Secret Missions — rules and how to play the party-long game
Secret Missions is a party game for 3–20 players in which each person is privately dealt small social tasks to carry out during a normal evening, scoring points for completing them and for catching other people in the act.
- Players
- 3–20 players
- Length
- ~30 minutes
- Type
- Social deduction
- Type
- Icebreaker
Runs in your browser · no download · no account
Most party games ask everyone to stop what they are doing and play a game. This one does the opposite. It gets set up in two minutes, the phone goes down on the table, and then the party carries on as normal — except everybody in the room is now quietly trying to work a specific phrase into conversation, or get someone to swap seats, or leave the room three times without explaining why.
The scoring lives on the hub screen the phone sits on. Complete a mission and you walk over, claim it, and the room votes on whether you actually pulled it off or are just describing something you were going to do anyway. Think you have spotted someone else working an angle, and you can accuse them — but you have to name the mission from five options, three real and two decoys, so a hunch is not enough.
What makes it land is the second half of the evening, when everyone has become suspicious of everything. A friend asks an innocent question about your job and the whole table goes quiet. At the end every unfinished mission is read aloud, which is reliably the funniest ninety seconds of the night.
Secret Missions is part of
What you need
- One phone that can sit somewhere central all evening
- 3 to 20 players who are already hanging out
- An actual party happening around it — this is not a sit-down game
- Thirty minutes to two hours, running in the background
How to play Secret Missions
This one runs in the background of your whole party. Set it up once, then put the phone down and carry on with the evening.
Pass the phone round at the start. Everyone privately reads their secret missions — small social stunts to pull off without anyone noticing you are doing them on purpose.
The phone then sits on the hub screen with the clock running. Walk over to it whenever something happens.
Pulled a mission off? Tap "I completed a mission", pick it, and the room votes Accept or Dispute. Accepted earns 1 to 3 points by difficulty, and a fresh mission is dealt to you privately.
Spotted someone else working an angle? Tap "Accuse someone", pick your suspect, then pick their mission from five options — three real ones in play and two decoys. Right is +2 to you and burns their mission; wrong costs you a point.
Forgotten yours? "Peek at my missions" shows them privately again. The last hub action can always be undone with one tap.
When the clock runs out — or when you tap Finish — everything is declassified: every unfinished mission read aloud, then the podium. 🏆
Scoring and winning
- Completing a mission scores by difficulty: easy is 1 point, medium 2, hard 3.
- A claim only counts if the room accepts it. Disputed claims score nothing and the mission stays live.
- Accepted claims burn the mission and deal you a fresh one privately, so you always hold the same number.
- A correct accusation is +2 to the accuser and burns that mission, which is then re-dealt to the target.
- A wrong accusation costs the accuser 1 point, so fishing is expensive.
- The last hub action can be undone with one tap, and every entry in the log can be re-called at the end if the room changes its mind.
Secret Missions strategy and tips
- Do your mission early, before anyone is suspicious. The first twenty minutes of the party are the cheapest time to act, and nobody is watching yet.
- Build your mission into something you were going to do anyway. A mission executed as a detour from a real conversation is almost impossible to call.
- Do not claim the moment you finish. Wait for the room to move on, then walk over — claiming a mission thirty seconds after the thing happened is how disputes start.
- When you accuse, pick the target first and the mission second. Most people lose the point because they were right about the person and wrong about which of the five options it was.
- Two decoys sit in every accusation menu, and they are drawn from the same deck, so a mission being plausible is not evidence. Trust what you actually saw happen.
- Late in the evening, missions get harder to complete because everyone is alert. If you are behind, an accusation is often worth more than a doomed attempt at your own hard mission.
Variants and house rules
One mission at a time
Set missions each to 1 for a gentler evening. Everyone has a single objective, which keeps it simple for a group that has never played before.
Brutal deck
Set difficulty to Brutal for ambitious missions only. Expect fewer completions and at least one spectacular public failure, which is the point.
The open clock
Choose Open for party length and there is no timer at all — the game ends when someone taps Finish. Best for evenings that might run to two in the morning.
Silent accusations
House rule: you may only accuse someone once per person, all evening. Makes people hold their suspicion much longer, and makes a wrong call genuinely painful.
Team missions
Deal missions as usual, but score in pairs sitting opposite each other. Partners can help each other set situations up without ever saying why.
Secret Missions FAQ
What are the rules of Secret Missions?
Each player is privately dealt one to three missions — small social tasks to complete during the party without being obvious. Completing one earns points if the room accepts the claim; catching someone else and naming their mission correctly earns +2, and a wrong accusation costs a point.
How long does Secret Missions take?
You choose 30, 60 or 90 minutes, or run it open-ended until someone taps Finish. It runs alongside whatever else is happening rather than taking up a block of time.
Do you have to stop the party to play?
No, and it works better if you do not. Setup takes about two minutes to deal everyone their missions, then the phone sits on a table and people walk over to it as things happen.
What happens if someone disputes a completed mission?
No points are awarded and the mission stays in that player's hand, so they can try again properly. The disputed claim is logged, and it can be re-called at the end if the room decides it was harsh.
Can you accuse someone with just a hunch?
You can, but you will usually lose a point. You have to name which mission they are on from five options, three of which are real missions in play and two decoys, so being right about the person is only half the job.
What happens if the phone gets locked or the browser reloads?
Nothing is lost. The party clock runs on real time and the whole state is saved continuously, so reopening the game drops you back on the hub with every mission, score and log entry intact.