Agent Avenue is a game for two people that’s all about tricking and outsmarting your opponent. You play as spies hiding in a normal neighborhood. Your main goal is to find and catch the other spy before they catch you. That’s the story behind it, anyway.
In the game itself, you and your opponent move around a round path, starting on opposite sides. You’re trying to move fast enough to catch the other player. How far you move is decided by special cards you pick up as you play.
There are also two other ways the game can end. You win right away if you get your third ‘Codebreaker’ card. But be careful, because you lose right away if you get your third ‘Daredevil’ card.
You start with four cards in your hand. When it’s your turn, you pick two of them. You put one face up in the middle of the table so everyone can see it, and the other face down so it’s a secret.
Then, your opponent has to choose one of those cards to add to their own collection. You get the card that’s left over. When you add a card to your collection, you move a certain number of steps on the board, which is shown on the card. If you already have other cards that are the same, the way you move might change depending on that card. And that’s pretty much all there is to playing the game! It’s quite simple.
Most of the cards in the game are good and help you move forward. But some cards will make you move backward. Even though you’re the one who picks the two cards to play each turn, your opponent gets to decide who takes which card.
The trick is how you use that face-down card. If the face-up card is a good one, are you hiding an even better card? Or if the face-up card is bad, are you hiding something even worse? The player who has to choose is put in a tough spot. This is where the mind games really come into play.
The numbers on the cards tell you how many steps you move when you have one, two, or three or more of the same card. For example, your first ‘Double Agent’ card makes you move back one step, but if you get a second one, it lets you move forward six steps.
There’s also an extra part you can add to the game. It gives you special tools when you land on the corners of the board.
As you gather more and more cards, your plans will change. The cards you already have affect how powerful the next card you get will be. Deciding which cards you want to collect and which ones you want to trick your opponent into taking is part of your long-term plan.
If your opponent already has two ‘Daredevil’ cards, they won’t want to take any face-down card you offer. The same goes if you already have two ‘Codebreaker’ cards; they wouldn’t want to risk you getting the face-down card. In certain situations, you can make a move that guarantees you’ll catch your opponent, no matter what card they pick. This is because cards work differently depending on what you already have.
I was playing as the green player and was only two steps away from catching Han. I offered him an ‘Enforcer’ and a ‘Double Agent’ card. Han didn’t have any ‘Double Agent’ cards yet, and his first one would make him move backward. If he took that, and I took the ‘Enforcer’, I would catch him. I already had one ‘Double Agent’. If he took the ‘Enforcer’, he would move forward, but my second ‘Double Agent’ would let me move six steps, and I would still catch him.
Agent Avenue is a simple but smart game for two players. I like that it’s clear and to the point, without a lot of extra stuff. A nice detail is that the pictures for the same character are all different. Most characters have six cards, and each card has its own unique artwork. Take a look at the ‘Codebreaker’ and ‘Daredevil’ cards below.
