How to Beat Me at SpyParty

1. Avoid hard tells. If the setup gives you the option to cut missions, cut as many hard tells as you can.

2. Complete soft tells quickly. I do not guard soft tells especially closely, and while I can detect overactivity, it is not a strong suit. You can usually rush through flirts. Be careful when inspecting or fingerprinting, as these soft tells are relatively easy for me to track, especially on a smaller map with fewer partygoers. Double Agent and Flirt are the easiest missions to complete against me. Note that toing to statues with inspecting turned on is an automatic highlight.

3. Use the time gained from completing soft tells quickly to set up a quality hard tell attempt.

1. Purloin and Swap are the missions I would least recommend against me. Both are possible, but my whole system of play is built around denying the Spy access to them. If you need to keep me honest or see a good opportunity, make sure I’m distracted, because even on a green I’ll probably shoot you (or at least eliminate a bunch of suspects).

You can either create your own distraction (usually using banana bread, though I am fairly savvy to such tactics), or (better yet) wait until a situation emerges where I am likely to be distracted and looking at something else. You will have to pay close attention to the party to identify your opportunity. The following things distract me: the ambassador moving and/or standing in a dangerous area, someone taking a drink after a reject chain, someone holding a statue in a blocked position near the end of the game, and one of my primary suspects doing anything suspicious. Purloin and Swap are also usually best attempted last; if you get a green test, this minimizes the amount of time I have to decide who the real culprit is.

2. I tend to track Microfilm closely. Your best chance if you must do this mission is to take the book without being seen and/or waiting until I’m distracted (see above). Do not, however, rush a book you were not seen taking to another bookcase, unless you think you can also go unseen at THAT bookcase. I am good at noticing when books are being put back in places that I don’t remember them being taken from. If you are not shot, you will become very suspicious. Better to wait, especially in the vicinity of the bookcase you intend to drop off at. It is usually unwise to attempt to remove the microfilm against me, unless you can find a good blind spot.

3. Bugging is difficult, but possible. I tend to pour most of my effort into preventing bugs, but that is because it is the most difficult hard tell to guard. I will almost always have the laser somewhere near the ambassador, to deter you.

But that doesn’t mean that I am always looking at the ambassador. The ideal time to bug is somewhere where the ambassador looks safe, but isn’t. For instance, if the ambassador is in the front of the map, near a window, I might relax my guard. If you can get into conversation at a good angle and bug, I might not be looking. If the ambassador is looking very easy to bug (because they’re in the back of the map, for example), I’m likely to be staring at them. It is probably wiser to attempt another hard tell using the ambassador situation as a distraction (see above). Conversation bugs tend to be stronger than walking bugs against me. I am especially on guard against perfect-angle walking bugs.

4. I am average at catching time adds. It can be attempted from time to time with relative safety, but do not do it if you think you’re already a suspect and/or if you’ve already visited statues with Inspect turned on.

5. Do not believe the laser. I have spent hundreds of hours practicing fooling spies with the laser. I use it to trick people. My laser is a lie. To figure out what I am paying attention to, look at the party, and use the laser to get a rough idea of what I could be looking at. I cannot emphasize this enough. The real trick to beating me is to look at the party like I look at the party, and find holes in my coverage by figuring out what I’m likely to be paying attention to at any given moment.

If I’m Spying:

1. Unless you are someone I consider an elite behavioralist, or unless the map is Balcony/Modern/Double Modern, I am likely to be extremely careless about completing soft tells. Guarding against overactivity is an effective anti-Caley measure if you can do it well. Keep in mind that this is only good for a few shots, though; I am capable of adjusting to complete soft tells more carefully.

2. Be very careful about hard tells. My greatest strength as spy is doing hard tells without being seen. Remain unpredictable with your laser, or else try to build false patterns into your motion to fool me.

3. If you do notice that the list is gone or a statue has been swapped, be on guard: when the sniper noticesd a hard tell has been completed, I like to use the moment of distraction to complete another. I’m fairly good at timing things so that green Swaps and Purloins happen within five seconds of each other, for instance. Try to figure out who could have done the first to be sure, but while you do that, guard other hard tells with extreme care.

4. I am overly fond of walking bugs. Be very careful about people moving near the ambassador, especially if the bug angle would be hard to see.

5. Do not relax your guard on things that seem suicidal for the spy, like swapping a front statue or bugging the ambassador directly in front of the laser. I like to hide in plain sight.

6. I tend to rush, either by slow playing early and rushing missions late, or else rushing missions as fast as possible. Be particularly careful if you hear an early banana bread.