Territory of traitors

A bunker under the office. The blast doors will open on the signal, and then HQ will announce what awaits outside. Supplies will help you survive: food, water, medicine, warm clothes. But every item has hidden properties, and nobody knows the whole truth about it.

The truth comes in pieces

Every item has three properties, and no player knows all three.

• Open: anyone you show the item to can see it.

• Owner: only the first owner knows it.

• Expertise: only the owner’s secret expert knows it. The owner doesn’t know who that is.

The only way to piece the truth together is to talk. And when you talk, you can lie.

Show, haggle, give away

The bunker is full of stuff, from instant noodles and tea bags to a gas mask and the director’s brandy. Show an item to a coworker, strike a deal and trade one-on-one by signing a handover certificate. The frame gives away the rarity: Common, Quality or Scarce. But some Scarce items actually come from the special reserve, and nobody finds out until the finale.

To keep track of every deal and every claim, have your notebook handy. It automatically records everything you’ve been shown. You write down who said what, mark who you trust and guess who is whose expert.

Emergency work orders

Every so often, the bunker’s systems break down: ventilation, the boiler room, the pump room, the galley, the generator, the comms room. A work order sends everyone to the panels in new pairs. Each of you has your own lever, and you have one minute to get it done. Fixed it? You both get a bonus. Didn’t show up? The finale gets harder. The order log on the board remembers who didn’t turn up.

Talk, listen, eavesdrop

Voice chat works just like it would in a real office: you only hear the room you’re in clearly. Through a closed door, you hear it muffled, and only if you’re standing close. Through a wall, nothing. The bunker has plenty of storerooms, nooks and dead ends for a private talk. Or for hiding.

Six hidden stats

Satiety, Water, Immunity, Warmth, Alertness, Nerves. You see your own on your medical record, but not anyone else’s. You can ask. You can watch closely: if someone coughs, shivers or yawns, something is wrong with them.

Stashes and radio

• Stashes appear in waves and vanish. Found one? Pick one of two items.

• The radio broadcasts snippets of the bulletin about what’s outside. Only those nearby hear it. Retell it any way you like.

HQ bulletin and the reveal

Nobody is eliminated, and everyone plays to the end. In the finale, HQ announces the scenario and survival thresholds for all six stats. You get a minute to choose up to 5 items. Then comes the reveal: one player at a time, item by item, all three properties and the first owner. The bars creep toward the thresholds, and the stamp reads SURVIVED or DIDN’T SURVIVE.

Order on commendations

After the reveal come the match titles: “Chief Saboteur,” “Kind Soul,” “Hustler,” “Treasure Hunter,” “Survived by a Miracle.” And the whole expert chain: now you can see who knew whom and who lied to whom.