The Spy: the Spyfall-style party game, free on your iPhone

01 — DefinitionWhat is The Spy?

The Spy is one of the 14 party games in Dronk. It belongs to the same family as the Spyfall card game: a hidden-location deduction game. At the start of a round, the app picks a secret location, say The Casino, and hands every player a role there: croupier, high roller in sunglasses, security guard. One player is dealt the spy card instead and gets no location at all.

Then the talking starts. Players take turns asking each other questions about the place: "How often do you come here?", "What are you wearing?", "Would you bring your parents?". Everyone who knows the location answers in character without giving it away. The spy has to answer the same questions while quietly working out where everyone is from the list of possible locations on their screen.

The round ends in one of two ways: the group agrees on a suspect and reveals the spy, or the timer hits zero. Either the group catches the spy, or the spy has bluffed well enough to survive, and maybe even name the location.

02 — RulesHow to play The Spy (step by step)

One round runs in five phases: setup, reveal, questions, accusation, penalty. Setup takes about 20 seconds in the app. Here is every screen in the order you'll see it.

1. 
   1

   Setup: players, timer, pack

   Set the player count (3–20, five here) and tap a name to change it. Pick the round timer, 5, 8 or 10 minutes, then a location pack: The Classics (22 places everyone knows, free) is selected; Nightlife, At Work and The Vacation sit below it. 8 minutes is the sweet spot for 5–8 players. Tap Start Game.

2. 
   2

   Reveal: pass the phone around

   "Pass the phone to Olivia." The card stays hidden until Olivia presses and holds Hold to reveal, so the person next to her sees nothing. Everyone must take the phone and look, otherwise the skipper gives themselves away.

3. 
   3

   Agents see the location and a role

   The card flips: The Location: The Beach, Your Role: Lifeguard. Everyone except the spy gets the same location with a different role at it (ice cream vendor, sunburnt tourist, and so on). Tap I've seen it and pass the phone on.

4. 
   4

   The spy sees only that they're the spy

   The red card: "You are the spy — guess the location without giving yourself away." No location, no role. The spy's only help is the list of possible locations that appears on the next screen, and everyone's answers.

5. 
   5

   Questions: 8 minutes to find the spy

   The timer counts down from 8:00 while you take turns interrogating each other. The phone sits on the table showing the Possible Locations in the pack (The Beach, The Casino, The Plane, The Hospital and the rest of the 22 Classics), which the spy uses like a checklist. Answer in character: specific enough to prove you know the place, vague enough not to hand it to the spy. When the group agrees on a suspect, or the clock hits zero, tap Reveal the spy. The spy can also stop the round at any point and guess the location out loud.

6. 
   6

   Reveal and penalty

   "Jake was the spy! The location was The Beach." Caught the spy? The spy takes the penalty. Accused the wrong person? Everyone else takes one, and it counts double if the spy managed to name the location. Tap Play again for a new location and new roles with the same pack and timer.

03 — PacksFour location packs, 67 locations

Each pack has its own flavor and its own set of seven roles per location. The spy only sees the list for the pack you picked, so switching packs changes how hard the spy's job is.

04 — LocationsAll locations in The Spy, with roles

Here are the locations you can land on in The Spy, three example roles each. Every location has seven roles in the app, and roles stay unique around the table as long as there are enough to go around. All 22 Classics are listed in full; the three premium packs show a selection.

The remaining Nightlife, At Work and Vacation locations (the party bus, the trivia night, the pool party, the bakery at 5am, the dental clinic, the safari, the dive boat, the yoga retreat and more) are in the app. Roles are randomized every round, so the same location plays differently every time.

05 — QuestionsGood questions to ask in The Spy

The whole game lives in the questions. A good question can be answered by anyone who knows the location, but the answer only makes sense if you actually know it. These work for almost every location in the app:

• "How often do you come here?" Daily at the gym, once in a lifetime on the space station.
• "What are you wearing right now?" Uniform, swimsuit, suit, ski boots. Fast and revealing.
• "Would you bring your parents here?" Yes to the zoo, absolutely not to the 3am kebab shop.
• "What's the loudest sound around you?" Slot machines, jet engines, screaming kids on the coaster.
• "Is anyone here paid to be here?" Separates staff roles from visitor roles.
• "What time of day is it usually busiest?"
• "What's the first thing you did when you arrived?" Take off your shoes, show your ticket, put on a helmet.
• "How long do people usually stay?"
• "What smells like here?" Chlorine, popcorn, diesel, sunscreen.
• "What's the worst thing that could happen here today?"
• "Are you sitting, standing or lying down?"
• "Would you come here alone?"

Ask in character, too. If you are the undercover food critic, you can ask the sommelier what they'd recommend. The spy has no idea what either of you is talking about, and their face will show it.

06 — TipsHow to win as the spy (and how to catch one)

If you're the spy

Use the location list on your screen like a checklist and cross places off with every answer. "Uniform" kills the beach and the afterparty. "Once in a lifetime" kills the supermarket. By the third answer you should be down to five or six candidates. Answer with the vaguest thing that fits all of them: "not that often", "something comfortable", "it depends on the day".

Ask questions that generate information for you, not suspicion about you: "What's the first thing you notice when you walk in?" gives the table something to argue about and gives you a clue. When you think you have it, guess early. A correct guess is worth more than surviving the timer, and every extra question is another chance to slip.

If you're an agent

Watch the listeners, not just the speakers. Agents nod at a good answer without thinking about it. The spy has to decide whether to nod. Also, pay attention to whoever asks the safest, most open-ended questions. Agents ask pointed questions because they know what's there. Spies ask "what's it like here?".

07 — ComparedThe Spy vs the Spyfall card game

If you know Spyfall, you know The Spy. Here's what actually changes when the deck becomes an app.

Spyfall is a trademark of its publisher. Dronk is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. The Spy is Dronk's own game with its own locations, roles and rules.

09 — More gamesMore games in Dronk

The Spy is one of 14 party games in the app. If you like bluffing and deduction, start with these: