Casino Incognito - a game of deception and deduction (brainstorming...)

Casino Incognito:
A game of bluffing, deduction, and deception for 2-5 players.

Components:
100(?) poker chips
108 card deck (2 52-card decks + 4 jokers, 2 red and 2 black)
4 10-sided dice
20 square "disguise" cards numbered 1-20
20 "agent" pawns, numbered 1-20

5 player boards (each with numbers 1-20)
100 cube markers, 20 each in 5 colors
A set of Poker Hand Scoring Tiles, one per valid 2-5 card hand
(each tile indicates a rank (for how rare/difficult to achieve it is) as well as an ordering of suits (for breaking ties on high-card))

1 surveillance board (4 spots for conversations)
1 casino board (10 rooms laid out in a 3x3 square with the middle room split in two)
1 turn order / intelligence board (a turn order track with 5 spots with printed chip values (5 6 7 8 9) to be collected as income, 3 spots for "the leak" cards, and several spots for Scoring Tiles.

SETUP:
Place each character from 1-10 on the room with the matching number. Each player in turn draws the top 3 disguise cards, keeping one, replacing one, and removing the other from the deck. In this way, each player will have one disguise card that represents them, one that they know represents nobody, and one about which they are uncertain.

Give each player 5 chips, and a starting hand of three cards, dealt facedown. This is each player's starting pool of resources.

Deal a single face-up card onto each of the spaces on the surveillance board, one less than the number of players. Roll a die for each of these cards, placing it in the adjacent spot.

Deal a single face-up card onto the first "Leak" spot on the intelligence board.

Shuffle the scoring tiles face-down, then reveal one tile per player. Place them, in rank order, on the appropriate spots on the Intelligence board.

You are ready to begin play.

OBJECT OF THE GAME:
In Casino Incognito, each player is a secret agent who has been sent on a mission to the most glamorous casino on the planet; the Palazzio De Fortuna on Skullcano Island, somewhere in the Pacific. This casino is frequented by the rich and powerful, most of whom are extremely evil, and extremely loose-lipped. The arms dealers, power brokers, hackers extraordinaire, master thieves, and celebrity lawyers of the world trade anecdotes of their evil deeds over drinks and games of high-stakes Baccarat (which nobody knows how to play, so they just call Blackjack "Baccarat" and are done with it).

Various intelligence agencies are well-aware of the wellspring of information pouring forth from this casino, and have deployed their agents to collect it, hoping to foil sinister plots (or perhaps initiate counter-sinister counter-plots) and become more powerful in the process; However, these agents are all deployed at once, and would like nothing better than to expose each other, gaining trust and hopefully more juicy tidbits for themselves!

At the end of each hand, players will have a set of poker cards before them, from which they will try to assemble the best combination in each of several categories, indicated by the scoring chip on the board. The player with the best hand of each category will be awarded Victory Points, the second best (or "Bad beat") will get an interesting reward, and everyone else? Well, they were too late to the party.

Additionally, as the hand goes on, information will leak in the form of community cards which are available to all players. The player who has the best hand for each of the community cards will gain chips for the next hand.
At the end of three hands, the player with the most VP is the winner!

STRUCTURE OF GAMEPLAY:
Gameplay takes place over multiple hands, each hand consisting of three (or more) rounds. A round takes place as follows:

STEP 1: SURVEILLANCE
Look at the surveillance board. It contains spaces for four stacks of cards and four 10-sided dice. These cards represent conversations taking place in the numbered room indicated by the 10-sided die. For each space which represents a room which contains no characters, discard the cards on that space. Then, re-roll the die for each empty space, changing the rooms they represent, and deal a face-up card to each space (not just the empty ones!) This shows what surveillance has picked up from wiretaps placed around the casino... in order to get more information than this (that is, to actually get these cards in hand) players will have to get a bit more personal.

STEP 2: BLENDING IN
In turn order (updated at the end of each round) players may move one agent from a room to any adjacent room. After each player has moved one agent if they so desire, players may continue moving agents, but must pay AT LEAST one chip to do so. Players may pay more than one chip, thus raising the cost for other players who must at least match what was paid or pass. Pawns can be moved multiple times on one turn, so raising is a good way to protect a placement you think is important.

STEP 3: MAKING CONTACT
The player who is last in the turn order chooses which room resolves first. (If there are MULTIPLE conversations in the room, they are resolved simultaneously; this is explained below.) Each player takes in his or her hand a number of chips. (This can be zero chips.) Simultaneously, all players reveal their bids, and the player who bid the most chips wins. Ties are broken by being last in turn order. The winner loses all the chips they bid, and takes the appropriate pile of cards, adding them to their hand. Any face-up cards remain face-up. The winner then advances one spot in the turn order.

Each player who bid chips, but did not win, loses a chip and draws a face-down card from the stack. Their other chips are not lost. They overheard some choice conversation between the winner and the informant, but not exactly what they wanted to hear.

Each player who DID NOT takes one chip for each player who DID bid. They spent the round gathering information on the other agents.

Special Case: Multiple conversations.
If there are multiple conversations in the room, the winner gets first pick among them, still losing their chips and still advancing one place on the turn order track. The second-place player (ties still broken the same way) then gets second pick, and so on. If there are more conversations than players that bid, the conversations remain on the table, and will accumulate an additional card next round.
Special Case: Nobody Bids
If NO PLAYERS bid chips, nobody receives any chips or cards. That conversation will accumulate an additional card next round.

STEP 4: THE LEAK
During step 4, a single card is flipped face-up from the deck. This represents a goal for players; At the end of the hand, whoever can build the best poker-hand out of their cards, the other community cards, and THIS card, will win additional chips. Players at this point may choose to "disavow" their agent. A player who does so removes all the "non-agent" markers from their player board, shuffles their disguise card back into the deck, and draws a new one. Players whose agents are identified (meaning all the spots but ONE on their player board are filled) MUST disavow. Disavowed agents cannot win first place rewards in this round, and cannot "raise" any bets during scoring. However, they will still participate in scoring, and can win second-place rewards.

The round is now over. If this is the third round of the hand (if there are three face-up cards in the "Leak" area) then the hand is over as well.

SCORING THE HAND:
Starting with the least valuable scoring tile, players go around the table in reverse turn order and may wager chips if they believe they will have the best hand. In order to be in contention for the hand, players must at least match the wager of the previous player. Then, each player reveals the hand (or hands) they wish to form from their cards for that scoring tile. (A player may be able to form MULTIPLE HANDS as long as they use seperate cards! for example, if a player has two sets of three-of-a-kind, both are eligible to win the hand!) (NOTE: A player does not have to reveal their BEST hand if they don't want to or don't need to; It might be important to keep cards hidden to drive up bidding on a later hand!) Players may choose to not reveal a hand if they cannot form the combination on the tile.

Each player reveals their hand, if they choose. The player with the highest hand (ties broken by high-card, then by the suit ordering on the tile, then by reverse turn order) takes the reward in VP listed on the tile, plus 1 VP for every chip bid on the hand, and advances one space on the turn track. All players then lose the chips they bid. The second place player (and third place, for some scoring tiles) also get rewards, which are listed on the scoring tile. These might be VP, Chips, additional cards for next hand, or special abilities. Players who don't place, well, they get nothing. Sorry.

If NO PLAYER reveals a hand that matches the combination on the tile, then one chip per player is placed on that tile. The first place player next hand will win that many additional VP.

Special Case: Disavowed Agents
If a disavowed agent would win first place, they get the second place reward instead. If they would win SECOND place, they get nothing. This doesn't affect the rewards the other players get. (I.e. if player A is disavowed and wins first place, and player B wins second place, both will get the second place reward.)

THE LEAK: Players may use the community cards in the leak for their hands. However, if a player wishes to do so, they must place a chip on that card. If they cannot pay, they cannot use the card. These chips will be dealt with later.

After scoring each scoring tile, the hand is over. Players receive a number of chips for the next hand listed on their spot on the scoring track, with the player in last also collecting the chips which have built up on any one of the community cards. The next 5 characters are added to the game on random rooms, and players who disavowed their agents draw new disguise cards. Then the next hand begins.

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Once you have played a few games, you may want to stir-- sorry, shake-- up the game a little bit using the Intrigue Abilities printed on the cards. The Intrigue Abilities add a bit more bluffing to the game (as if there wasn't enough!) and allow players to have a little more control over some of the events going on in the game. Be careful, though; once used, the cards are gone for good.

ADVANCED PLAY - INTRIGUE ABILITIES
In addition to the poker card symbols, each card has an intrigue ability printed on it. Intrigue abilities of your face-down cards can be activated at many different times during the game, with the phases where they're applicable printed on the cards.

To attempt to activate an intrigue card, place a number of chips on the card. In turn order, each player may match that number of chips. If a player does, you cannot play the intrigue card, but will collect those chips at the end of the phase. You can't try to activate the same intrigue card more than once per phase.

Once you've activated an intrigue card, you MUST discard it; it can no longer be used as part of your hand. Only one Intrigue card can be SUCCESSFULLY activated per player per round; players may try to activate as many as they want, until they succeed.

2-5
Diamonds (A couple of drinks)
Activate this during the Surveillance phase to draw 1/2/3/4 cards from the deck, look at them, and distribute them face down among the conversations.

Clubs (Hired Muscle)
Activate this before the Blending In phase to place the "Muscle" token on any room. Nobody can move pawns into that room this phase unless they give up 1/2/3/4 chips to the bank. Higher ranked Muscle cards will move the Muscle token.

Hearts (Femme Fatale)
Activate this before the Blending In phase to place the "Femme Fatale" token on any room. Any other player who moves a token into or out of that room must pay you 1/2/3/4 chips. Higher ranked Femme Fatale cards will move the Femme Fatale token.

Spades (Poison Dart)
Activate this before the surveillance phase to strike a player with the Poison Dart. That player cannot raise during "Making Contact" this round unless they surrender 1/2/3/4 chips to the bank immediately. Higher ranked darts don't cancel each other out.

6-10
Diamonds (Buy Everything)
Activate any time before scoring. Draw two cards face-down.

Clubs (Intimidate)
Activate whenever you want! Gain one chip. (This card is mainly used for bluffing to collect chips)

Hearts (An Intimate Encounter)
Activate before the Surveillance phase. Replace one of the face-up cards with one from your hand of equal or higher rank.

Spades (Henchman)
Activate before the "Making Contact" phase. You don't need to reveal any agents to listen in on the first auction you bid in this round.

J - Bomb Scare
Activate before "Making Contact" to place the "Bomb" token on any room. In turn order, players must choose and move one character out of that room, if possible.

Q - All that Glitters
Activate before scoring. You may trade in chips for Victory Points, 1 to 1. You must disavow your agent.

K - Target Acquired
Activate any time. Choose a room with at least four characters in it. Each other player must reveal two non-agent characters from that room, if possible. If a player cannot, they must disavow their agent.

A - A minor distraction
Activate before the "Blending In" phase. Move a conversation to an adjacent room.

Jokers have no Intrigue Abilities.