Classified Information Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Pouch Set Components
• Set-Up
• Goal of the Game
• Anatomy of a Card
• Game Structure
• A Player's Turn
• End of Game
• End of Game (Continued)
• Assassination (Detailed Explanation)
• The "Cypher Wheel"
• The "Cypher Wheel" (Continued)
• Card Symbols
• Choosing Your Difficulty Level
• Mixing and Matching Decks
• Multi-Game Mode
• Credits

Pouch Set Components

• 1 Fabric Pouch
• 18 Game Cards
• 2 Cypher Wheel Cards
• 2 Dry Erase Markers
• 2 Acrylic Stands

Set-Up

1. Shuffle the Draw Deck and deal two cards to each player for their hand.
2. Deal a third card to each player to be their secret Suitcase. This card is dealt face down and placed horizontally in front of the player. Players may look at their Suitcase at any time but should keep it hidden from their opponent.
3. Deal two cards from the Draw Deck into the Encrypted Card Pile.
4. Give each player a Cypher Wheel and dry erase marker (or pencil and paper). Alternatively, players can take notes on their phone.

Play area layout: each player has their Suitcase, their hand, and space for up to three Guards for both players between the two Suitcases. The shared Draw Deck and the Encrypted Card Pile (face down) sit in the middle. Each player has a face-up Discard Pile — cards should be splayed vertically so all previously played Card Numbers can be seen — and their own Cypher Wheel.

Goal of the Game

In Classified Information, each player is trying to deduce the other player's Suitcase Number and end the game holding a card with a Card Number that matches ANY ONE of the numbers in their opponent's secret Code.

Anatomy of a Card

Each card shows:

• Card Title — the name of the card.
• Card Number — shown in the corner. This is the Card Number when the card is in hand, and the Suitcase Number when the card is used as a player's Suitcase.
• Guild Affiliation — the icon showing whether the card belongs to the Guards, Assassins, or Sentinels.
• Card Ability — the text describing what the card does when Deployed.
• Code — the three-digit sequence at the bottom of the card, comprised of a card's Suitcase Number, preceded by one number lower, and followed by one number higher. For example, if a card's Suitcase Number is 4 its Code will be 3-4-5.

Game Structure

The first player, chosen randomly, begins the game, with each player taking turns until the End of Game conditions are met. (See, End of Game, below.)

A Player's Turn

On a Player's turn they:

1. Draw a card from the Draw Deck.
2. Perform an Action by playing a card in one of the three following ways:

Deploy — Play a card face up for its Card Ability. Carry out the Card Ability text and place the card in the discard pile (unless the card instructs otherwise).

Enlist — Play a card for its Guild Affiliation:

• Guards — Played into one of your three Guard spots in front of your Suitcase. Each player may have a maximum of three Guards in play. Played face down and stays in play until removed. Note: Actions played during the game may flip Guards face up.
• Assassins — Attempt or carry out an assassination to cause your opponent to discard a Guard. Played face up and then discarded. (See, Assassination [Detailed Explanation], below.)
• Sentinels — Can be used either as a Guard or as an Assassin. Played face up or face down accordingly. Note: When a Sentinel is played as a Guard, it is treated as a Guard for the rest of the game.

Encrypt — Play a card face down into the Encrypted Card Pile.

If the End of Game conditions have not been met, play proceeds to the next player.

End of Game

Final Turn

When a player draws the last card from the Draw Deck that player finishes their turn. Then, each player takes one final turn without drawing from the Draw Deck (as it will be depleted) and finishes the game with one card remaining in their hand ("Final Card").

The Big Reveal

Each player then reveals their Suitcase, any Guards they have in play and their Final Card.

End of Game (Continued)

Determining the Winner

Then, check to see whether the Card Number on each player's Final Card matches ANY number in their opponent's Code that does not match the Card Number of any Guard in front of their opponent's Suitcase ("Unguarded Match").

• If neither player has an Unguarded Match, then the player with the most Guards wins. If both players have the same number of Guards the game ends in a tie.
• If only one player has an Unguarded Match, that player wins.
• If both players have an Unguarded Match, then the player with the most Guards wins. If both players have the same number of Guards the game ends in a tie.

Summary End-Game Chart

If your last card is:	And your opponent's last card is:	Then:
Not a match to opponent's Code	Not a match to your Code	Player with the most Guards wins
Not a match to opponent's Code	An Unguarded Match to your Code	Opponent wins!
An Unguarded Match to opponent's Code	Not a match to your Code	You win!
An Unguarded Match to opponent's Code	An Unguarded Match to your Code	Player with the most Guards wins

An Unguarded Match is a match between your last remaining card and ANY number in your opponent's Code that does not match the Card Number of a Guard your opponent has in play. A match to a number that is guarded is treated as no match.

If both players have the same number of Guards the game ends in a tie.

End Game Example

Example: Violet's Code is 6-7-8. Pete's Code is 1-2-3. Violet ends the game with two Guards in play with Card Numbers 1 and 8 and a Final Card in her hand with Card Number 5. Pete's Final Card is a card with Card Number 8 and he has no Guards in play. Violet's Guard with Card Number 8 blocks the 8 held by Pete, and Pete is treated as having no match to Violet's Code. Violet wins since Pete has no match and Violet has more Guards in play. However, if Pete ended the game holding a card with a Card Number 6 or 7, he would have had a match that would not have been blocked by a Guard (i.e. an Unguarded Match) and he would have won since Violet did not end the game with a card in her hand matching any number in Pete's code.

Assassination (Detailed Explanation)

How you play an Assassin depends on whether the Guard you are targeting is face up or face down.

Face-up Guards: To assassinate a face-up Guard, play an Assassin card from your hand whose Code contains at least one number that is also contained in the Code of the Guard.

Face-down Guards: To assassinate a face-down Guard, you must conduct an "Assassination Attempt." To carry out an Assassination Attempt, you play your assassin face up on the table and read each number contained in its Code to your opponent. Your opponent then secretly compares the numbers from your Assassin's Code to the numbers in the Code of the Guard being targeted.

If any numbers match: your Assassination Attempt succeeds and both the Assassin and the Guard are discarded.

If any numbers do not match: your Assassination Attempt fails, discard your Assassin and leave the Guard in play face down. However, your opponent shows you a random card from their hand — even when skilled assassins fail, they can still extract some information from their targets.

*The player initiating the assassination decides how all cards are placed into the Discard Pile.

Example: John makes an Assassination Attempt on Cathy's face-down Guard. John uses "Fortune Teller" with a Code of 9-1-2. Cathy secretly checks the Code on her guard which is 3-4-5. Since there are no numbers in common between the two Codes the assassination attempt fails. John discards "Fortune Teller." "Switch Places" remains in play as a face-down Guard and Cathy randomly reveals a card in her hand to John.

The "Cypher Wheel"

Notetaking: During each game, each player will see cards and learn information about their opponent's Suitcase Number and Code. The Cypher Wheel shows each Suitcase Number (middle number in wheel) and corresponding Code so players can record the information they learn during the game.

Information recorded on your Cypher Wheel should stay secret!

TIP 1: Use "/" when a player has seen one card of a particular Suitcase Number and an "X" when they've seen both.

TIP 2: The Guild Affiliation for every Card Number is also displayed. You may choose to eliminate a particular card by adding a "/" through its associated Guild Affiliation.

TIP 3: There is a "Notes" section that you can use to record information about your opponent's face-down Guards or information you have revealed to your opponent.

Numbering: The Cypher Wheel shows numbers in a wraparound fashion. This enables players to answer questions about number adjacency with ease.

Example: Pete plays "Fortune Teller" and selects the number "1." Josephine consults the Cypher Wheel and sees 8, 9, 1, 2 and 3 are within +/-2 of 9. Her number is 9 so she answers "yes."

The "Cypher Wheel" (Continued)

Code for Each Suitcase Number Shown: The Cypher Wheel shows the full Code for each Suitcase Number. This is helpful to show what cards you should aim for after you have narrowed down your opponent's Suitcase Number. It will also help you more easily incorporate information learned from cards that reveal information about Codes (e.g., Wheel of Fate and Decoy Guard).

Example: Pat plays "Wheel of Fate" and flips a Guard with Card Number 6, Vanessa informs Pat that "6" is not in her Code, Pat consults his Cypher Wheel and determines 6 is in the code for 5, 6, and 7 and accordingly eliminates all of those numbers.

"Code" v. "Suitcase Number": Some cards in the game refer to "Suitcase Number" and others to "Code." Be careful not to confuse the two. As noted above, a Code is the three-digit sequence at the bottom of each card and the Suitcase Number is the number at the top left of a Suitcase. While Suitcase Number and Code are distinct concepts they are related, and it is important to consider how they are related to make efficient deductions. A card's Suitcase Number is always the middle digit of its Code, the first digit is always a number one less than the card's Suitcase Number and the last digit is always a number one more than its Suitcase number. Thus, once you are able to determine a card's Suitcase Number you are also able to determine its Code (i.e., a card with a Suitcase Number of 6 has Code 5-6-7, a card with Suitcase Number 9 has Code 8-9-1). You can also eliminate Suitcase Numbers based on learning information just about your opponent's Code (see example below).

Example: John plays "Wheel of Fate" and flips a Guard with Card Number 9. His opponent, Jane, tells him that her Code does not contain a 9. Based on this information John can eliminate Suitcase Numbers 8, 9, and 1 from his Cypher Wheel since these numbers all have a 9 in their Code and therefore cannot be Jane's Suitcase Number.

General Clarifying Principles

• When Guards are exchanged between players they are flipped face up and remain face up for the rest of the game.
• All ranges are inclusive of the ends of the range (i.e., the range 1-4 includes the numbers 1 and 4).
• When a card instructs you to "flip" a Guard or Guards and then interact with them, you may interact with (instead of, or in addition to) already flipped Guards (e.g., Wheel of Fate, Shine Spotlights).
• When a Card's Ability refers to a Guard it is referring to a Guard (or card played as a Guard) in play (and not in a player's hand).
• Any card that is properly played to a Guard slot is treated as a Guard for all purposes (whether or not it actually has a Guard symbol).
• A blocked Action has no effect and any cards used to carry it out are discarded.
• A player will never end their turn with more than 2 cards in their hand.

Card Symbols

REACT — Cards with REACT can be played outside of a player's normal turn on an opponent's turn in immediate reaction to a game event. When you play a REACT card you forgo taking an Action on your turn but you still draw (if able) and PEEK 1. NOTE: You must end the game with a Final Card, so you may not play a REACT ability if it would leave you with no cards in your hand.

PEEK — Cards with PEEK allow you to look at a number of cards from the top of the Draw Deck (after drawing for your turn) without drawing them. When you PEEK place the card(s) viewed back on top of the deck in the same order they were in. All cards with REACT allow you to PEEK 1.

TRIGGER — Cards with TRIGGER contain an ability that only activates in response to specific in-game activity once Deployed. When a card with TRIGGER has its condition met carry out the card's terms.

TUCK — Cards with TUCK are played face-up to your play area but are not Guards and do not take up a Guard spot. Once played, they interact with / or allow you to interact with the tucked card according to its Card Ability. Card Numbers on tucked cards should remain visible to all players.

Choosing Your Difficulty Level

Classified Information has three levels of difficulty. Please consult the chart below and choose your desired difficulty level (N = Normal, H = Hard, I = Insane):

	N	H	I
# Of Cards to Encrypt	2	4	6
Number of Turns	6	5	4

*For an even more strategic experience, deal 4 cards to each player during set up and let them choose their own Suitcase from the 4 cards and one card to place into the encrypt pile. The remaining 2 cards become their starting hand.

Mixing and Matching Decks

You may play Classified Information with any of the three available decks (Citrine, Ruby, or Emerald). You may also mix and match the three available decks following these rules:

• The deck may be made of cards from the Citrine, Ruby, or Emerald decks.
• The deck must contain 18 cards and contain 2 of each number from 1-9.
• You must choose both cards of the same number from the same set.

The RUBY and EMERALD decks add TRIGGER cards and ways to interact with and manipulate encrypted cards.

The RUBY deck introduces unblockable assassinations and other highly tactical abilities.

The EMERALD deck introduces taking control of another player's Guard and other strategic abilities.

An example of a mixed and matched deck is below (each entry is a pair of same-numbered cards, one from each of two decks):

• 1s — High-Tech Bookends
• 2s — Decoy Guard
• 3s — Picking Petals
• 4s — Digital Exhumation
• 5s — Cache
• 6s — Resilience
• 7s — Wheel of Fate
• 8s — Neutralize Target
• 9s — Rooftop Sniper

Multi-Game Mode

You may play Classified Information in the best of 3 or best of 5 games. The winner of each game gets to create the deck for the next round (mixing and matching between sets) and must reveal the cards in play for the round. You may use suitcase tokens (contained in the deluxe set) to keep track of how many games each player has won.

Credits

Game Design By: Justin J. Gunnell. Graphic Design By: Jerome C. Gunnell.

Playtesters: Aaron Beedle, Aaron R., Aaron Welt, Ahmad Salahuddin, Alex C., Anna Oksanen, Chris S., Christina Gunnell, Christopher S., Diane and Jerry Gunnell, Dmitry Borisov, Elvis Giordano, Eric Hyland, Felicity Henson, Helen and John Bailey, Jay Cormier, Joanna Tearle, John Fiorillo, Kamish B., Ketan Depshande, Kevin Clark, Kim-berly Rose, Maddy Carrier, Mat Atallah, Mattie Phillips, Melanie Donovan, Mike Sette, Noah Dartt, Pedro Ometto, Ren Multamäki, Rob Donovan, Rob Kimmel, Tanner Wilson, Xavier Provencher, Zach Kuntz, Zach Tyson, Ginger Minton, Briana Bankston, Kevin Cassady, Kerry Cassady, Joey Dupler, Matt Hope, Isaac Hope, Taryn Hope, CoreyValdes Stelton, Drew Clowery and Zax.

Rules: Kevin Clark (editing), Joe Watkins (editing), and Daniele Saleggia (layout).