Round & Revel / Negotiating reusable information
Open Secret Exchange
A useful fact can travel further than its owner expects.
Original authored print-and-play game. Time is a planning estimate; this edition has not had a live group playtest.
Good for: A talkative small group that enjoys bargaining over fictional information.
What you need
- Eight private desk cards: four for Market 1 and four for Market 2
- Public turn-order sheet, blank private ledgers and final reports
- Small disclosure slips, pens and covers for private material
- Separate answer guide, kept covered until reports lock
How to play
Set up four desks
Form four teams as evenly as possible and randomly assign letters A, B, C and D. Each desk has one ledger and one score, whether it contains one person or two. Play two markets. Deal each desk its matching Market 1 card and keep every card private. A desk begins knowing its three original records and wanting the three codes on its request list. The letters in a code identify its original owner: B2 began at desk B. They do not say who else has since learned it.
Understand the currency
All records are fictional two-word values. Information is not consumed when shared: retain every original card and every fact learned. A received fact can be offered again on a later turn, even if its original owner is absent from that trade. This is the central bargaining choice. You may conceal which facts you want or what you intend to do with them, but you may not lie about a value, claim to know a record you lack, or invent a new code.
Eight turns, no side market
Follow the public order exactly: A, B, C, D, then B, C, D, A. Each desk initiates twice. On its turn, the initiator chooses one other desk and offers one known code in exchange for another code it wants to acquire: for example, A3 for C3. State codes publicly, never their values. The chosen partner may accept, decline, or make one counteroffer naming a different one-for-one exchange. The initiator then accepts or declines that counteroffer. The turn ends after this decision.
Keep negotiation bounded
There is at most one completed exchange per turn. A refusal uses the turn; the initiator cannot try a second partner. Either party may ask whether the other currently knows a proposed code, and the answer must be truthful. Other desks may listen to offered codes but cannot join, interrupt with competing offers, promise a third-party payment or give away information. No gifts, multi-fact bundles, borrowed scores, binding future promises or trades outside the current turn are permitted.
Exchange privately and simultaneously
Before accepting, check that each desk actually has the fact it offers, either on its original card or in its ledger. Both write the agreed code and complete value on a fresh slip, fold it inward, and exchange together. Only the two trading desks may read those slips. Each records the received fact and retains it. Publicly mark that the turn finished, without announcing whether either fact answered a request. In a pair, rotate spokespersons between your two initiating turns.
Use copied information carefully
You may offer a fact the other desk already knows, but it is free to refuse. You may acquire a fact you do not personally need because it could become a useful later offer. There is no obligation to make an equal-value bargain. Before releasing slips, check spelling against your own record. A clear typographical slip may be corrected privately without another trade; changing to a different value or code is not a free renegotiation. Deliberately false records end competitive play.
Lock the requests
After the eighth turn, give desks a quiet minute to fill their three requested codes with one value each. Their cards and ledgers remain available. Do not ask more questions or negotiate extra disclosures. A blank or list of alternatives is incorrect. Lock all reports before revealing every original record. Award 1 point per exact requested value, to a maximum of 3 per desk. Readable spelling differences are fine when both words are unambiguous; a different object is incorrect. Unrequested records and unused offers score nothing.
A fresh second market
Record scores, collect all first-market cards and slips, and clear ledgers. Move desk letters one team clockwise. Deal the corresponding Market 2 cards; none of the old values apply. Follow the same eight-turn order and score out of 3 again. Teams retain their own points when letters move. Highest combined total out of 6 wins; tied teams share the win. The published route proves everyone can finish, but bargaining outcomes need not be equal.
Exposure and access
If private values are publicly exposed before reports lock, or a genuinely incorrect copied value has spread beyond a simple spelling correction, void that market and use the remaining market as a fresh game. Do not penalize an innocent receiver for a corrupted source. If no unused market remains, finish unscored. Provide large-print slips or let a teammate read them privately. No whispering, speed, memory test or disclosure of real personal information is required.
A worked example
In a separate practice exchange, desk X knows X1 = red tassel and desk Y knows Y1 = folded fan. X offers X1 for Y1. After exchanging, both desks retain their original fact and also know the received fact. On a later practice turn, X could offer Y1 to another desk even though Y still owns its original record. A hypothetical report containing two correct requested values and one incorrect value scores 2 out of 3. These codes and values appear in neither scored market.
Printable materials
Print and cut the four desk cards for each market separately. Deal only matching market numbers; keep unused markets out of sight. Publicly display only the turn order. Private ledgers, exchanged values and the answer guide stay covered until scoring.
Market 1 / private desk A
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: A1 = paper bridge; A2 = brass button; A3 = velvet spool. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: B1, B2, C3. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Market 1 / private desk B
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: B1 = amber bell; B2 = linen flag; B3 = silver comb. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: C1, C2, D3. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Market 1 / private desk C
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: C1 = wooden wheel; C2 = glass bead; C3 = blue ribbon. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: A3, D1, D2. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Market 1 / private desk D
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: D1 = copper key; D2 = green pennant; D3 = stone cup. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: A1, A2, B3. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Market 2 / private desk A
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: A1 = willow basket; A2 = tin feather; A3 = cotton kite. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: B1, B2, C3. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Market 2 / private desk B
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: B1 = pebble crown; B2 = woollen map; B3 = reed ladder. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: C1, C2, D3. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Market 2 / private desk C
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: C1 = clay whistle; C2 = marble boat; C3 = silk leaf. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: A3, D1, D2. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Market 2 / private desk D
YOUR ORIGINAL RECORDS: D1 = oak lantern; D2 = chalk flower; D3 = leather star. YOUR THREE REQUESTS: A1, A2, B3. Collect these values and keep your requests private. Copy received facts into your ledger; you may trade their information again.
Public negotiating order
FIRST LAP: A, B, C, D. SECOND LAP: B, C, D, A. Each listed desk initiates one turn. A desk may be the chosen partner on several other turns. Maximum one completed exchange per turn, one fact in each direction. Give facts you actually know; keep your copies. No gifts, public value announcements or extra trades.
Private information ledger
Desk ___ | Market ___ | Original and acquired facts: code ___ value ___ received from ___ | Repeat rows as needed. Keep this sheet covered. Final report: request code ___ value ___; request code ___ value ___; request code ___ value ___. Score ___ out of 3.
Host material: Open the separate Open Secret Exchange answer notes. Contains solutions. Keep this guide away from players.
Round & Revel. First edition, October 2026. Uses only the listed printable materials and ordinary supplies.