The party game of secret missions
Everyone's up to something.
Everyone at the party gets a secret mission aimed at someone else in the room. Pull yours off in plain sight, then find out who was working on you.
Free to host. Guests play in their browser, no app or account.
How it works
The game runs quietly under whatever you were already doing: dinner, drinks, a birthday, game night. Nobody sits in a circle staring at a screen.
Everyone gets a secret two-stage mission aimed at one other player. Your phone shows a closed case file until you hold to peek.
Keep hanging out. Steer the conversation. When a stage happens, quietly tap Claim. Midway, a plot twist might show up.
When time runs out, everyone gathers and secretly picks who they think was working on them. Or plays it safe with No Guess.
The host runs the show, one case at a time. Who was working whom, whether it really happened, and who saw it coming.
From the case files
Every plot has a setup and a payoff, and ends in something your target can say yes or no to at the reveal. These six are from the free pack.
Over 100 plots in The Usual Suspects, the free pack. Two more for hosts who want extra.
The reveal
When the accusations are locked in, the host runs the reveal on one phone, case by case. Every odd conversation from the night suddenly makes sense.
The tally
| Stage 1, verified | +100 |
|---|---|
| Stage 2, verified | +200 |
| Stealth bonus | +100 |
| Correct accusation | +100 |
| Plot twist, verified | +50 |
Best possible night
550
Claims alone never score. Full scoring rules
And then, the twist
Now and then the game deals a plot chain: two or three plots that quietly add up to one ridiculous shared situation. Each person thinks they're working alone. At the end of the reveal, the board fills in.
Three people were secretly trying to start a band tonight: one wanted a name, one wanted a solo, one wanted a lead singer. None of them knew the others were in on it.
Also in the files
Josh
Manager
Laura
Talent scout
Tim
Recruiter
Sarah
The target
✓Laura named the band: Velvet Casserole
✓Tim picked the tuba, then played it
Sarah never agreed to sing. Yet.
Pick your evening
The host picks how long and how cheeky. Everything else sorts itself out: plots are matched to the setting and the size of the group.
20 min
One plot each and one optional twist. Good for a short hang, a first game, or the end of a long dinner.
45 min
Runs under a dinner or a party while everyone carries on. More room for the hard plots and the long cons.
All ages
Clean plots that a ten-year-old and a grandparent can both pull off and both hear read out loud.
Grown-ups
Cheekier and harder to pull off. Villain monologues, fake rumors about yourself, dance-offs. Never mean.
Mission packs
Over 100 plots for any crowd, from family dinners to game night, plus most of the chains.
Bolder mischief for the Friends setting. Still, nobody gets hurt.
For coworkers who think they're just making small talk. Committees nobody asked for.
Pro packs belong to the host. Guests never pay to join a game.
Built for real parties
The host creates a game on their phone and puts the code on screen. Everyone else is in before the snacks are out.
Guests scan the QR code or type a six-character code at play.sideplot.app. No app, no account, no email.
Your plot hides behind a closed case file. Hold to peek, let go to hide. No sounds, no buzzing, nothing to give you away.
Nobody targets themselves, everyone has exactly one plotter, and nobody knows who theirs is.
No elimination. Get caught and you keep playing, you just lose your stealth bonus.
Claims only count when the person on the other end confirms them. Disagreements go to a table vote.
Everyone plays at once, whenever an opening shows up. No turns, no waiting, no rules to explain twice.
Every plot is written so the person on the receiving end laughs when it's read out. Nobody is ever made to do anything: you get one reroll for a fresh plot, and you can skip at any time.
Questions
Something else? Read the full rules or visit support.
No. Guests scan the QR code on the host's screen, or open play.sideplot.app and type the six-character code. No account, no install, no email. It runs in the phone's browser.
4 to 16, all in the same room, each on their own phone. It gets better with more people, because there are more plots crossing paths.
Quick Plot runs 20 minutes. Party Plot runs 45 and is meant to sit under a dinner or a party. Add 10 to 15 minutes for the reveal at the end, which is the part everyone remembers.
Yes. Hosting, joining, both game lengths, both settings and the full free pack (The Usual Suspects, over 100 plots) are free. Two extra packs, After Hours and Office Party, are Pro for hosts. Guests never pay to join.
Don't. Every player gets one reroll for a fresh plot, and you can skip at any time with no explanation. Missions never involve danger, touching anyone who doesn't want it, embarrassing someone, money or anyone's private information.
Nobody gets knocked out. In Killer, the first person caught spends the rest of the party watching. In SidePlot everyone plays until the timer runs out, and the payoff is a reveal at the end where the whole table finds out what was really going on.
The target says so. At the reveal, they're asked a plain yes or no question, like "Did you suggest a name for their business?" If the plotter and the target disagree, the rest of the table votes.
Pick Family and it is. Family plots are clean and written so a ten-year-old and a grandparent can both do them and both hear them read out. Friends is cheekier, never mean.
No microphone, no location, no recording, no ads and no tracking. The game only knows what players tap. Everything about how you pulled it off comes from the people at the table.
They're on the way. For now everything runs in the browser at play.sideplot.app, for the host and the guests.
Your next party
They just won't know why until the reveal. Start a game in under a minute, free.
Got a code already? Join a game
