PLOT is a browser-based social deduction game for 5 to 12 players. A small cell of Spies tries to push red cards onto the table without being exposed, while the Police try to bank black cards or unmask a spy. Nothing to install: create a room, share the code with friends, and start.
The secret roles
At the start of every match each player is dealt a secret role that nobody else can see:
- Spy — needs 6 red cards on the table before being caught.
- Spy's assistant — knows who the spy is and wins alongside them, but their own execution does not end the match.
- Police — the majority. They know nobody and see only their own role.
That asymmetry drives everything. The spies know each other from the first second; the police start completely blind. So everything the police say in the first two rounds is guesswork, and everything the spy says is performance.
Roles and card distribution
The mix changes with the player count, and it changes the feel of the match considerably:
| Players | Spies | Assistants | Police | Black | Red |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–7 | 1 | 1 | rest | 6 | 12 |
| 8–10 | 1 | 2 | rest | 8 | 16 |
| 11–12 | 2 | 2 | rest | 10 | 12 |
Notice the red-to-black ratio is not constant. At 11 or 12 players the deck is nearly even, which makes a random draw far less punishing for the police. At 8 to 10 players red outnumbers black roughly two to one, which means a completely innocent president can draw three reds and have no choice at all. Remember that before you accuse anyone over a single card.
The round loop
Every round follows the same five beats:
- Leadership — the sitting president nominates a vice president. Every living player except the president and the nominee themselves votes to approve or reject.
- The draw — if the vote passes, the president draws 3 cards, secretly discards 1, and passes 2 to the vice president.
- The play — the vice president puts one card on the table; the other is discarded.
- Power check — if the played card is red and pushes the red count to a threshold, the president immediately gains a power.
- Next round — the presidency rotates to the next player and the loop begins again.
One rule matters more than it looks: if a leadership proposal is rejected three times in a row, the original president proceeds with no vote at all. That is a safety valve against the table stonewalling forever, but it is also a weapon. Deliberate repeated rejection can hand a spy an entirely unsupervised round.
Why the president and nominee cannot vote
Because voting on a proposal you are part of is not an opinion, it is self-interest. Excluding both makes every approval and rejection a genuine judgement from the rest of the table, which turns each vote into information worth remembering. Watch who approves whom — voting patterns are far more revealing than talk.
Win conditions
- Spies win — 6 red cards reach the table.
- Police win — 5 black cards reach the table, or any spy is executed.
Executing an assistant does not end the match. Plenty of police teams lose to exactly this: they execute someone, it turns out to be an assistant, they feel victorious and relax — while the actual spy is still seated and now looks less suspicious than before.
Rooms and codes
A room code is five characters: two letters then three digits, like AB123. Lookalike letters and ambiguous digits are excluded so the code survives being read aloud. You can also share a direct link in the form plot-game.com/r/AB123, which drops your friend straight into the room.
Bots and host controls
Short on players? The host can add bots to fill seats up to the minimum. Bots play with role-aware logic — a bot spy prefers red, a bot officer prefers black — but they do not argue and they do not lie. Treat them as a way to learn the rules or test a room, not as a substitute for real players.
The host can also remove a player. A kick in the waiting room simply deletes them; a kick mid-match is treated as an execution and affects the result. If the kicked player was the last spy, the police win; if they were a spy and another spy remains, play continues.
Disconnects and rejoining
If your connection drops or you close the tab by accident, reopen the link and you will be put back in your seat with the same role. The server is the single source of truth, so your browser never stores your role or your cards — which also means refreshing the page will never show you something you are not entitled to see.
Where to go next
Rules down? Read the powers and cards guide to understand the timing of each ability, then pick a side: the police strategy guide or the spy strategy guide.