Designer Diary: Animals in Espionage

I have played a lot of Magic: the Gathering over the years, and one of my favorite cards is a card that creates a mini-game all in itself. It was one of the most skill intensive give-and-takes, which really challenged both players in an "I split, you choose" dilemma.

This legendary card is called "Fact or Fiction". The opponent looks at the top five cards of your deck, then splits them into two piles. You choose a pile to put into your hand, then the other pile gets discarded.

I always loved the conversations that came from the splitting of piles. How do you best split the piles to make the other player get the fewest amount of resources? By splitting in a certain way, can you bluff the other player into thinking you have cards in your hand that you actually do not? So much happened when this one card was played. I still play this card when playing Magic Cube with friends, and the conversations still happen, "How would you have split that?" So much play in this one card...

It got me thinking: What if there were a bluffing game that captured this interplay with I split, you choose? I quickly mocked up a prototype for "Fact or Fiction Fruit". You were dealt two secret fruit: a rotten fruit that gave you one negative point, and a super fruit that gave you two positive points. There was also a face-up fresh fruit that both players were trying to collect, with fresh fruit being worth one point. Fruit cards were also given a value of one, two, or three. Each player took turns splitting five cards into two piles. One player splits, the other player chooses, then the splitting player gets the remaining pile. The deck had forty cards , so each player got four splits, with eight total splits between the players. That was the first prototype of the game.

I sat down with my two daughters, who were four and six years old at the time — two of my favorite gaming buddies. They teamed up against me. As we each took turns flipping five cards and thinking through the two piles, it reminded me so much of those many times I had played "Fact or Fiction". It was so fun to see my daughters' eyebrows raise as they sneakily moved a fruit to a pile. There was the basic bluff, then there was the double bluff, then there was the triple bluff. It was playing the other player. The best was when my girls would successfully bluff, then giggle and laugh maniacally. There was something here.

I took the design to my friendly local game design group. They have always been extremely helpful, with thoughtful and constructive feedback. There was a lot of potential with this simple and quick game, but it needed a little more. Sometimes your rotten or super fruit did not come up until the end of round. There was nothing to bluff if that happened. Also, it ended up being worthwhile to eventually make the best pile for you and to not bluff towards the end of the round, so we added in a guess at the end of the round, with you trying to figure out your opponent's fruits. This added a lot of additional bluffing to the game. Guessing correctly (or not guessing correctly) often determined the winner.

I lived in Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the time, and our game design group met at my home. Cody Stevens is one of the members of the group, and he also owns Twin City Games. (Winston-Salem is known as the Twin City.) He was on the lookout for his next game to publish, and he wanted to pursue "Fact or Fiction Fruit". This was like a dream come true — getting to work with my friend, who I know would do a great job. Cody truly was a joy to work with; he involved me all along the process.

We had some design jams and kept playtesting. The game almost kept the fruit theme, but with a deductive theme on it. I believe "Fruit Sleuthies" — think of an orange in Sherlock Holmes attire — was an idea at one point. We jumped over to animals since everyone loves cute animals, and I mocked up a prototype with some cute animals. It clicked into place, and we started to dream and brainstorm these animal spies. Animals in Espionage was starting to take more and more shape. Our friend, Evan, had the great idea to bid on your guess at the end of the round. Depending on how sure you were, you would wager 1, 2, or 3. If you were correct, you gained those points; otherwise you lost those points. This added a lovely layer to this bluffing game.

After numerous playtest sessions across many conventions, Cody came back with what I think is really the magic in Animals in Espionage. After drawing five cards. you would divide four cards into two face-up piles, then give the remaining card to your opponent, who would then place that card in either pile before choosing which pile to take.

This small tweak added so much information exchange with each split. Why is this card the one they are letting me put in a pile? Why did they place that card in that pile? Why did they take (or not take) that card? This small tweak was what was needed to give the player who splits more information, while giving the player who gets first pick some power in manipulating the piles.

I tried it out with my daughters, and we all loved it. Here is a video of my youngest, Rosa, playing. It was just too much fun trying to be sneaky.

There is a feeling when you are playtesting: "I feel like it is missing something." Then there is a feeling when it just clicks into place. This was the moment that Animals in Espionage just clicked and felt right.

We tried several three- and four-player versions, but none of them ever quite worked. They were fine, but they never shined like the two-player version. Cody made the wise decision to make it solely a two-player game.

The spy theme was such a fun theme to lean into. Cody started working with the artists (who did an amazing job!) and we met for lunch. He placed a sealed manilla envelope on the table marked TOP SECRET. I opened it, and it had all the sample art for the game. Each animal was playing on a spy trope, and it was all coming together.

Cody had art for two additional animals just in case the three- and four-player variants had worked out, so we came up with some fun variants to add more options to include in the box. The walrus and the mole add quite a lot to the game. I mean, how do you not include a mole in an animal spy game?

I could not be happier with how Animals in Espionage turned out. It was such a joy to receive the finished game and sit down with my now seven- and nine-year-old daughters and play. I'm worried, though, because their bluffing skills have gotten even better over the years — they keep winning!

If you're looking for a quick two-player game with a lot of play, check out Twin City Games to grab a copy or swing by the booth (#2209) at Gen Con 2022 to try it out.

Joe Hout