Top Secret (1995) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• Preparation
• The Cards
• Beginning the Game
• Play
• Matching Pairs
• Ending the Game

Equipment

• 6 safe cards
• 30 agent cards
• 60 secret documents

Preparation

Sort the cards into six colors. Each player gets all 16 cards of one color. With less than six players, there will be cards left over.

If there are only two players, both add one mole and two assassins to their hands from the remaining cards; the color does not matter. All secret documents with the value 20 are removed from the game, so both players will have 17 cards.

In a three-player game, each adds one mole and one assassin from the unused cards. Again, all secret documents with the value 20 are removed from the game. Each player will have 16 cards.

Each player now puts his safe card face up on the table.

All other cards are kept in the players' hands; nobody else should see their cards.

The Cards

Before playing, you should understand the effects of the individual cards:

1. The secret documents: These score points as individual cards. The players therefore try to collect as many of them as they can.

2. The safe cards: Secret documents are locked up in a player's safe.

3. The assassin: He is one of three agents in the game. He uses a bomb to blow up all cards that don't lie in a safe (except for safe cards and special agents).

4. The special agent: This blond bombshell is immune to assassinations. She also protects secret documents and can — if you play her right — even double their value.

5. The mole: In agent-speak, a mole is a spy employed by a foreign secret service in order to damage an enemy-agent ring. In our case, he steals: Whoever puts a mole on the table must try to take another player's card as quickly as possible.

Beginning the Game

Each player holds his secret documents and agents in his hand.

Secretly he selects one card and puts it face down in front of him.

As soon as all players are ready, they uncover their cards simultaneously.

Everyone puts his selected card over his safe.

What happens next depends on the cards played.

1. A secret document is played. A secret document remains a player's property if it is not stolen or blown up.

2. An assassin is played. Whoever plays an assassin must immediately shout "Boom!" (Whoever forgets loses 50 points!) All players put their face-up cards in a discard pile in the middle of the table (except for safe cards and immune special agents). These cards are blown up and out of the game. If several assassins are played at the same time, the effect is the same.

3. A special agent is played. The special agent accomplishes a lot with her feminine wiles. The assassin cannot blow up this card. Furthermore, the special-agent card protects a secret document lying underneath it and can even double its value (see below).

4. A mole is played. Whoever plays a mole must try to steal one of his opponents' just-played secret documents or special agents. But be quick about it! If another player has also played a mole and tries to steal the same card, the one that puts his hand on the card first takes it. Each mole can be used only once. If another player plays an assassin, however, moles are blown up and cannot steal. Stolen cards are not put in your hand but go face down beside the safe, or, to make things more exciting, remain face up. We'll explain why later. Played mole cards go on the discard pile in the middle of the table.

Play

After revealing cards and executing their corresponding actions, the players who kept or stole a secret document can:

1. Put it into the safe, face down on the safe's left side, beside the space "x 1." The card will be scored at face value.

2. Or leave it on the table face up and try to double its value.

No. 1 is the sure thing. The players are content with the loot and lock the secret documents in their own safes. These cards cannot be stolen or blown up.

No. 2 Choice: Gives them the chance to double the value of a secret document by forming a pair with an equivalent secret document, for example two documents with the value 20, or with a special agent as a wild card. If you leave the secret document face up, try to play a matching card in a later round. The next card you play goes on top of the face-up secret document. All players with two face-up cards may put them in the safe, face down. Whoever has a pair with an equivalent secret document or a special agent puts them on the right side of the safe, beside the "x 2" space. If the cards don't match, they go to the left, by the "x 1."

Both cards score double on the right side; that is, two secret documents with the value 20 score 80 points together. A special agent scores the same as a secret document paired with it.

What lies in a safe cannot be blown up. But beware: Assassins can blow up all face-up secret documents! A special agent cannot be blown up and protects the card lying underneath. The mole can steal face-up secret documents and special agents.

In order to get a pair, you can play a special agent first and then a secret document. But in this case, the special agent can't protect the secret document because it doesn't lie under her.

Matching Pairs

1. What is a pair? A pair always consists of two cards. Either two secret documents with the same value (the color doesn't matter) or a secret document and a special agent (as a wild card) that replaces the matching secret document.

2. How do I make a pair? You must leave a card face up in order to make a pair in a later round. There are two ways to do it: a) You play the matching card and can keep both if no other player has played a mole or an assassin. b) You play a mole and steal a matching card from another player.

   A mole can steal only a just-played card and not a card that was left face up from a previous round. You can never have more than two cards face up in front of you (not counting the safe). If you have a pair, it must go into the safe immediately, face down.

3. What happens if I don't get a pair? If your second card is stolen or blown up, then you can decide again whether to put your remaining card in the safe, beside the "x 1," or try to make a pair again. If you played a special agent (who can't protect a secret document on top of her) as first card, try to get a secret document again, because as a single card, the special agent scores nothing (incidentally, so does a pair of special agents).

Ending the Game

When all cards have been played, each player adds up his points:

• All cards left of the safe, by the "x 1," score face value.
• All cards right of the safe, by the "x 2," score double.
• Special agents by the "x 2" score double, just like their matching secret documents.
• Special agents by the "x 1" score nothing.

Whoever has the most points is the Master Spy and wins the game.

Note: Players can also play several games, tallying their points after each game. The first player to score 1200 points wins.