Dead Drop

A Quick and Clever Card Game
by Jason Kotarski

THE STORY:
As secret agents working for different organizations, players scour the globe seeking information that will help them find the location of a hidden explosive device. Agents must trade information and sell secrets in order to learn the location of the device and grab it before it falls into the hands of another agency!

Dead Drop is a game that involves elements of memory, deduction, and crafty maneuvering.

Components:
13 Information cards(3 sets)
4 Reference Cards
9 Wooden Victory Tokens
THE SETUP:
Shuffle the deck and place 1 card face down in the middle of the table. This is The Drop - the card represents the information that must be obtained in order to locate the explosive device.

Place cards equal to the number of players face up in a row to the side of the table to form The Stash. Deal the remaining cards evenly among the players:

Number of Players and Number of Cards Dealt
4 Players 2 cards each
3 Players 3 cards each
2 Players 5 cards each

THE ACTION:

On player’s turn they must choose to perform 1 of the following actions:

Share Info:
Trade 1 card from your hand with 1 card from any other player. The target player must trade and may not look at the card they are given before handing you their card.

Swap the Stash:

Trade 1 card from your hand with one card in the stash. The card from your hand must be placed face up to become a part of The Stash.

Sell Secrets:

Reveal 2 cards from your hand to another player. They must respond by saying “yes” or “no”, the sum of those cards. If revealing whether or not they have a card equal to “yes”, they must hand a card of that value to you, and you must choose 1 of After a player has taken their turn, they END OF TURN:
your revealed cards to give them in return. may choose to take the following action before passing their turn:
Grab The Drop:
Place 2 cards from your hand face up next to The Drop, then secretly check The Drop.

If The Drop is equal to the sum of the 2 cards you placed, you win the round! If not, you are eliminated from the round and must reveal all your cards, placing them face up in front of you.


Other players may still trade with an eliminated player’s cards by placing the card traded from their hand face up in place of the card they take.

THE SCORE:

When a player wins a round they take a victory token. The first player to collect 3 victory tokens wins the game!

THE CREDITS:

Game Design:Jason Kotarski

Creative Direction: Adam P. McIver

Artwork: Adam P. McIver (Spies & Monsters), Naomi Robinson (Vikings), Oliver Meinerding (Outlaws), Ashley Davis (Birds), Rob Lundy (Rogues), Kwanchai Moriya (Kids), Sean Dove (Robots) Playtesters: A bunch of people.

A note from crash games: Thank you to Matt Loomis, W. Eric Martin and all of the various people that played Dead Drop along its journey to publication. A special thank you to the Crash Games Tucson Gamers that supported Dead Drop so much including David Short, Mike Tunlson, Scott Perger, Jon Peoble, and the many other people!