks are equal, the game is a tie. If the game has obviously been lost during a round, the losing players are allowed to surrender should they wish.

Development examples:

Example 1. Barry (Blue) has played two Culture intelligence cards to his home country, but Rebecca (Red) had a spy there who played a Military intelligence card. The result is two Culture subtract one Military, so moves his development cube up the Culture track one space.

Example 2. Gregor (Green) had played three Science cards in his home country, but Rebecca (Red) played one Economy card, and Omar (Orange) played a total of two military cards. The result is three Science subtract two Military, giving Gregor one Science development. Rebecca’s Economy card doesn’t influence the result as the total development is only between the most and the second most influenced area.

Example 3. Gregor (Green) Played two Military Cards, and no other player has played any intelligence cards. Normally, this would develop two spaces up the Military track, however, Gregor is on space “5”. The next space has a STOP icon, so he must stop here until the next round.

Notes: It does not matter which country played

the influence cards. A common misunderstanding is to play influence into two development areas, thinking that progress will be made on both. This is not the case. Progress can only be made on one development track per round. There is no way to move backwards on the development tracks (exception: Sabotage)

Strategy Tips: Players should try to focus their decks on

one particular type of intelligence card. Playing cards into other players countries means their development can be slowed, and removes that card from your deck, helping you focus on one area.

Card appendix

Level 1 Administration Take one research action, Draw one card from the top of your deck and take one coin from the bank. Research level depends on science development. Card comes from your deck (reshuffle if needed).

Level 2 Classified Trash cards from your hand. 0-3 cards can be trashed.

Leak Choice of either one card from top of deck or two coins from bank. Then play two intelligence cards from your hand.

Assassinate If played at home, assassinate an enemy spy who is on your capture track/is spying on you. If played away, assassinate a spy from the country you are spying in. The spy is always found washed up the beach of their home country. In the end of round clean up, that spy moves the rehab, and in the following round back to HQ.

Blend in The action is either the playing of an intelligence cards, or another action card.

Parachute Move to the zero space in an enemy country, or back to your own HQ. The action is either the playing of an intelligence cards, or another action card.

Theft If the enemy doesn’t have 3 coins, then take what they do have. There are no IOUs, etc.

Level 3 Honey Pot Remove enemy spy from game (enemy now has one less spy than indicated on the Military track). Take another of your colour and place it in your Rehabilitation space, so the spy can’t be used immediately. Card is trashed after use. Can only have up to a maximum of 5 spies, so cannot be played if you have 5 already. Also cannot be used on a player with 2 or less spies.

Sabotage Whoever plays this card gets to choose which development track to move back. The two points cannot be split between two tracks. Stop spaces are still observed in the backward direction.