Spy Game

Spy Game is a codebreaking puzzle campaign for one player. You join the Lantern Bureau as a recruit and work through 24 short missions to stop the Magpie Network: crack coded messages, unmask moles with logic grids, and time your steps through blinking laser grids. Play this spy game free online in your browser, with no download, on desktop or phone. It is family-friendly: no violence, just ciphers and clues.

How to play

Missions unlock one at a time on the mission map.

• Coded messages. Most missions show an intercepted message and ask one question, such as where a meeting is or what the password is. Decode the message and type the answer (or the whole decoded sentence). A wrong answer just asks you to try again.
• Mole hunts. Clues describe four or five suspects: coat color, gadget and, in one mission, where they were seen. Tap grid squares to mark a cross or a check; a check crosses out the rest of its row and column. When every row has one check on every tab, the Bureau verifies the grid automatically and tells you if a clue is broken. You can also accuse a suspect directly, but a false accusation costs a star.
• Laser grids. Walk your agent to the hatch in the top-right corner. Beams blink in a fixed rhythm, and dashed lines show which will be lit on your next move. Waiting is a move too. If you step into a lit beam, the alarm sends you back to the start, with no star lost.

The ciphers

The campaign covers ten kinds of puzzle: the Caesar shift (with a known shift, an unknown one, and a long message for letter counting), the Atbash mirror alphabet, keyword substitution, Morse code you can listen to, a grid cipher drawn in shapes (in the style of the pigpen cipher), the Vigenère cipher, the rail fence cipher on two and three rails, and a book cipher that points to words in an in-game book called The Lighthouse Almanac.

Gadgets

• Cipher wheel: drag it, use the arrow buttons or the arrow keys to set a shift. It shows a preview of the message shifted back, which makes unknown Caesar shifts quick to find.
• Frequency counter: a bar chart of how often each letter appears in the coded text.
• Morse kit: plays the message as beeps at normal or slow speed, shows the full Morse chart, and has a tapper. Hold TAP (or the T key) briefly for a dot and longer for a dash, and it turns your taps into letters.
• Key cards: every grid-cipher shape, a keyword alphabet builder, and both pages of the book.

Hints, stars and ranks

Each mission has three hints, from a nudge to the full answer. A mission is worth 3 stars, and each hint or false accusation costs one. Replays can raise stars but never lower them. Your star total sets your agent rank, from Recruit through Cadet, Field Agent, Special Agent, Senior Agent and Code Chief up to Spymaster at 66 stars. Progress saves in your browser.

Tips

• Look for short words first. One-letter and three-letter words are usually A, I and THE. Once you know THE, you know three letters of the key.
• Let the counter do the work. In a long Caesar message, the most common letter usually stands for E. Count the gap and set the wheel.
• In mole hunts, start with the clues that name a person. Mark the crosses, place the checks you are sure of, and the auto-crossing narrows the rest.
• In laser grids, watch the dashed lines. If a dashed beam covers the square you want, wait a turn or step aside. Sometimes stepping back is the fastest route.

FAQ

Is Spy Game free?

Yes. It is completely free, with no account and nothing to install.

Is it suitable for kids?

Yes. There is no fighting, the early missions explain each cipher step by step, and the hints can walk a younger player through any puzzle.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Tap to pick missions and mark the logic grid, drag the cipher wheel with your finger, and tap or swipe to move in laser grids. Swiping on the game does not scroll the page.

Can I replay missions?

Yes. Replay any finished mission without hints to earn the stars you missed. Reset progress (tap it twice) starts the campaign over.

Are the ciphers real?

Yes. Caesar, Atbash, keyword substitution, Vigenère, rail fence, book ciphers and Morse code are all real, classic methods, and they work here exactly as they do on paper. The grid shapes are our own drawings in the style of the pigpen cipher.

Want more deduction? Play our Werewolf game to find the hidden werewolves, or practice codes freely with our secret code and cipher tools.