The Mole’s Mission

How the night unfolds

1. 01

   Choose your debate

   Rank a List uses five provided items and 3–12 players. Open Debate uses 4–12 players: each person invents one answer to the public prompt and pitches it aloud. Only the mole gets a secret mission. Most missions let the mole invent their own pitch; occasional missions assign an answer instead. Rank the answers, not the players—their names stand for their pitches.

2. 02

   One room, one quiet agenda

   Gather the players for your chosen mode. One random player is the mole. Pass the phone so everyone privately reveals their role, reads the same ranking challenge, and hides the card. Only the mole sees the secret ranking objective. No one else learns the mole’s name.

3. 03

   Make an order together

   In Rank a List, the five items start in a shuffled order, not a suggested ranking. Discuss the stated criterion and decide your group’s order from the top label to the bottom label. Hold a grip, then drag to place an item. Keyboard arrow keys and optional Button controls also work. There is no objectively correct opinion. The mole argues naturally while trying to achieve a hidden position or relationship.

4. 04

   Agree, then lock

   When everyone is ready, check the order and explicitly lock it. The ranking cannot change after this point. In Rank a List, the mole’s objective is one of four checks: one item in the top two, one in the bottom two, one above another, or two items directly beside each other in either order.

5. 05

   Open Debate’s hidden missions

   Start from shuffled names and drag them to rank everyone’s answers. A secret mission may require a named player’s answer in an exact position, above another answer, or directly beside another. The app checks the locked ranking using the locked order. Some missions instead assign the mole an answer to get into the top three; after reveal the group confirms that the spoken pitch matched, including clear synonyms. At least four players are required. Judge the answers, not the people.

6. 06

   Vote in private

   Pass the phone again. Everyone, including the mole, chooses one other player they suspect. You cannot vote for yourself. A submitted vote is final; previous-player cards show only a locked receipt. No votes or totals are shown until everyone has voted and the group deliberately reveals the result.

7. 07

   Catch the mole—or follow their plan

   The mole wins only if the objective is achieved and the group fails to catch them. A unique highest-voted suspect catches the mole only when it is the mole. A tie for the highest vote lets the mole escape, but they still need their ranking objective. Otherwise the group wins. The result shows both checks separately. Replay draws a fresh challenge and randomly chooses the mole again; the same person can be selected twice.

Picture this

The group ranks five picnic comforts from most valuable to least valuable. The mole might secretly need “A big shared blanket” in the top two. They can explain why a blanket helps everyone, but must avoid looking too invested. Even if the blanket finishes second, the mole loses if they are the single most-voted suspect.

A few good ground rules

• 48 original ranking topics with hidden objectives. No individual ballots are revealed.
• Agree on the final order before locking it. Then vote independently.

Player names and settings stay in this browser. Matches can recover after a refresh in the same tab, but closing it may clear progress. Private cards are protected from casual peeking, not from someone inspecting the device’s storage.