Hidden Agenda

An abstract game with psychology. 1. Introduction 2. What is Hidden Agenda? 3. Game parts 4. General Structure of the Game
Preparation 4.1. Dealing the Cards 4.2. Turns 4.3. End of the Game 4.4. Scoring

5. Game Pieces
5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. CEO Agent Spy Sniper

6. Strategy and Tactics (optional) 7. Printable Prototype

1. Introduction:
My name is Pablo Mansanet, I'm an engineering student from Spain, and I'm glad to present you this game design I have been testing for the latest months. This document contains all the necessary information to get started on Hidden Agenda, and includes a ready to print board and piece set. This document does not represent the final version of the game and is intended to offer you the chance to help with the playtesting. Despite being at the design stage the mechanics behind Hidden Agenda are of my sole propierty, so please refrain from distributing this document further than your circle of friends. My final objective is to have this game published. This means that I'm going to need the help of a lot of people, the first one being you. If you dislike any aspect of the game or have any constructive criticism to offer please contact me at the BoardGameGeek forums, where this document is going to be, or contact me at pablomans6@hotmail.com. If you liked the game, even more of a reason to get in touch with me! I appreciate everything, from tips on what european companies to contact about publishing, to ideas to move the design around and getting it shown. In conclusion, please use your common sense when showing the game and remember there is a living person behind, putting all his energy and hard work in this project. Thank for your time reviewing this game. I hope my inevitable grammar mistakes don't make the reading too tiresome. Have fun!

2. What is Hidden Agenda?

As hinted in the subtitle, Hidden Agenda is an abstract strategic board game, designed in the

line of popular chess variants, incorporating more contemporary elements such as a hexagonal board. However, where Hidden Agenda deviates from its precursors is at its heavy psychological aspect. As you will see when you read on, despite the lack of random elements there is an important element of deception and intepretation of the opponent's intentions. While Hidden Agenda can be understood as a purely abstract game, an interpretation of the pieces is offered as a way to add flavour to the mechanics, much like Chess symbolizes a battleground. Rather than an ancient battlefield, Hidden Agenda takes a futuristic Cyberpunk approach: each of the four colours represents a cold, heartless Corporation, and their four different pieces (Agent, Spy, Sniper and CEO) are the pawns of their power struggles. The player takes the role of the shareholder, overseeing the rise and fall of Corporations without disclosing his or her real interest. The name 'Hidden Agenda' refers to the attitude players must mantain to be succesful at the game. Direct action is not advisable, while cunning, deceit and clever negotiation pave the road to victory.

3. Game parts.
The full Hidden Agenda set consists of: 1 Hexagonal Board 8 Friend and 8 Foe cards (plain colour with the word Friend or Foe written on it. There must be two friend and two foe cards per colour) 4 Corporations (Red, White, Black and Yellow) each including: 5 Agent pieces 1 Spy piece 1 Sniper piece 1 CEO piece 1 Base (HQ+Bank) Printable prototypes are included at the end of this document. For easier manipulation and comfort, it's advised to cut the pieces out of cardboard. Board, cards and base will be good enough on paper.

4. General Structure of the Game.

Hidden Agenda can be played by any number of players between two and six. While a different number of players doesn't require an explicit modification of the rules, the game naturally changes as the amount of people increase, becoming less centered in psychology and mindgames and more in negotiation and alliances. The core mechanic of Hidden Agenda lies in the dealing of the cards. At the beginning of the game, every player is dealt one Friend and one Foe card. Those cards must be kept secret, and from then on, all players must work to ensure their Friend corporation performs best among the four, and their Foe corporation fails. This must be done with care, because players also have the option to try and expose another player, calling out their guess about the target's affiliations. If the accuser turns out to be right, the accused must reveal his or her card and suffer a severe point penalty. Obviously, on the surface all players must appear neutral to the corporations, and to ensure this neutrality no limits are imposed on who can move pieces of which colour. At any time, all pieces are at all players' disposition, which implies playing badly may be a perfectly valid technique, if you're

secretly wishing the doom of the color you're currently using! In multiple player games, negotiation is encouraged, with two rules. First, no contract, alliance or agreement is ever binding, and any player may break it at any point. Second, all communication must be open. Whispering and other one-sided forms of conversation are prohibited. The structure and timeline of a game of Hidden Agenda is as follows (specific steps will be detailed later). The game is played over a number of rounds (normally three) and score is cumulative from round to round. Preparation: Before the beginning of the game, all pieces are distributed at their respective Headquarters (the top section of the bases). The distribution is irrelevant. Now that all the pieces are situated at the HQ of their respective colours, the hexagonal board is placed in the middle of the table, surrounded by the four bases. The game can now start.

1. Dealing the cards: Friend and Foe cards are shuffled separately. Every player is dealt
one Friend and one Foe card. Any player dealt duplicates (for example, a white Friend and a white Foe card) must call it and requst a new pair. 2. Turns: The game starts and turns progress counter-clockwise, starting with the player to the right of the dealer. During a turn, a player may take any combination of the following actions. Only the first one (moving/deploying) is mandatory. The rest are optional and can be done as many times as necessary. Turns must be explicitly passed; moving a piece does not necessarily indicate the turn is over. Move OR deploy a piece of any colour ONCE. Players choose whether they move or deploy. -Deploying means picking up a piece from its color's Headquarters and placing it at any point of the board, facing any direction. -Moving means to displace a piece following its specific rules, capturing a piece of another colour if applicable. In principle, players aren't restricted to a specific colour, so any may be used. If a piece is captured, it is stored at the bank of the capturer's colour (exemplified later). -Players may not make a move that returns the board to the exact position it had the turn before. Reveal him/herself. A player may choose to flip over either his Friend or his Foe card, or both. While apparantly counterproductive, revealing may be a good choice if that player's actions this turn are so evident he/she is being at risk of getting exposed. A player that reveals him/herself will be transparent to opponents, but will avoid the point penalty that comes with an accusation and can claim control of a corporation (read on). Accuse another player. Only during his/her turn, a player can formally accuse another by calling out his/her guess in a manner similar to I accuse you of being friends with Red or I accuse you of being an enemy of Black. The accused player must answer true or false, and if the accusation was right, reveal the card for the rest of the game. A player that has been succesfully accused will have a penalty at the scoring phase. The accuser may keep trying to expose opponents any number of times, granted all of his/her attempts are succesful. A single failed attempt silences the accuser for the rest of the game in that particular accusation. So a failed friend accusation means it's no longer possible to expose alliances. However, accusing for foes is still possible, until

another failure occurs, in which case the player is permanently silenced. Claim control of a corporation. Under certain limited circumstances, a player may request monopoly over one of the four corporations, by dragging the Base close to him and away from the board. From then on, no players may move or deploy pieces of that colour. To claim control of a corporation, the player must fulfill at least one of these conditions: The player has deployed the CEO of that colour on this turn, or commits to deploying the ceo of that colour on this turn. The player has voluntarily revealed being friend or foe of that colour on this turn. Control can be lost under the following circumstances: The player moves or deploys a piece of a different colour, or willingly decides to give up the monopoly during his turn. In either case, the Base is returned to its position close to the board. Another player claims control of that corporation, snatching it away from him/her. Of course, the new claimant must also fulfill one of the requisites. 3. End of the game: The game ends when any of the following situations arise: All players agree on the game ending. Only one corporation remains alive (its CEO hasn't been captured). A player is unable to move or deploy (all corporations are either disabled or controlled by another player). 4. Scoring: When the game ends, surviving pieces are added to their own corporation Bank (IMPORTANT: only the surviving pieces on the board are banked. The pieces that had not yet been deployed stay at their Headquarters and don't score). Scoring happens in two phases: The score of each Corporation is calculated. A corporation has 5 points for each captured Agent, 10 points per captured Spy or Sniper, and 20 points per captured CEO. The same points are awarded to surviving pieces. Then, the score of each Player is calculated. A player starts at 100 points, minus 50 per time he/she has been succesfully accused and exposed, plus the score of his/her friend corporation minus the score of his/her friend corporation. So that was an overview of an entire game of Hidden Agenda. In the end, players are rewarded with the points obtained by their friendly corporation, and penalized with the points of their enemy. Avoiding exposition also plays a major role because of the high point penalty involved. The game is played over three rounds to enforce optimal playing even on the face of immediate defeat (this way, on multiple player games, everyone is encouraged to give their best even if someone is clearly ahead).

5. Game Pieces.
Now that the structure of the game is outlined, we approach the most important section. The pieces! There are four different pieces per corporation. While they follow similar principles to those in other known abstract games, they're particularly designed with mindgames, deception, probing strategies and other tricks in mind. While four may seem a small number, all the pieces are able to serve multiple purposes. So without further ado...

The CEO

Role: Corporation leader. Provides support, allows corporation control and enforces political pressure. Mechanics: The CEO may move any number of hexagons in any one direction, regardless of the direction it was initially facing. By the end of the move, the CEO must face the direction it was travelling through. The CEO cannot capture. It must stop if a piece stands on its path. The CEO is the central piece of a corporation, and must remain either undeployed or alive for the corporation to survive. When a CEO is captured, all the pieces of that colour that remain on the main board are immediately banked by the capturing corporation. The remaining, undeployed pieces of the dead corporation must remain at the Headquarters and don't provide score for anyone. From then on, the corporation is disabled, and no pieces of that colour can be deployed under any circumstance. All other pieces gain benefits from being adjacent to their CEO. Simply placing the CEO in contact with a piece of the same color gives such piece a bonus. Those benefits will be explained at every specific piece. Ceo movement diagram

The Agent

Role: Basic unit. Expendable board presence. Commited attacks, piece blocking. Mechanics: The Agent may move exactly two hexagons ahead. It may only move in the direction it is facing, and only if nothing is blocking its path in the hexagon immediately in front. The Agent captures as it moves. It may capture any piece of another color that lies two hexagons ahead, by moving on top of it. The agent has a special move called sliding. If an agent is facing the edge of the board (either adjacent or one hexagon away) and nothing blocks its way, it can move and slide off the board, being immediately redeployed wherever the player desires. The deployment follows the same rules as a normal deployment from Headquarters: It can be placed anywhere except under the line of sight of a sniper. CEO bonus: An Agent adjacent to its CEO may choose to move one hexagon instead of the usual two, capturing if necessary.

Red: Normal movement. Yellow: Adjacent CEO option.

The Spy

Role: Elite offensive unit. Pressure, agent removal, threatening. Mechanics: The Spy moves two hexagons, each one of them in any direction, regardless of its initial facing. Some examples include moving forward and then backwards, or advancing straight and then diagonally. Any combination of two adjacent hexagons is correct. The spy, like every other piece, must be left pointing in the direction of its last movement. The Spy may capture at his second hexagon, and only from the three rear faces of the target piece. Here you see, in green, the valid sides from which to capture the enemy agent, and in red, the only valid route to capture it---> CEO bonus: A Spy adjacent to its CEO may choose to move three hexagons instead of two, adhering to the same rules. If this option is taken, the Spy may only capture on the third hexagon.

After the capture, the spy would be facing north-east

The Sniper

Role: Elite defensive/reactive piece. Protection, freezing, probing, mindgames. Mechanics: The Sniper is the most uncommon of the pieces and requires a more detailed explanation: The Sniper doesn't move. Once deployed, its position is permanent. Instead, it can be turned to face any direction (this counts as a move). Since it's unable to move, the Sniper doesn't directly capture. Instead, it passively threatens all free hexagons in front of it, up to and including the first occupied hexagon. If any differently coloured piece tries to move into, out of, or through a hexagon threatened by a sniper, any other player may call the shot and the sniper automatically captures the trespassing piece. There are several points to consider when applying this rule: Only a player that is not currently in his/her turn may call the shot. Moving a piece and calling a sniper shot upon it is illegal. Sniper shots override all consequences of that piece's movement. If said piece was about to capture another, it is removed before being able to do so. This means a sniper can be used to protect another piece by shooting down anyone that attempts to capture it. The Sniper's line of sight extends until the first occupied hexagon, regardless of that piece's colour. This means anything moving behind the blocking piece can't be shot down by the sniper. If more than one sniper is eligible for the kill, the closest claimant to the right of the dealer has priority on choosing which, and so on. However, if the piece's route went through the line of sight of various snipers in succession, the priority is dictated by their order. Pieces can't be deployed in the line of sight of a differently coloured sniper. CEO bonus: A Sniper adjacent to its own CEO is able to see through obstacles. This means it threatens the entire line in front of itself until the end of the board, regardless of what pieces stand in the way. For clarity and ease of understanding of the concepts behind the Sniper, some visual examples are provided in the next page with explanations:

Consider a three-people game played by Alice, Bob and Charles. This is an unrealistic setting because it is impossible to have three white snipers in game at once, but it will be helpful for our explanations. Example 1: The white sniper is threatening all hexagons in its line, including the one occupied by the red agent. Charles tries to move the red agent. Alice is okay with that and remains silent. However, Bob calls the shot and the agent is captured, before being able to leave its hexagon. The agent is stored at the White corporation bank. Example 2: The white sniper's line of sight ends at the white agent, which means the red agent isn't directly threatened. However, the white agent is protected. After what happened at Example 1, Alice suspects Bob might be favoring white. In order to test her hypothesis, Alice moves the red agent as to capture the white one. Unable to assume the loss, Bob calls the shot again, and one more time the red agent is captured by a white sniper without doing its deed. It's still Alice's turn, and she makes use of this advantage to accuse Bob of being friends with white. Jackpot! Now Bob is revealed and penalized. Example 3: Bob's alliance with White has been exposed, so he is in a difficult position. To openly protect his friendly corporation, he claims control over White by deploying the CEO. Bob smartly deploys the CEO in front of a white Sniper. Normally, this would mean the Sniper would have its line of sight blocked. However, the CEO bonus applies and the Sniper is able to see through. This not only efficiently protects the CEO, but freezes the topmost red agent, since everyone knows Bob is going to call the shot against it. With a protected CEO and the corporation under his exclusive control, Bob might stand a chance after all!

6. Strategy and tactics (Optional).

You made it! The game is already explained from the beginning to the end. If you already feel you understand how the game works, you only have to print the last four pages of this document, cut out the pieces and board and get to play it! However, there is more to a game than knowing how to move the pieces. This section is intended for those of you who wish to delve a little deeper on how the game is played, by reading some of the strategies and tactics my friends and I have found out through the months of playtesting. This section is therefore optional, and the ideas offered are nothing more than brain teasers in case you are lost in your beginning playtests. Every person I played with has his or her own style, so it's very likely you'll come up with your own stuff. When that happens, I hope you tell me about it. Using the pieces efficiently. The Agent, similar to the chess pawn, forms the main body of a corporation and must be the backbone of any strategy. Their movement is straight-forward and commited, so it can't be redirected to fulfill someone else's needs. Here are some tactics you can do with agents: Bluff sacrifice: Agents are expendable, and the little point advantage they give when captured is not a big deal unless it adds up. Capturing an agent of your own corporation or letting an enemy agent go without calling a Sniper shot is a good way of making people doubt your intentions. Blocking: Placing an agent adjacent to another so that they face each other renders both agents useless. Through the action of a CEO, one of them may break through, unless both are the same colour, in which case only death may free them. This can be an effective and annoying tactic. Just remember that blocking two agents of the same colour is a very decisive move and may get people to accuse you. Using agents to block spies, CEOs and snipers is harder but also possible. CEO ambushing: If two agents threat the same hexagon, you may deploy the CEO of your enemy corporation in the middle point and claim control over it. Your enemy / enemies will be unable to move the CEO away, which may easily lead to its death if there are no agents to protect. Revealing yourself after such an action may be a good idea. The Spy is dangerous on the offense. It's quick and unpredictable, capable of threatening multiple pieces at once. A well placed Spy empowers its corporation by offering a great deal of board control. Here are some ideas on how to use it: Forking: The Spy is the only piece capable of forking. That is, threatening two pieces and choosing which to kill. Since pieces can be deployed everywhere, this means you must keep your eyes opened for possible Spy strikes. Two CEOs close to each other are the perfect opportunity to land your Spy in between and reveal your intentions. This will probably lead to a sniper-freeze, but with patience you will claim the trophy. Center influence: A Spy in the middle of the board, backed up by an adjacent CEO, is a force

to be reckoned with. Attaining such a position in the beginning gives that corporation a great headstart, since there is enough space to protect both pieces, while the entire board is susceptible of being attacked by the Spy. The number of undeployed Snipers is, simply put, the amount of times players will be able to respond to unwanted board positions. These static pieces shape the battlefield, and decide where and how the action flows. Besides, they're the main weapon for mindgames, specially those involving probing, and for consummating multiplayer alliances. Freezing: A sniper can be deployed pointing to an enemy piece to freeze it, implying that any movement by that piece will result in a shot. Freezing can be done from any distance, altough to prevent obstacles it's most efficient when done in direct contact. Freezing can be done to prevent a dangerous action by such piece, or to trap it, enabling a third piece to capture it. Risk Probing: Deployed snipers are perfect tools to test hypothesis about your opponent's affiliations. Making an important piece run through the line of a sniper may elicit a response, and if it does, you're still in your turn and therefore able to accuse. Third colour protection: Protecting a piece doesn't require a sniper of the same colour pointing at it. In a pinch, you may protect a piece by aiming at it with a differently coloured sniper, specially in 1vs1. Just remember: that sniper will not protect against attacks by its friendly pieces! The CEO is the most important piece of the game. Its vulnerability means that it is often viewed as something to protect rather than to act with, but don't be fooled: its potential to change the battlefield is unrivaled. Here are some tips on how to optimally use CEOs and exploit their weaknesses. Blockade breaking: It is very common, specially in games in which affiliations are disclosed early, that agents will protect, block and counter-block, giving place to massive blockades of useless agents. Deploying a CEO in the midst of all that chaos is a powerful tool that can turn the tide of the battle. Suddenly, all adjacent agents will be able to move one hexagon and break through the blockade. Checkmate: Interestingly enough, most of the forms of offensive checkmate involve the use of another CEO. That's because a strategically deployed CEO may make more than one piece capable of threatening an enemy CEO, creating an indirect fork. For example, a CEO that helps a sniper see the enemy, while powering up a spy, is a recipe for assasination. Hostage: Using a CEO doesn't mean you are interested in that colour's welfare. In fact, it's often the opposite! It's important to remember that any player is able to claim the control of a corporation if he or she commits to deploy the CEO that very turn. This rule makes it impossible for people to claim control of a corporation by other means and keep its CEO undeployed and protected forever. So if you really want to hurt a colour, take its CEO and deploy it in the middle of the danger! This will probably lead to other people having to reveal themselves or otherwise give out their intentions by evidently protecting said CEO.

General principles. Now that you know how to use the pieces, let's look at some general principles to stay ahead in Hidden Agenda.

1. Know what your actions say about you.

All actions telegraph your intentions, even if only slightly. You must be aware of what your movements say about your strategy and use that to your advantage. As you might have deduced by the tactics explained before, some of them are more evident than others. By knowing that, you may easily trick and mislead your opponents. Doing something decisive against a colour that you deem irrelevant may lead to wrong accusations on you. A chain of small actions in favour of another may cause the impression you are friends with it, again baiting the accusation. When it comes to acting in favour of your colour, remember to keep such actions spaced, and keep it sneaky. Don't overdo it though. Hidden Agenda games tend to be chatty (that's how it should be) and if you suddenly go silent after a move, it's going to raise some eyebrows. 2. Know where the limits to bluffing are. I've seen some new players approach the game by doing everything except what they actually were supposed to, in order to bait wrong accusations. This is a great strategy, but it has a limit. If you keep going against your own colour or simply neglecting it, it's inevitable that other people will get ahead, even if you keep your cards face down for the whole encounter. 3. When there is no hope left, negotiate. In multiple player games, many situations arise that look like a dead end, but it's just a matter of negotiating smartly. The cooperation of two players (specially if they are adjacent) can have devastating effects. Since Hidden Agenda is score-based, and score transfers from one round or another, all players are aiming to maximize their points, and therefore they'll be listening to offers you can make even if their or your position on the round is already evident. Look at the cards that are face up and look for matches. It's possible that you have the same friend or foe as someone else. And even if you don't, it might be good for both to do away with a common enemy. Whatever you propose, just make sure your ally won't benefit from ignoring his or her part of the deal, because he or she can (and should) betray you if that's the case. 4. Take notes. This comes down to personal preference, but I found it extremely useful to write down my hypothesis about my opponent's colour affiliations. It is almost impossible to keep track of what colours other players seem to be favouring. I personally track it down with a score-like notation. 5. In multiplayer games, think of chains. There is an advanced concept that didn't come up until three months of intensive testing. In multiple player games, it is very normal for adjacent players to have goals in common, and they obviously don't know it. However, as the game progresses and cards unveil, there are brief moments of

realization and chains are formed. Chains are involuntary alliances in which two adjacent players naturally cooperate towards a common goal. Given how the multiplayer game is structured, those are extremely powerful and dangerous. At the blink of an eye, a CEO may be deployed and killed by the next member of the chain. If your investigations and personal conclusions about other players suggest there is a chain to be formed, and it threatens you, work to disrupt it. Negotiate with one of the members, look for a partner to counter that strenght, or protect the CEO in danger. There are effective formations that can hold their own against two attackers if you know very well what you're doing. It's up to you to figure them out! 6. In 1v1 games, probe, probe, probe. While the rules are the same, 1v1 games requiere entirely different strategies. They are not about negotiation and chain awareness, but pure applied psychology. 1v1 is where the multiple layers of deceit start to stack. It's common for these games to start on unrelated colours and go through several stages of bluffing, until cards are eventually revealed and a more classic, chess-like game unfolds. The advantage will be, of course, for the player who managed to land an accusation, so it is very important to be certere with them. If you have a strong hypothesis about your opponent, don't just throw it. Probe instead. Put your opponent in a compromise and watch how he or she reacts. Putting a CEO in danger or making it run through a sniper is the strongest probe, but beware! What good is it to expose your opponent if you gave him exactly what he wanted?

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this little tactics and strategy section. These tips should help you to build your own long term strategy, and that's where the real fun comes. Of the players I've shown the game to, some have come up with amazingly creative strategies that make me delve deeper into the game. One of my friends has a knack for being compeltely impermeable to our accusations. Another is capable of stacking so many layers of deception it makes me feel dizzy I knew you'd think that I thought that you had thought.... Makes sense, given that he's a psychologist! My girlfriend came up with a strategy we nicknamed farming, in which she would take a neutral corporation and constantly place it in an awkward position, baiting all sorts of accusations, only to devour it like cattle with her colour once everybody's guesses were spent. As you can see, there are many possibilities. Let me know what you find out!

7. Printable Prototype.
From this point to the end of the document, you'll find the printable prototype to test the game yourself. Have fun!