Xmas is a time for friends and families to sit down and eat, drink and be merry. But underneath all that, one of you is out to get more of a share of the Xmas pudding than everyone else. Maybe you are a secret pudding eater, looking to out wit your other friends or family? While this maybe not the case, INSIDE JOB could be the game to have you dreaming…
INSIDE JOB
AGE 8+ / PLAYERS 3-6 (2 player variant available)/ TIME 25 mins max
THE GAME
You are a group of secret agents. You are working toward a common goal. Complete a set number of missions on a card thereby completing your task as agents. Sounds easy? Except one of you is not who they say they are. 
They are the insider. Hiding in plain sight, they are sabotaging you at every turn. Scuppering your tasks and collecting secret information for themselves. They have a goal to win also. This cooperative trick-taking card game sets up with an information card revealed that relates to the number of players. This tells you mission numbers to win for team and insider, the cards dealt and all of that! Then each player is assigned a role secretly and a load of cards, colour coded that is and dealt to them. A mission card is turned over offering a task for the group to complete (like the last card must be the highest) and a trump colour offered. Complete the mission and receive an intel token. Do as many as on the information card and win. The insider need only to scupper enough missions to win, that is of course without them revealing their duplicitous role!
REVIEW
Well it is safe to say that we and I LOVED INSIDE JOB. Its a lot of things to a loads of people. Ulterior, Motivated, Fun, Fast, Frantic and relished in its duplicity. It is a really great play for 3 to 5 players across a range of skillsets. 
Those on BGG saying it suits 4 to 5 best, do have a point but I feel it is the type of player that you are facing that matters here. The game leans toward the causal player, with a focus on both older families and friends. Where they are likely looking (as more studied gamers) is the experienced uber gamer type. What made it most rewarding for easy and broad sort of players, was that the trick taking element becomes more duplicitous and valuable, as the game progresses. Benefit hands over tactics. It is the sort of game my late dad would have loved playing and also made my 10 year old niece and my wife, plot and plan with a plumb. So all good here.
There have been some comments on the 2 player variant. It actually nods toward the BGG gamer. It is a process and operation version, that benefits more schooled players. Or in plain English, those who know how to use tactics to be beastly….
