Decrypto

A team word game by Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance, published by Le Scorpion Masqué. Two teams, one flat TV: the table screen is the public record, and every phone is a private one. Back to the table

The TV before the start: the game's title and rules in brief on the left, one big join QR code on the right, and under it everyone seated so far, each with a white or black dot for their team. — Scan the one QR and you are sat on the shorter side; switch between white and black on your phone before the start. In the game the TV lies flat between the teams, so black's whole half — grid, clues, QR and all — is rotated 180° to face the far side. (A table TV can have a lobby laid out that way too: open `/tv?flat=1` for one join QR per team, black's upside down.)

What each team holds

Your team has four secret keywords, numbered 1 to 4. They show only on your own team's phones, and they stay the same all game. The other team never sees them — that is the thing they spend the whole game trying to work out.

A round

The Encryptor gets a code. One player each round draws a secret three-digit code — three of your four keywords, in order, so 24 possible codes — and it appears on their phone alone. The chair round-robins, so everyone encrypts.
They write three clues, one per digit. Free text, up to 40 characters. Both teams' Encryptors write at the same time, with a soft 30-second timer nagging the slower one.
Your team deciphers — what order were those keywords? The Encryptor may not help.
The other team intercepts, guessing the same code from the same clues with none of the keywords. There is no interception in round one: they have not heard enough yet.
The reveal. Both guesses lock before anything is shown, so nobody's digits leak early. White's clues resolve first, then black's.

The Encryptor's phone: their team's four keywords, this round's secret three-digit code, and a box for each of the three clues. — The Encryptor's phone, and the only screen in the game that shows the code. Your four keywords sit above three clue boxes — one clue for each digit, in order.

Winning and losing

Two interceptions win. Read the other team's code twice and the game is yours — that is the game you are actually playing.

Two miscommunications lose. Your own team failing to read your clues twice loses it, so a clue only you could follow is a liability.

That tension is the whole design: a clue obvious enough for your team is a clue the opposition can read too, and a clue only you understand is how you hand them the game without their help.

A quiet game ends after round 8. Then it is decided on points (+1 per interception, −1 per miscommunication); if that ties, a keyword face-off — each team writes down what it thinks the other's four keywords are; and if that ties too, a shared victory.

The table screen mid-round: white's three clues posted on both halves, black's half printed upside down, and a numbered column per keyword waiting underneath. — Round one, white's code on the table. Both halves show the same three clues — the interceptors need them as much as the team does — and black's side reads *listen and take notes, no intercepting yet*. Every clue is filed under the keyword it turns out to mean, and those four columns are what makes round six readable.

What the table holds you to

Never the same clue twice in a game, by your team.
Never one of your own keywords as a clue.
Everything softer — spelling references, position, how a word sounds — stays human-judged, exactly as it would at a real table. The app does not referee the interesting arguments.

Three players

With three, one player is the lone Interceptor against a pair. The pair has to hold out five rounds rather than eight, and the Interceptor still needs two interceptions to take it.