Game: Conspiracy

Thread: No, Mister Bond, I expect you to die!

Partap — 2008-05-20T15:15:34+00:00

Conspiracy is a game of international espionage. It involves a board full of spaces representing exotic cities. Each of the eight pieces is a ruthless "spy" (technically, courier) who can be moved be any player, but whose loyalties are secretly tied to the player (each possessing a Swiss bank account holding $10,000) who pays the most. The object of the game is to get one of these mercenaries to bring a top-secret briefcase to your headquarters.

Is the game fun? In my opinion, it is an excellent game. It involves much strategy (there are no cards or dice), but of a breed unfamiliar to most gamers, so it may irritate a few. The game is especially well-suited to "relief" purposes; it has a deliciously fresh type of a play, is easy to learn, and has nuggets of tongue-and-cheek-humor. Yet, to fully appreciate this game, one has to adjust to the manner in which it is properly conducted. Therefor, I have provided a few tips to aid play and enjoyment:

First tip: The easiest way to ruin yourself in this game is to spend all of your money too soon. I strongly advise you save your money, and even then, make small payoffs in the beginning. If you do not do this, the game may well be ruined by someone who luckily makes a large payoff to the crucial spy (and you having no funds to do anything about it), or everything will simply become a blood-bath, with players paying to have spies terminated left-and-right.

Second tip: Teamwork. This game has some elements of Diplomacy in it. If someone apparently cannot be stopped, you need to cooperate with the other players (you would be surprised what a coalition of three moves does against one in facilitating the snatching of the case).

Third tip: Do not make it obvious which spies you have paid-off. Try to shock everyone else when the briefcase just happens to fall into the lap of a spy near your headquarters who was not involved in the secret shuffle.

The overall idea: The game has potential for great fun, but only if you play it a certain way, and are in the mood for it.

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l10n0fjudah — 2008-05-14T17:17:08+00:00

Conspiracy by Sonofdeemar

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:24:22+00:00

Ahmed

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:23:01+00:00

Rock

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:21:03+00:00

Peking

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:19:54+00:00

Rita

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:14:21+00:00

The briefcase with the english version of the stickers

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:12:34+00:00

Content overview

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:11:03+00:00

Canadian bilingual version Back cover

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Aljovin — 2008-04-21T00:08:46+00:00

Canadian bilingual version

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JSE0508 — 2007-12-12T08:33:27+00:00

Components of the German Edition

Thread: Re: Different Winning Conditions in Different Editions?

railroader — 2007-11-28T10:57:18+00:00

See my post in the "personal comments" section. The victory conditions do indeed differ, but so does the set up. It will certainly change gameplay.

In the Sigma File, any player can move the file through another player's capital without triggering a win. In fact if one player is nearing a win, the other three can conspire to move the case through this first player's capital and away. Casbalanca's rule means that whoever moves the case to any base (i.e. a capital in the Gibson version) ends the game, but does not necessarily win.
Either edition can be played either way: if you have 2 or 4 players, play the Gibson rules, and with 2-3 or 5-8 try the Casablanca rules. Note hat due to the 4-way symmetry of the board network, the Gibson rules are not so good for 3 players.

Thread: Re: Is it possible to play with poker chips?

okiedokie — 2007-09-07T16:53:36+00:00

I use invisible poker chips. They work great!

Thread: Re: Is it possible to play with poker chips?

FlyingArrow — 2007-08-22T16:13:39+00:00

Plus, it's much harder to keep stacks of chips secret.

Thread: Re: Is it possible to play with poker chips?

Sonja — 2007-07-19T15:41:13+00:00

Yup! I played once with you! That's how I got interested! Then I ended up receiving the game in the Toronto math trade a few months ago, woohoo!

Sonja

Thread: Re: Is it possible to play with poker chips?

agent easy — 2007-07-19T04:58:39+00:00

Sonja,

You could, but it might not be practical. You will ultimately spend every dollar you have, and you would therefore need enough currency to be able to split in many combinations. Worst case, you would need 100 chips in $100 dollars denominations for each player, and that would lead to managing many tall piles of chips. Otherwise, you will be forced to constantly make change and that could also lead to errors, not to mention what happens if the piles accidentally get knocked over or displaced.

Usually, the best way is to simply force everyone to doublecheck their expenditure total at a few points in the game.

Did you play this with us? It's a game we play on occasion.

Miguel

Thread: Is it possible to play with poker chips?

Sonja — 2007-07-19T02:41:15+00:00

Is it possible to play this game with poker chips instead of writing down payouts? Maybe a separate compartment or envelope or card for each of the agents. One problem I see with the game is if somebody does their math wrong, they can cheat inadvertently.

Thread: Re: Different Winning Conditions in Different Editions?

Purple — 2005-11-27T08:27:01+00:00

The Dutch edition, Dossier "X", by Clipper, uses the same condition as Sigma File, it seems. You win the game when you move an agent with the file into your own capitol. (If someone else moves the agent with the file into your capitcol, you do not win (yet)).

I have not yet encountered the other victory condition, nor played with it.

Thread: Different Winning Conditions in Different Editions?

Sandsquish — 2005-11-27T02:59:10+00:00

I have an article about the game Sigma File which says that the objective of the game is to move an agent with the dossier into the player's home base, which wins the game for that player. But the English translation of the rules for Casablanca say that the player's objective is to move an agent with the dossier to the agent's home base and the player who has given that agent the most bribe money wins.

Can anyone confirm that the rules are different in different editions of the game? If so, has anyone played with both rule sets? How do the differences effect gameplay?

It seems like a win would be less certain with the translated Casablanca rules, but it might be easier to frustrate other player's attempts to win with the Sigma File article's rules.

Thread: Re:Session Report

SVan — 2004-10-14T21:18:59+00:00

simonh (#58574),

Did the 2 player seem to work good for you? I didn't really think it could work with 2 players, but I'll have to try it sometime.

Thread: Session Report

simonh — 2004-10-08T15:20:55+00:00

I recently acquired a copy of this game - my version is the German release under the title "Agent". I was a little apprehensive about playing this after reading the earlier user reviews, but thought I would give it a go anyway. I finally convinced my wife to sit down and play with me - we played a 2-player game. My wife and I are fairly competitive, and love games where we think we can outwit each other. As it turns out, we had a really good game that lasted around 45 minutes.

Since our home bases were on opposite sides of the board, I started fairly early on putting approx 1500 on one of the agents in her homebase (kind of 'attack from within' strategy) and also a similar amount on an agent in each of the "side" HQs. I tended to try and confuse the situation by moving agents with and without my funding.

I was the first to get an agent (funded) to the file, but then Kris immediately left the city with both agent and file, in the direction of her home city. This was where the first challenge came in, and she folded at just 300, so the move was recinded. At this point I realised that if I had more money invested in this agent I should push the advantage, so moved him from the center towards my own home base, knowing that Kris could not challenge the move. Predictably, she used her next turn to increase her bribe of that agent.

During this middle-game portion, I spent a couple of turns beefing up the payroll of two of the agents I had as yet not bribed. Guessing that Kris had spent a big chunk of her money on the agent with the briefcase, I let her move the agent back towards her home city unchallenged. I used a couple of turns to feint preparation for an attack with an agent I had little financial interest in. It made Kris stop and think - and then increase bribes.

After a little more posturing, the killing started. Once I realised that Kris had way more money on the agent with the briefcase than I was willing to spend, I sent in my assassin and killed that agent, much to my wife's disgust. That's when the killing started in earnest, and within a few turns we had rubbed out half the agents (all the women, if I remember).

In the end, we were down to 3 agents, and Kris won, having a larger controlling interest in the spy that finally made it to her home city.

On examination of the bankbooks after the game was over, it turned out that Kris had committed very little money to the first few agents that were assassinated, whereas I had spent (and thus lost) approximately 5000 on them - half my total budget.

We thoroughly enjoyed the game, and will be playing it again soon. We are also looking forward to introducing it to some of our game playing friends so that we can try the 3 and 4 player games.

Thread: Session Report

batman — 2004-04-28T17:17:27+00:00

The same four of us then played an older game, a Milton Bradley game at that. The name of the game is Conspiracy. It’s a simple game of betting and bluffing. Each player tries to get one of the eight spies on the board to bring a top-secret briefcase to their headquarters. A player can move a spy, pay a spy or attempt to blow the cover of another spy. Moving a spy or blowing their cover can be challenged by another player. The amount of money each player has on a certain spy, or, more accurately, the amount of money each player wants to admit to having on a certain spy, determines the outcome of a challenge.

The game started with none of us knowing what would work or not work. Spies were tentatively moved. Pay-offs were made. I finally broke the ice by moving Tanya Hyde in to get the briefcase and send her towards my headquarters. It didn’t take long for most of the spies to migrate towards my headquarters to try to cut her off. She got stuck in Cairo for what seemed like eons. I couldn’t move her closer to my HQ and I wouldn’t let anyone else move her away. This couldn’t last much longer and it didn’t. I finally lost my hold on Tanya and she drifted away from my HQ. I sat back hoping to be able to blow some covers and regain control.

Once the briefcase got back to where it started I used Peking Tom to blow the cover of Rita Palm. I found out later that she wasn’t all that much of threat. $1000 down the tube.

Because all of the spies were congregated near my side of the board the other headquarters had an easier road for travel. Jeff took advantage of this and moved Peking Tom, with the briefcase, towards his HQ. I tried to send in Rock Bottom to blow his cover but it was unsuccessful. In the ensuing confusion Earl E. Byrd stole the briefcase and continued the unabated trek towards Jeff’s victory. None of us had enough money on Earl E. Byrd to stop him and Jeff won the game.

Thread: Publication history

heli — 2003-12-17T01:14:24+00:00

Apparently also as Agent in German by Pelikan in 1975.

Thread: User Review

davidgpeterson — 2003-11-28T20:56:39+00:00

Conspiracy is a game that has a lot of promise but falls short. One of the unique things about the game that I think it does very well is that it has a very good theme. The individual busts of each agent, the Swiss Bank Account book to pay agents off in secret with, the board, the bio's of the agents, and the brief case that must be returned to you home base all help the game feel great.

In addition, the concept is marvelous. No player controls any of the agents on the board. On the flip side, only the player who has payed each agent the most will be able to move the with any success. As a result, you have to be able to know who to pay off and when. In addition you have to realize that no agent on the board can be counted on as any of the other players can always outbid your payment of that agent.

In practice the game has some big problems. First off the board is to small - that is to say there aren't enough spaces. It's almost too easy for a player to pay off an agent with a big amount of money and make a b-line for their home base before any other player can stop them. In addition, the game just isn't that fun. It's kind of a dull system which is unfortunate because the game looks and feels so great.

In the end, I still like to pull it out from time to time and play. But it normally sits on the shelf. Plus, I haven't met a lot of people that are crazy about the game. Most people just kind of think its "okay". I keep thinking that perhaps I'm missing something - some vital strategy that will open my eyes and make the game better to play. But that hasn't happened yet. Alas, Conspiracy draws me back from time to time even still.

Is it for you? Play it and see - but I'll bet you'll agree with most of us who think that it's not as good as it looks.

Enjoy,

Dave

Thread: User Review

adriang — 2002-11-27T20:23:37+00:00

"Conspiracy" or Sigma File is a strange game, and stanger still is that it has come out under several different names.

The main difference between versions appears to be the board. In some versions the board is a standard map of the world with some cities marked and "air routes" also marked. In others, it a geometric design which represents the cities and air routes. The world map is probably a bit more evocative and pleasing to look at, but play the game for more than about 2 minutes and you'll quickly come to realise that the geometric board is far superior - more on that later.

The game is not too diffucult to learn the rules of. The strategies are not so easy. On the board, each player has a single city as a "home base", and the "sigma file" starts in the centre of the board. Also on the board are 8 agents, up for grabs to the highest bidder. Each player starts with $10000. On a turn a player can move an agent one space or pay an agent an amount of money. If an agent is in the same city as the "sigma file", the file can be moved when the agent moves. When "paying" an agent, you put aside part of your $10000 allotment to keep that agent working for you. This is important, because when you try to perform an action with an agent, that action can be challenged by the other players. The challenging player asks if the player has paid the agent $100 and so on up in increments of $100. This continues until either the challenging player reaches the limit of what he has paid the agent, or the challenged player reaches the limit of what he has paid the agent. The player whose limit is reached loses the challenge. If it is the player whose turn it was that loses they cannot make the move and their turn ends. If the challenger loses, they also lose their next turn. For instance, Player 1 on turn 1 put aside $500 onto the blue agent. Player 2 put aside $1700 on blue on turn 1. On turn 2 Player 1 tries to move the blue agent but is challenged by Player 2. An "auction" ensues in increments of $100 at the end of which, Player 1 is blocked from moving and all player now know that Player 1 has $500 on the blue agent and that Player 2 has at least $600 on the blue agent.

The object of all this paying off agents and moving them is to move the "sigma file" to your home city on your turn.

This can be an extremely tedious or extremely interesting exercise, depending on your point of view. The game only really works well with four players beacuse of the geometric layout of the board. Imagine a four way tug of war. Eventually one person may get the upper hand, but for the most part the moves of the protagonists will balance themselves out. If one player is removed, the person without direct "opposition" will almost certainly win. This also a problem with the non-geometric style board. In order to make the geometric representation work on a world map, the cities are joined by stange combinations of air routes, which in truth only serves to muddy the waters. It is very difficult to tell just how close the "file" is to your opponents headquarters or your own. On the geometric board, it couldn't be clearer.

The decisions in the game break down into:

* how many agents to pay off,and how much to pay, and;
* which agents to move, and when to move them

I find the game to be extremely frustrating, because for every move you make, there are three other people to undo it. This means that control of various agents is all important, and it basically cames down to who guesses which agents will be crucial and guessing the right amount to pay them. You need to have control so you can block moves and not be blocked, but you can't put all your eggs in one basket, because the agent may never get in the game. Also an agent may be used to assassinate another agent, but the amount of money you've assigned to the agent gets reduced $1000. So if you put too many resources into one agent, it may all be lost.

One of the big drawcards of the game is that it doesn't rely on any luck whatsoever. Only skill. This is because there are no dice, tables or cards, just the matched withs of the players. I disagree. Whilst it doesn't rely on any exteral random elements, luck will play a large part in any victory. The the agents you've paid and the amounts you've paid them are all vitally important. Since you don't know which agents will be useful, nor the amounts others will pay particular agents, luck is inevitiably involved. Also because of the "one step forward, two steps back" style of gameplay, a game coud really become tedoius.

Having said that, if your a patient sort, and want a game that rewards deep strategy, and you like to think you can "read" your opponenets, this is the game for you. It just isn't the game for me.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Was also released in other countries under different titles:

Britain: The Sigma File
Germany: Casablanca
France: Dossier