Best Espionage Board Games 2025: Top 6 Reviewed
Ready for secret missions? These top espionage board games turn your game night into a thrilling world of spies, lies, and mystery.
The 6 Best Espionage Board Games for Sneaky Players
Espionage board games let us test our wit, bluffing skills, and ability to keep secrets from friends (and sometimes, even ourselves). We always look for games with easy rules, interesting themes, and replay value—no one wants to play the same tired old spy tricks all night! When picking our top espionage games, we focused on fun, whether you’re brand new to sneaky business or an old hand at double-crossing your mates. Get ready for tense standoffs, wild accusations, and maybe a little bit of friendship betrayal (just for laughs).
On this list:
6 Codenames
We can’t have an espionage game list without Codenames. In this party game, you play as secret agents at war with rival spies. It’s a word game with a serious twist. Each team has a ‘spymaster’ who gives cryptic clues, and the rest try to guess the right ‘agents’ in the field. We watched friendships bend (not break—yet) as people argued if ‘Turkey’ was a bird, a country, or both. The tension is real, and the laughs are, too. Codenames is easy to teach, fast to play, and never the same twice. If you want quick spy action and social chaos, this one’s for you.
5 Spyfall
Spyfall is what happens when you mix espionage with bluffing and a touch of chaos. One of us becomes the spy, clueless about the secret location, while everyone else tries to sniff out the imposter. If you enjoy awkward silences and sweating profusely as your friends fire questions, give this a shot. Our group got more and more suspicious the longer we played, and accusing someone never got old. It’s all quick rounds and frayed nerves, perfect for a sneaky break or party night with pals.
4 The Resistance: Avalon
Think are you good at lying? The Resistance: Avalon will destroy your ego. It’s espionage, medieval style. The players split into good and evil, with the bad guys bluffing their way through missions. The table tension reached dangerous levels the night our friend Steve tried to claim he was Merlin and forgot the rules. Avalon is all about trust issues and second-guessing. It’s brilliant for those who love deduction, deception, and dramatic reveals. We ended up with new nicknames after our last game—some too rude to print here.
3 Covert
Covert brings dice and code-breaking together into a serious espionage board game. You send your agents across Europe, collecting gadgets, cracking codes, and outsmarting rivals. This one ramps up the strategy, but it’s not brain-melting. We loved planning our moves and trying wild bluffs to throw friends off our scent. The dice placement is clever, but it’s the spy theme that got us hooked. It’s not as party-friendly as others on this list, but it feels like being the star of a spy movie.
2 Agents of SMERSH
If you crave a longer, story-driven espionage game, Agents of SMERSH is a wild ride. You play as international agents chasing villains across a cartoonish world. Every turn is packed with new story decisions—think ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ but with more gadgets and bad accents from the players. We laughed at the over-the-top missions and somehow managed to fail even the easiest tasks. This game shines if you love big stories and team antics. It’s like James Bond meets a wacky Saturday morning cartoon.
1 Deception: Murder in Hong Kong
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong tops our espionage list, and for good reason. This game throws you into a murder mystery, and someone at the table is the killer. Everyone’s a suspect. The forensic scientist hands out clues, while the murderer and accomplice throw up smoke screens and try to steer the group away from the truth. It’s pure tension in a box. We argued, accused, and got more suspicious each round. The genius is, it’s easy to learn but deep enough to keep new and veteran spies engaged. It’s the ultimate mix of deduction, deception, and bluffing. If you want to feel like a true secret agent—without the risk of jail time—play this one.
