The thread about secret research in this forum, in combination with something else, gave me a game idea I'm not sure I want to do anything with at the moment.
A mechanical theme for the game would be secrets: when to keep them and when to reveal them (not about guessing whether the other player is a traitor). It would probably be a card game. Each player would have several secrets -- received by drawing random cards during the game -- along with many common knowledge items that have similar use and effect as the secrets, but are less powerful. The others don't know how many secrets a player has.
So the point is that players would want to reveal those secrets at some point, by using them to gain some advantage (repeatedly, until it is countered). But by revealing them, they give others the option to counter that advantage -- maybe not immediately, but maybe during the next turn or two. Perhaps some secrets would be even more powerful, but could be turned against the player who reveals them, if others co-operate. (and lets assume it can't be revealed at the very end when nobody can counter it any more).
The player's must decide when to reveal each secret: reveal too early with the hope of getting more bonuses from it, but it may easily be countered. Reveal too late and you'll not get as many bonuses.
I've played few enough board games that I don't know if something like this has already been made. Are there any games with a similar idea? Basically all games have some aspect of keeping secrets from opponents (even if they are just plans in your head) or ways for countering an assumed plan, but in this game that would be an explicit and prevalent theme. What do you think?
Your game sounds interesting. I'd perhaps even like to playtest it at a local game night. The Finnish version would be fine -- I'm from northern Estonia and learned some Finnish from watching Finnish TV for years and years, so I should be able to understand most of it (not sure about all the other players, though).
I agree that designing a game around my idea would be difficult. I won't take that challenge yet. I also haven't come up with a good theme: maybe Cold War or martial arts (secret moves) would work.
I have a similar idea that is a bit simpler, though (also with secrets revealed in the very end), and I might try that one first. It's actually *somewhat* similar to your concept, except the theme and mechanics would be different.