## Effective Eavesdropping

### wjmn

# Introduction

A crucially important gathering is taking place amongst 250 members of the world's most influential people.

It's an unprecedented opportunity to eavesdrop on the world's inner circle, and a group of spies are planning to make the most of it. They've stolen a map of the seating plan and will place a number of their spies holding wire taps at prime locations amongst the attendees to listen in on as many conversations as they can.

But the spies' plans have been leaked! The gathering has recruited the help of counterspies who have a limited number of anti-spy devices they can place amongst the attendees to sniff out the spies disguised amongst them. Once an anti-spy device is placed, it will immediately cause any wire taps within its radius to alarm and reveal the spy holding onto it.

How well can the spies spy and hide themselves amongst the crowd? How well can the counterspies counterspy and sniff out the suspiciously seated attendees?

# Rules

The game is played between two players and proceeds in two phases:

1. Spy Phase: Player 1 (Spies) places spies on the board whilst Player 2 (Counterspies) looks away. Hovering over the board shows the radius of the spy as well as the total value of the people they are able to listen to.
2. Counterspy Phase: Player 2 (Counterspies) places anti-spy devices one-by-one on the board to try and eliminate Player 1's spies. Player 1's spies are disguised as ordinary members on the board; if they are caught in an anti-spy device's radius, they are immediately revealed.

The final score is the total value captured by Player 1's spies who were not detected by Player 2. Player 1 and Player 2 can then switch sides and compare scores after playing another complete round.

# Tips

- You can view a heatmap of the value of a spy anywhere on the board by clicking Toggle Heatmap.
- The number of people at the gathering, number of spies, number of anti-spy devices, and their radii can be set in the Options.
- The map is generated randomly based on the random seed provided in Options. The random seed stays the same if you click Restart. You can modify its value manually or refresh the page to randomly generate a new value.
- By default, five members of the gathering are higher-ranked than everyone else and carry a higher value; these members are shown in pink and purple. You can optionally make everyone have the same value by selecting "All Equal" in the Options at the start.
- You can play Player vs Player (2 Player Mode), or play single player as the spy (Spy Mode) or as the counterspy (Counterspy Mode).