collection

a declassified cia board game

original design by david clopper
cia senior collection analyst

implementation by

www.twobatsgaming.com
COLLECTION is a game designed as a training tool employed in U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officer education. The
game was designed by CIA Senior Collection Analyst David Clopper. The game was originally concieved as an in-house
CIA project, and as such was considered classified material. Public knowledge of the game was brought to light after
Clopper (and a number of other CIA officers) hosted a panel at the 2017 SXSW Conference, discussing the CIA’s use of
tabletop and video games in officer training. However, while COLLECTION (as well as two other Clopper-designed games)
was on public display, it was still considered CIA classified material and journalists were restricted to the extent of
their coverage of the game.

Enter one Douglas Palmer, who filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any and all material relating to the three
games showcased at the conference. The CIA responded to Palmer’s request by declassifying and publically releasing a
bevy of information about the games-rulebooks, component examples, and design notes. Essentially, enough to actually
play the game.

Not without some work though- the released files were in incredibly low quality resolution, black and white only, and
occasionally having some redacted text or graphics. The files were not in sequential order- parts of one game were
interspersed with another. You could determine how to play the game, but the actual materials to do so were far too low
quality to use.

And that’s where we come in. We’ve recreated the entirety of component materials for Collection: the board, every card,
every token. And we want to share it with the gaming world, as we feel this is an important moment in tabletop gaming
history that shouldn’t be forgotten.

All information in this collection of files is sourced from FOIA released file F-2017-01865.
17 U.S. Code § 105 states that any work of the United States Government is public domain.
We have no affilliation whatsoever with the Central Intelligence Agency or US Government.

This Implementation of Collection is ©2018 Two Bats Gaming

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
1. Introduction All players also provide COLLABORATION BO-
COLLECTION is a collaborative training game NUSES to each other when they are collocated
designed to teach how analysts and collectors in (at the same location). See the PLAYER ROLE
the Intelligence Community work together against CARDS for more info.
a variety of challenges. Players play the roles of
analysts working together as a team. The object ROLE DESCRIPTIONS/STRATEGY
of the game is to engage intelligence collectors
to drive reporting, providing policymakers with The POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND ECONOMIC
enough information to simultaneously manage ANALYSTS are highly effective at driving report-
several international scenarios. ing for their particular discipline, but are unable to
drive other kinds of reporting.
2. Roles & Components
The COLLECTION AND TARGETING ANA-
A game of COLLECTION can be played with 3 to LYSTS can drive multiple kinds of reporting, but
7 people (Alternate rules for 2 players are includ- face limitations when doing so.
ed), and contains the following materials:
The LEADERSHIP ANALYST drives and uses
• 1 Game Board political reporting like the Political Analyst, but
• 7 Player Role Cards provides different collaboration bonuses to other
• 12 Scenario Cards players.
• 70 Collection Cards
• 122 Double-sided Report/Engagement Tokens The SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND WEAPONS
• 18 Collector Coins, 3 per Collector ANALYSTS drive and use military reporting like
• 3 Crisis Markers the Military Analyst, but provide different collabo-
• 10 ten-sided dice ration bonuses to other players.
• 7 Player Tokens
2.2 The Game Board & Components
You will need to supply the components in italic text.
The game board depicts elements for three simul-
2.1 Player Roles
tangeous scenarios that the players will be work-
ing against. Each scenario is isolated except for
Players choose between seven different analyst
the fact that the players will be moving between
roles. Three are mandatory (POLITICAL ANA-
scenarios to manage them- what happens in one
LYST, MILITARY ANALYST, ECONOMIC ANA-
scenario generally does not affect the others, with
LYST) in every game of COLLECTION. The re-
a few exceptions. Each scenario on the board
maining four roles are optional. There can be only
contains the following elements (depicted in the
one of each analyst in each game.
ANNOTATED GAME BOARD annex of this rule-
book):
IN A GAME WITH 3 PLAYERS, USE THE FOLLOWING ROLES:
POLITICAL, MILITARY, ECONOMIC
CRISIS LADDER: The Crisis Markers are used to
IN A GAME WITH 4 PLAYERS, USE THE FOLLOWING ROLES: track the crisis level of each scenario via its CRI-
POLITICAL, MILITARY, ECONOMIC, SIS LADDER on the game board.
COLLECTION
RESPONSE LADDER: The RESPONSE LAD-
IN A GAME WITH 5 OR MORE PLAYERS, THE REMAINING DER tracks the current response level of a col-
PLAYERS CAN CHOOSE FROM THE REMAINING ROLES. lector in a current scenario. COLLECTOR COINS
donate the individual response level for each
collector in each of the three scenarios.
REPORT CIRCLE: When a collector successfully following the Sequence of Play rules in the next
generates an intelligence report, the player may section.
place a REPORT TOKEN- again, blue for political,
red for military, and green for economic- in the 4. Victory & Defeat
REPORTS CIRCLE of that scenario. Once a gem
has been placed in a specific scenario’s report To win, all three scenarios must be completed as
circle, it cannot be moved elsewhere. described in Section 6 of this rulebook.

COLLECTOR LOCATIONS: Each scenario con- If any scenario’s CRISIS LEVEL reaches 10 on
tains six collector locations that agents will visit the CRISIS LADDER, the game ends immediate-
and move between throughout the game. If two ly and the players are defeated.
(or more) players are located on the same collec-
tor location in the same scenario, they are con-
sider collocated and may apply their collocation 5. Sequence of Play
bonuses.
Each player may take two actions on their turn,
ENGAGEMENT TOKENS: Every turn the players choosing from three possible actions: MOVE,
will have a chance to place ENGAGEMENT TO- ENGAGE, or ROLL FOR REPORTING. They can
KENS on a collector space: the tokens represent take any comination of the three types of actions
how much effort the player has made to reach out (e.g., taking two MOVE actions), so long as they
to that collector in that scenario. There are three only take two actions.
types of engagment tokens:
MOVE: As a single action, a player may move
POLITICAL (Blue) TOKENS between two different COLLECTOR SPACES
MILITARY (Red) TOKENS in the same scenario (for example, from NSA in
ECONOMIC (Green) TOKENS Scenario A to OSE in Scenario A), OR between
the same collector in two different scenarios (for
The kind(s) of ENGAGEMENT TOKENS a player example, from DH in Scenario A to DH in Scenar-
can place are dictated by their analyst role. A play- io C).
er must be located on a specific collector space to
place an engagement token on that location, and ENGAGE: As a single action, players may place
one an engagement token has been placed on a one ENGAGEMENT TOKEN on the COLLECTOR
particular location, it cannot be moved elsewhere. SPACE where they are currently location. The
type/color of engagement token they can place is
3. Setup determined by their analyst role, per their Player
Role card.
Each player chooses their analyst role (keeping in
mind the rules listed in 2.1 Player Roles). ROLL FOR REPORTING: As a single action,
a player may roll dice to see if the collector on
Shuffle the SCENARIO and COLLECTION card whose collector space they are currently location
decks and plce each one face down next to the generates a report of interest, per the instructions
game board. in Section 5.2.

Draw the top-most SCENARIO CARD and place After completing their two actions, a player
it in the scenario card space of SCENARIO A. must draw a COLLECTION CARD. If the card
Place a CRISIS MARKER at Level 1 in Scenario is RED, it is played immediately and its text is
A. applied immediately. If the card is BLUE, a player
may choose to play or hold the card. A player may
Play begins with whichever player wants to go play a held blue collection card at any time during
first, and continues around the board clockwise, their turn before, during, or after their actions, but
prior to drawing the collection card at the end of Coin on the Response Ladder) is at 6. If Harry
their turn. rolls a 5 or less on any of his four dice, he suc-
cessfully generates a report.
Generating New Scenarions: If a “Crisis Expan-
sion” Collection Card is drawn that affects the cri- Different analysts may be limited in the kinds of
sis level in a scenario which is not actve (has no reporting they can roll for, or in the number of dice
current scenario card), players must draw a new they may roll when rolling for reporting, as indicat-
SCENARIO CARD, place it on the appropriate ed on their player role card.
scenario card location as identified on the collec-
tion card, and place a CRISIS TOKEN on level The number “0” on a ten-sided die counts as 10,
one of the CRISIS LADDER of that scenario. and is always a failure when rolling for reporting.

5.1 Engaging Collectors No matter how many successes a player may

achieve on their dice roll, only one report is gen-
The first time that an ENGAGEMENT TOKEN (of erated per action.
any color) is placed on a COLLECTOR LOCA-
TION in a Scenario, place that collector’s COL- Being collocated with other analysts can provide
LECTOR COIN on the RESPONSE LADDER for bonuses to the number of dice that players may
that scenario. The coin is placed at the current roll, or the collector’s response level, as indicated
crisis level or level 3, whichever is lower. on the player role cards.

Once placed, an ENGAGEMENT TOKEN cannot 5.3 Using Reports

be moved to a different collector location. Play-
ers are not limited to the number of engagement When a player has successfully generated a
tokens they can place on a collector location, but report of interest, most players have a choice as
they can only place one engagement token per how to use it.
action (again, two actions per turn).
When generated, a player may use their newly
5.2 Rolling For Reporting generated report in one of two ways:

When rolling for reporting, players roll a number Choose one:

of ten-sided dice to determine whether a collector Place an appropriately colored REPORT TO-
they have engaged provides a report of interest. KEN in the REPORTS CIRCLE for the scenario
where the report was generated.
Players roll one die for each ENGAGEMENT OR
TOKEN on their current COLLECTOR LOCATION Use the report to reduce the crisis level on
of the same color as the kind of report they are that scenario’s CRISIS LADDER by one (to a
trying to generate (blue for political, red for mili- minimum of four).
tary, green for economic). If any of the rolled dice
results are less than the relevant collector’s level Once a report has been placed in the reports
on REPONSE LADDER in the scenario where the circle, it cannot be removed.
player is located, the collector provides a report of
interest to the analyst. If a scenario’s crisis level is currently below four,
reports may not be used to lower that scenario’s
Example: Harry, who is playing as the Military crisis level.
Analyst, is located on the NSA Collector Location
in Scenario A. There are currently four military Once a scenario’s crisis level has risen above four
(red) engagement tokens on the Scenario A NSA on the crisis ladder, reports cannot be used to
location, so he will roll four dice. The current NSA reduce that scenario’s crisis level back below four.
reponse level (indicated by the NSA Collector
Keep in mind: The COLLECTION ANALYST can COLLECTOR DEFINITIONS:
only reports to fill the Reports Circle, as indicated
by their player role card. DH (DEFENSE HUMINT): Disseminates informa-
tion gathered by US Military personnel, including
5. Completing Scenarios military attaches and representatives overseas.

Each SCENARIO CARD lists the amount of OSE (OPEN SOURCE ENTERPRISE): Collects,
political, military and economic reports that are translates and disseminates open source materi-
required to complete that scenario. Once enough al from around the world, including foreign news-
reports have been placed in that scenario’s RE- papers, journals, radio, and television stations.
PORT CIRCLE, take the following actions:
DO (CIA DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS):
1. Turn the relevant SCENARIO CARD over. Clandestinely collects foreign intelligence from
human sources.
2. Reduce that scenario’s CRISIS LEVEL down to
level one. NGA (NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE
AGENCY): Collects and analyzes imagery from
3. Reduce all collector response levels on that many sources, including satellites and airborne
scenario’s RESPONSE LADDER by three. vehicles.

Keep in mind: COLLECTION CARDS can still NSA (NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY): Col-
affect a completed scenario’s CRISIS LEVEL, so lects and analyzes intelligence from the intercep-
players should keep an eye on them! Players may tion and decryption of data transmissions.
continue to generate reports in completed sce-
narios for the purpose of lowering that scenario’s STATE (STATE DEPARTMENT): Not technically a
crisis level. collector; disseminates insights gathered by US
diplomatic personnel overseas.

Congrats! You’re now ready to play

WANT A PROFESSIONALLY PRODUCED
COLLECTION. Heads up, this game is tough!
Keep an eye on those crisis levels. AND PRINTED VERSION OF THE GAME?
WWW.PRINTPLAYGAMES.COM
We hope you enjoy Collection- we put a lot
of work (over 40 hours) into the creation of this
implementation.

If you’d like to support us, we gladly accept

support through our Patreon, available at:

patreon.com/twobatsgaming
 Design Notes/Frequently Asked Questions
So, first off, if you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen our YouTube video covering Collection.
If not, go check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLRxL5osmGY If you’re not familiar with Two Bats
Gaming: we’re a team of tabletop enthusiasts who run a Youtube & a Twitch channel dedicated to all things
tabletop. We’d really appreciate you checking us out.

We were first clued into Collection through an article on Ars Technica written by Sam Machkovech. Kudos to
him, as well as Douglas Palmer, who filed the FOIA request. We were immensely interested in the CIA’s use of
tabletop (as well as video) games to train intelligence officers. When the FOIA docs came out, we were excit-
ed, but also saddened- the quality was so low that it became obvious that a ton of work would be needed to
turn the docs into an actual game. But the occurrence was just too cool to let pass by- so we got to work, and
now you have the result. We hope you enjoy.

Q: What is changed from the original game as described in the FOIA documents?
As little as possible. We made slight edits to the rules and certain card texts for the sake of clarity. As far as art
style, we attempted to emulate the style shown in the few photographs of Collection that were taken at the
SXSW conference, but we took some liberties as we felt the game needed a bit more of a modern look. One
note, however: the FOIA rulebook lists 80 collection cards in the component listing, but only 70 card images
were located in the FOIA docs. We believe that this was a typo, rather than there being 10 missing cards, giv-
en the completeness of all other related info (and that it’s unlikely any collection cards were redacted from the
release, as they are fairly generic in description text).

Q: What about the other two games in the FOIA docs? Will you cover/create them?
As for Kingpin: The Hunt for El Chapo, it is unlikely that we will create an implementation due to a number of
legal issues surrounding the game. Volko Ruhnke (creator of GMT Games’ popular COIN series) was a co-de-
signer of Kingpin, and as such our hope for Kingpin is that he publishes it through GMT’s guidance.

As for Collection Deck: it has been created as a Kickstarter project by a separate group of designers and is
currently undergoing funding. Go check it out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mmasnick/cia-collect-it-all

Q: Are you going to be sued/hassled/hit with a javelin missile for releasing this?
We certainly hope not. We conversed with a number of relevant parties before releasing this implementation,
and all information we received pointed to the conclusion that the information released in the FOIA docs is
public domain thanks to 17 U.S.C. 105, which states that all released works of the US Government are not
subject to copyright law. HOWEVER, We are not lawyers and are not offering any legal advice of any sort con-
cerning the legality of these files.

Q: Can I Sell/Alter/Do Anything with these files?

All files in this archive are ©2018 Two Bats Gaming, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-
Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. In short, you cannot use these files for any commercial pur-
pose. You may create and distribute derivative works of these files, but only under the same (or a compatible)
license.

Q: How long did this take?

Around 30-40 hours of work on the game components/rulebook, and another 15 or so on the video. And yes,
we fully created every component, only taking the text/layout cues from the FOIA. If you want to see what we
were working off of, go check out the FOIA docs.

Q: Are you friggin’ crazy?

Probably. But in all seriousness, we wanted to do what we could to preserve this piece of tabletop gaming
history. Articles about the games weren’t enough- we wanted to play them, and share that experience with
the hobby as a whole. We hope you enjoy our work!