Secret Hitman · Field guide
Rules
Write a clever clue. Race to find its targets. Avoid the assassin. Earn points as both a clue writer and a picker to finish with the highest score.
1. Gather your players
Create a room and share its code or invite link, or join a friend’s room. The host starts with 2–12 players. Everyone who starts gets a turn as clue writer; people joining after the game starts can watch as spectators.
2. Build and submit your clue
You receive a private board of 12 words. Three civilians and the assassin are randomly locked: you cannot change their roles. The other eight words are editable. Select one to five of them as targets; every unselected non-assassin word becomes a civilian.
Enter your hint and select Submit. The number of targets you select becomes your hint’s number. For example, a hint of “Orbit” with the number 2 tells the other players to look for two connected targets. Keep your target choices and the assassin’s location secret.
Once everyone has submitted a hint, the host selects Start guessing.
3. Pick targets or pass
Each turn shows one player’s hint, number, and word board. The clue writer can see the roles but does not guess on their own board. The other players pick from the same board, competing to claim targets first. Targets and civilians reveal when claimed and cannot be claimed again by another player.
After finding a target, you can keep guessing. Picking a civilian or the assassin ends your guessing for that board. You can also pass by selecting I’m done guessing to stop without changing your score. Finding all targets ends guessing for everyone on that board.
The first assassin hit ends the board for every picker and reveals every role and claimant to players and spectators. Later or in-flight picks cannot change that completed board.
4. Count the points
Each means the picker and clue master receive the same score change.
| Role | Points | Effect | Locked tiles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | +3 each | Keep going. | No target tiles start locked; the clue master can select at most 5 targets total. |
| Civilian | −1 each | The player who selected it stops guessing. | 3 randomly selected civilian tiles start locked. |
| Assassin | −5 each | The board ends globally for everyone. | 1 randomly selected assassin tile starts locked. |
Scores can go below zero. Points carry over between clues.
5. Finish the game
The host selects Next hint to move to the next clue writer. After the last clue, the host selects Finish the game to reveal the final board and standings. The highest total score wins; players tied for the highest score share the win.