There is a specific flop sweat that only Spyfall produces: the cold dread of being handed the spy card and realizing you have no idea where everyone else is, and that any moment now somebody is going to ask you a question you cannot possibly answer. I have been that sweating spy. I have also been the smug interrogator who unmasked one. Both are a delight.

Here is the setup. Everyone gets a card naming the same location, a casino, a submarine, a hospital, except for one unlucky soul who gets the spy card and nothing else. Then the questions begin. You take turns asking each other things like do you come here often, or how is the weather in here, each of you trying to prove you know the location without ever naming it. The non spies hunt for the faker; the spy scrambles to deduce the place from everyone’s answers; and one slightly too specific reply can set the whole table ablaze.

The joy is the tightrope every single person walks. Ask a question too precise and you have just handed the spy the answer. Answer too vaguely and your own friends start eyeing you. Meanwhile the spy bluffs through every reply and can, at any moment, simply guess the location and win. It produces glorious little bursts of accusation, second guessing, and triumphant unmasking.

Rounds are short and tense, it scales from a small group to a rowdy crowd, and it teaches in about a minute. Barely any setup, an enormous amount of laughter. It is one of my favorite ways to make a quiet room loud.

Are you a confident spy or a sharp eyed interrogator? Tell me below, and tell me about the question that blew your cover. Mine involved confidently describing the wrong building.

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