The CIA Made A Card Game... And We're Releasing It

from the come-and-get-it dept

Mon, Apr 23rd 2018 9:00am — Mike Masnick

Yes, the CIA made a card game. And... we're releasing it. No, really. If you want to play the top secret card game that the CIA used to train analysts, you can now back our Kickstarter project for CIA: Collect It All.

Let me explain how we got here...

We write a lot about the CIA here on Techdirt -- often covering just how secretive the organization is around responding to FOIA requests. After all, this is the same organization that invented the famous "Glomar Response" to a FOIA request: the now ubiquitous "we can neither confirm, nor deny." And that one "invention" is used all the time. Indeed, if you have a few extra hours to spend, feel free to go through just our archives demonstrating CIA obstructionism over FOIA.

But... the organization actually did recently respond to a set of interesting FOIA requests. Back in 2017, at SXSW, the CIA revealed its gaming efforts, and even let some attendees play them. That resulted in a few FOIA requests for the details of the game, including one by MuckRock's Mitchell Kotler and another by entrepreneur Douglas Palmer. In response to the FOIA requests, the CIA released the details of some of the games (though, somewhat redacted, and in typical FOIA response gritty photo-copy style), including a card game called "Collection Deck." My first reaction was... "Hey, that would be fun to play..." And then I had a second thought.

There's another super popular topic here on Techdirt: the public domain and how important it is to build on works in the public domain. Remember, under Section 105 of the US Copyright Act, works of the federal government of the United States are not subject to copyright and are in the public domain.

We've already been working with Randy Lubin of Diegetic Games on a few different projects (including Working Futures and others you'll need to stay tuned for). So, we started talking about making a version of the CIA's game to play for ourselves. And everyone we mentioned it to wanted to play as well. And the more we looked at the details, the more we realized that we could make a much nicer version (while paying homage to the original and its route through FOIAdom) that was playable, and maybe even offer some changes, fixes and alternative rules. We decided to name our version, "CIA: Collect It All." Not only does "Collect It All" spell out CIA and pay homage to the CIA's "Collection Deck" name, "Collect It All" was also General Keith Alexander's surveillance motto that we roundly mocked due to its inherent conflict with the old 4th Amendment. Anyway, this seemed like a way to take back the phrase a bit.

And that led us to Kickstarter. We're using Kickstarter in the real original sense of Kickstarter. We had an idea that we thought was pretty damn cool that we wanted for ourselves. And we want to see if others want it as well so we can produce it at scale. If people want it, awesome. We'll make a bunch. If we're wrong and no one really wants it... well, we'll probably still make a copy for ourselves, but you're on your own, working with redacted photocopies.

So... here's a chance to:

Get a cool, fun game that until just recently was a top secret training game by created by the CIA -- which, come on, is pretty cool
Help support Techdirt and all the reporting we do (including reporting on the CIA pushing back on FOIA requests)
Demonstrate why building on the public domain is a good thing
Did I mention that you get to play a fun game, with awesome design work (much better than the CIA's), that was originally created by the CIA?

So, check it out and back us on Kickstarter. And tell your friends. Because, look, they wanted to be CIA agents when they were kids too.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

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Filed Under: card game, cia, collect it all, collection deck, foia, public domain

38 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:26am

Really? Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?
How quaintly last century. I suppose you haven't noticed that "life" is now all on computers, believe that people still meet in person and sit round a table. Hee, hee! What a card YOU are!

And certainly minimal effort on your part to try and gain some money. -- How about writing lots of interesting content here -- for free?
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Roger Strong (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:38am

Will you be releasing expansion sets for each new presidency, war and major leak?
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Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:40am

Re:
Why are you under the impression that there will be a "new presidency" warranting another release?
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Roger Strong (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:47am

Re: Re:
Of course!

President John Barron and VP David Dennison.
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kallethen, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:00am

Re: Really? Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?
There's actually a pretty loyal fandom of board games. And I'm not talking just old games, but lots and lots and lots of new board games as well. And even some of those computer and video games even have crossed over into the board game realm. Amazing, isn't it?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:06am

Re: Re: Really? Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?
Not to mention that 2016 and 2017 were Dungeons & Dragons' most profitable years since it was originally released.

A lot of parts of our lives are on computers, that doesn't mean that people still don't interact offline and in the real world.

As kallethen stated, there's a loyal following of board games, and it's growing. The board game industry is booming. There is no reason offline and online can't mix, interact, and live together simultaneously. They aren't mutually exclusive.
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Jinxed (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:12am

Will there be a redacted version, making the challenge more difficult?
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Mike Masnick (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:14am

Re:
Stretch goal idea?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:18am

Re: Re:
<redacted>

~Official CIA Position
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Baron von Robber, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:20am

Re: Re: Re:
I'll vote for President Spanky Bonespurs.
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I.T. Guy, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:28am

Re: Really? Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?
I play bored games at 3 times a week with the family & friends wiLLie. You'd know that if you made it past her 3rd birthday. Hee, hee!
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Annonymouse, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:29am

Re: Re:
An authentic replica waterboard kit

Battery booster with cables

An ikea rack

An autographed Copy of the latest hackware to come to light and how to fix it.

GWB's telephone directory
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:29am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
VP Scabs the Clown
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I.T. Guy, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:29am

Re: Re:
Is there tinfoil under that helmet? :)
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crade (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:40am

Any way I can get the physical version in Canada?
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Derek Kerton (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:43am

Re: Really? Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?
First Point: Cards

It's true. Every time I go to Vegas, I observe the oddity of people playing "card games" on the screens of computers, with virtual dealers. You're so right. Computers CAN simulate a card game.

Of course, those are the nickel games. Walk a few steps over, and -- surprise -- you'll see the people actually gambling money in increments above $10 are all actually playing with real cards. So both virtual and actual cards games can co-exist in the market.

But given the house takes a steady %, and the physical card tables have higher minimums, not only do people still choose to play with real cards, they pay substantially more to do so, which is what economists call a "revealed preference".

So, you are so very wrong.

Second point: Making Money

You joke that Techdirt should, instead, make their money by "writing more free content". I guess you missed the part of the Techdirt business model, which has been oft repeated, and demonstrated here. It's "Connect with Fans (CwF) + Reason to Buy (RtB) = The Business Model"

or CwF + RtB. You can see it here

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090719/2246525598.shtml

It strikes me that this card game is an incredibly on-point example of that model.
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Derek Kerton (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:44am

Re: Re: Really? Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?
Is the typo on porpoise?

Bored games?
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Leigh Beadon (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:48am

Re:
We're keeping track of interest from outside the US and we hope to add international shipping if enough people want it - so consider your vote counted :) I'm in Canada too so believe me I very much hope we can do it!
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Jinxed (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 11:21am

Re: Re:
I was hoping the stretch gold would include an encrypted version, offering additional cards as "decryption devices", where points allocated from the "investigation" would determine the chance of the "BFI" to "successfully" decrypt the cards.

The 3 device cards would be iFruit, Robotoid, and ObsoleteDevice.

Oh, and it should include a free shredder, if we want to play an agent who wishes to cover our tracks of illegal activity when stealing Bitcoin.
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ryuugami, 23 Apr 2018 @ 11:30am

Re: Really? Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?

Physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game?

You are confused. It's the exact opposite.

You can't "steal" a computer game (unless you find a boxed copy, of course), but you can steal a physical product such as these cards.
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Uriel-238 (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 12:13pm

It'll go full circle...
... if the CIA game ends up on one of the tabletop emulation engines like Tabletop Simulator.

Though yeah, real cards tend to be preferred. Online tabletop emulation is generally used for playing with folks across distance.

Though it makes me tempted to invite a group and play at least one game gathered around a table everyone holding their tablets and gathered at a simulated table. We'd probably only play one short game before breaking out real cards and boards, though.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 1:19pm

Re: Re:
Sounds like an excellent idea; makes it harder to Collect It All when you have to get all the parts in order to have enough of a card to have reasonable doubt as to its contents.
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Matt, 23 Apr 2018 @ 1:20pm

+1 for international shipping
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Uriel-238 (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 2:08pm

Very important gamer questions
Does CIA: Collect It All support two players? Does it support 3-5 players? Does it support 6+ players? Solitaire?

Is it very easy (Ages 6+), kinda easy (ages 11+) or Grognard hard (ages 41+)

How long does a game typically take? Twenty minutes (e.g. Fluxx), Forty minutes (e.g. Munchkin), All weekend (Catan with all the expansions, oh fuck it let's call it a draw and get pizza.)

Has anyone played it? Is it fun?
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Ninja (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 2:57pm

Re: Re: Re:
Your own Ed Snowden voodoo doll so you can nail it as much as you want!

Oh wait, wrong game.
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Ninja (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 2:59pm

Re: Re:
Ah damn, I'll have to go with the pdf D=
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Ryunosuke (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:27pm

An Online card game like MTG/Hearthstone/etc. and put it up on Steam, and have some expansions go along with it, I'd be on board.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 6:35pm

Will the finished product also be released as Public Domain?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 6:49pm

Re:
believe that people still meet in person and sit round a table

Yep, people don't gather any more. Not for meetings... or mealtimes... it's so easy to disprove you, it's ridiculous how any organism could evolve to the capability of using a modern smart device and still be this fucked in the head...
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Stephen T. Stone (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 8:25pm

Re: Re: Re:
One of Dick Cheney's artificial hearts
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2018 @ 1:50am

awww so cute
always nice to see basic criminals and murderers get rehabilitated into pop cultural heroes.
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Jeremy, 24 Apr 2018 @ 9:10am

Bonus Points
For being the first person to buy on Kickstarter?
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2018 @ 11:08am

Re: Re:
Using that as a stretch goal sounds like a cool idea. Something along the line of a small set of specially redacted cards: 3 technique, 3 reality, and 3 threat (total of 9). These can function as wildcards to some degree, since they can't be fully read anyways, heh.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 24 Apr 2018 @ 11:40pm

Re: awww so cute
always nice to see basic criminals and murderers get rehabilitated into pop cultural heroes.

Can you explain how that's actually happening with this, because I don't see it?
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The Wanderer (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 5:04am

Re: Re: awww so cute
My best guess at that one is that the CIA are who was being referred to as "basic criminals and murderers".

Doesn't make a lot of sense even with that, but it's closer than anything else that actually fits even vaguely with the article...
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crade (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 8:10am

Re: Re: Re: awww so cute
Isn't it the FBI we are supposed to be trying to undermine?
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Uriel-238 (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 12:04pm

Re: Re: Re: awww so cute
The CIA is a sanctioned institution that often operates outside the law and not merely murders, but massacres.

Still taking their card game and publishing it for the rest of us to enjoy hardly condones their heinous programs done in the name of the United States.

And it hardly rehabilitates them into pop culture heroes. For that you just need the Jason Bourne movies.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2018 @ 3:47am

Don't be obtuse and add international shipping. Just charge extra for shipping. Boardgame kickstarter projects do it all the time.
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