Before I Kill You, Mister Spy...
Before I Kill You, Mister Spy... Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Begin
Shuffle the deck and cut it without looking (so you can't see the colors). Choose someone to deal and keep score, like maybe the winner of the last game. That player deals a hand of 5 cards to every player. If only 2 or 3 people are playing, deal 6 cards instead.
Put the deck in the middle of the table, with space beside it for a discard pile. Play starts on the dealer's left, and proceeds to the left.
The Cards
There are 54 cards in the deck, including 18 improvements to your Lair, 18 brilliant master Spies, and 18 Doubler cards. You'll notice that the Spy cards are printed on a different color of paper, and also have a distinguishing "Spy" logo. It makes them easy to find, no matter where they are, just like in real life. "Hi! I'm Doctor Kelley! Any messages for me? Say, I'm a Spy!"
On Every Turn
First, draw one card from the deck. If the deck is empty, you skip the draw–the game is nearly over at this point, because you won't recycle the discards.
Second, you may play one Lair card on the table in front of you, face up. The size of your Lair is equal to the total of the Lair cards you have put down, so if your Lair consists of a 3-point and a 2-point Lair card, you have one 5-point Lair (not two smaller ones). If you have no cards in your Lair, you have no Lair at all. (This means that no one can play spies into it.)
Third, you may play one Spy card from anywhere into anyone's Lair, including your own. You can play a Spy from your own hand, or from someone else's hand. You can even play a Spy from the top of the deck. Obviously, if you don't use your own Spy, you have no idea of its value until you play it. So declare where the Spy is going before you look at it!
If you wish, you can play a team of any number of Spies from your hand into another player's Lair. If you do this, treat them as a single Spy with the combined value of the entire team. A team like this can only come from your own hand, and can only be played into another player's Lair.
Now, if the value of the Spy is equal to or smaller than the value of the Lair, then the Spy is captured. If the Spy is larger than the Lair, the Spy escapes.
When a Spy is Captured
No matter whose turn it is, if a player captures a Spy, that player must deal with it right away. You have two options, to kill the Spy or to taunt him.
To Kill the Spy. Simply discard the Spy, and add his (or her) point value to your score. Bang. This is the safe, low-scoring option.
To Taunt the Spy. Play one Doubler card and read it aloud: "Before I Kill you, Mister Fazz,... Is my hair too yellow?" If the taunt is successful, you will double the points you earn when you eventually kill the Spy. However, your taunt has a chance of backfiring.
Foiling a Taunt. Each Doubler has a letter, from A to I. There are two cards with each letter. If another player holds the matching letter, she can play it right after yours, and make your taunt fail. In this case, the Spy escapes, and blows up your Lair (see below).
If your taunt succeeds, you may now kill the Spy for its doubled point value, or you may taunt it again. You can double as many times as you want, but subsequent taunts have a couple of additional rules:
Rule one: You can't play the partner of a Doubler you've already played. That's just too easy. Save that card for the next Spy you catch.
Rule two: Other players can't cancel your older Doublers. Once they have passed on a particular taunt, they can't foil it later in the turn. For example, suppose you succeed with your first taunt, an "A." Another player holds the other "A" but chooses not to play it. Then you taunt the Spy again with a "C." The "A" can no longer be played. If the Spy had a power of 3 points, you could now kill her for a total of 12 points. Or, you could risk playing that "D" for a total of 24....
When A Spy Escapes
If a Spy escapes, either because he is bigger than a Lair, or because he has been unsuccessfully taunted, put the Spy card in the discard pile. In addition, discard every card in the Lair. We all know that the Spy destroys a Lair on the way out. It's just part of the super-villain mystique. Sometimes we make it easier, by filling our Duck Ponds with kerosene.
Winning
The winner is the first player to score 30 points, or the player with the highest score when the game ends.
The game ends when the last Spy hits the discard pile, or when no more plays are legal. For instance, players may still hold Spies, but no one is able (or willing) to play a card. In this case, the players must agree to stop.
That's it!
Notes
Some games will be very low-scoring. Don't let it bother you; it all has to do with the luck of the deal.
If you want to keep score over a series of games, let each player deal one hand. The highest total score at the end of this series is the winner.
Now, go annihilate some secret agents!