TDmonthly · Brand Spotlight · Meet the Maker · October 2026
A brand-new card game where the fourth card takes the pile, and the hidden-identity board game families have played since the 1990s. Here’s what to know about both, from a family company that says it makes fun of serious business.
By Laura N. Larsson · October 2026
Disclosure: Spy Alley Partners has a paid SCORE 4 card in our 2026 Holiday Gift Guide: Board Games. It did not pay for this article. We have not play-tested these games. This spotlight is built from the maker’s own pages, Amazon listings, the NAPPA and Mensa Select records, CPSC recall records and the public sources listed at the end.
Every family has a game that ends with somebody shouting “I knew it was you!” For a lot of households, that game has been Spy Alley, a 1998 Mensa Select winner from a family company in Minnesota. This year the same family launched SCORE 4, a quick card game that has already picked up a 2026 NAPPA award. Here’s how each one plays, the ages and warnings the maker and Amazon list, and what each costs today.
Meet the Maker
Spy Alley Partners LLP is a family game company in Maple Grove, Minn. Its motto, right on the home page, is “We make fun of serious business.” Designer William “Bill” Stephenson’s copyright on Spy Alley dates to 1992, and the SCORE 4 copyright lists five Stephensons: William, Wanda, Eric, Kevin and Scott.
The lineup runs from the original Spy Alley board game to Spy Alley Jr., Spy Alley Dice, Simply Suspects, Spy Trap and the Spy Alley Card Game. Every game on the maker’s site links to Amazon to order, and each comes with a 90-day limited warranty on parts.
TDmonthly readers have met this company before. In our December 2005 holiday games report, Games Win for the Holidays, Terri Bracken, owner of Earth Explorers Toys in Zionsville, Ind., told us: “Spy Alley is a great game.” This year SCORE 4 also appeared in our roundup of award-winning games of 2026.
Official product photo: Spy Alley Partners · Source
Ages 8 to adult · 2 to 6 players · 15–30 minutes · Item # 20004 (maker)
How it plays
Everyone plays to the same shared piles in the middle of the table. Each player holds three cards, and a turn is just two moves: draw one card, then play one card onto a pile. Whoever drops the fourth card on a pile claims the whole pile. The first player to collect four piles in four different suits wins. The catch, as the maker puts it, is that “claiming a pile is easy, but holding onto your victory is going to take serious strategy and a little bit of sabotage.” The deck is loaded with Special Defensive Cards for blocking a rival who is one suit away.
Good to know
Ages: 8 to adult (maker). Amazon lists the manufacturer recommended age as 8 years and up.
Players: 2 to 6. The maker’s SCORE 4 page includes a sample two-player game, so it works for a couple as well as a crowd.
Play time: 15–30 minutes (maker).
Small parts: neither the Amazon listing nor the maker’s page shows a small-parts warning for SCORE 4 at our check. It is a card game.
Award: a 2026 winner of the National Parenting Product Awards (NAPPA), which calls it “a family game night dream with instant setup and simple rules.”
Official product photo: Spy Alley Partners · Source
Ages 8 to adult · 2 to 6 players · 30–45 minutes · Item # S-7 (maker)
How it plays
Each player is secretly a spy for one country. To win, you collect your country’s code book, disguise, key and password without anyone working out who you are, while you use deductive reasoning to unmask everyone else. The maker sums it up as “deceptively simple and surprisingly intense.”
Video: Spy Alley Partners’ official YouTube channel. The maker links it as the “How to Play” video for Spy Alley · Watch on YouTube
Good to know
Ages: 8 to adult (maker).
Players: 2 to 6 (maker and Amazon).
Play time: 30–45 minutes on the maker’s Spy Alley page.
Small parts: Amazon’s listing reads “WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD -- Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.”
Award: a 1998 Mensa Select winner. The maker lists nine more honors on its Spy Alley page.
Fun fact from the Amazon listing: designer William Stephenson shares his name with Sir William Stephenson, the World War II spymaster code-named INTREPID.
Pros
A Mensa Select winner that families have played since the 1990s
Bluffing and deduction in one game
Players can use as much or as little strategy as they like, the Amazon listing says
Price: $39.99 on Amazon (Oct. 28, 2026, 1:30 AM PT). The maker’s suggested retail price is $39.99.
Video: Simply Suspects, from Spy Alley Partners’ official YouTube channel · Watch on YouTube
In His Own Words: Q&A with Bill Stephenson
Bill Stephenson, designer of Spy Alley and SCORE 4, answered our questions by email on Oct. 28, 2026. His answers appear as he wrote them.
Fair warning before the last answer: at Bill Stephenson’s table, suddenly changing the subject to golf is a tell.
Where did the idea for SCORE 4 come from? Was there a moment at the table when you knew the “fourth card takes the pile” rule worked?
I was in the north woods at a cabin sleeping in a very comfortable bed. Around 2AM I woke up with a game idea in my head. I tried to forget it and go back to sleep. I woke up 3 more times with the same idea in my head. Each time I tried to forget it. When I finally got up in the morning, I put the idea on paper. That same morning my wife and I tried it out and thought it was a great game.
Why four suits, a three-card hand and defensive cards? What did you try and drop along the way?
We tried several different themes before we settled on the four suits. All of the themes we tried and rejected seemed like they would limit the exposure to the consumer market. We tried a few different size hands but three was the best to create the strategies I desired. We originally had a mechanic that would knock players out of the game. The defensive cards were added to allow us to eliminate that mechanic.
NAPPA called SCORE 4 a game for kids, parents and grandparents alike. Who did you picture playing it, and does it play differently with two players than with six?
I picture families playing this game. The best thing about this game is that it is great with 2 players. I know so many people that only have 1 other person to play with so they don’t play games as often as they would like. With 2 players the game has a little more strategy than with more players. With 6 players the game can get a little crazy.
The SCORE 4 copyright lists five Stephensons. How does the family take part in designing and testing your games, and who usually wins?
My wife and 3 adult boys all contributed to designing the game. We play tested it and made changes as we saw fit. We all have a good sense of humor and that makes the game testing a lot of fun. My wife has done the artwork on all of our card games. Because we have a good balance of strategy and luck in all of our games, we all get our fair share of winning.
Spy Alley has been around since the 1990s and won Mensa Select in 1998. What’s next for Spy Alley Partners?
I am not actively looking to invent new games but every now and then my oldest son will put an idea in my head and I end up with a new game. I have a few prototypes that I think are really fun but they are still in the closet. Eventually I hope my 3 sons will take over the business.
Do you have a favorite story from a game night or a fan?
My favorite game night story came from playing Spy Alley with my poker buddies. We usually play for $1 and we play several games in an evening. One of the players stated at the start of a game that he was not going to talk to anyone during the game because he always said something that gave his identity away. I watched him and he was doing exactly as he said. Near the end of the game he had collected all of the items for all of the spies. I had never seen this done before. I knew he was close to winning. He only had to get to his embassy to win. As he approached the embassies I knew I had to guess his identity to stop him but I had no clue who he was. Then he made a fatal mistake. He sat up straight in his chair and started talking about golf. That told me that he planned to win on his next turn and he wanted to take the attention away from the game. Since the roll of the die would not guarantee a win he must be planning to use his move cards. I looked at his move cards and he could only land on one of the embassies. My turn was right before his turn so he was waiting for me to roll the die and then he would win. I picked up the die and shook it in my hand. Then I looked at him, put the die down and correctly guessed his identity to knock him out of the game. The look on his face was priceless.
Video: “How to play Score 4,” from the Triple S Games YouTube channel. Bill Stephenson sent it to us as the SCORE 4 gameplay video · Watch on YouTube
Safety check: On Oct. 28, 2026 we searched the CPSC recall database (saferproducts.gov, which lists recalls through Oct. 22, 2026) for Spy Alley, SCORE 4, Simply Suspects, Spy Trap and the Spy Alley Partners name. It shows no recalls of any Spy Alley Partners product.
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Writer's Bio: Driven by a fascination with how young people learn, grow, and connect, Laura N. Larsson has spent years researching the role of play and social media in child and adolescent development. Since 2012, she has combined her ecommerce background with in-depth interviews of children and teenagers, producing insightful articles that explore the evolving interplay between play, communication, and online interaction. Read more articles by this author
Writer's Bio: Driven by a fascination with how young people learn, grow, and connect, Laura N. Larsson has spent years researching the role of play and social media in child and adolescent development. Since 2012, she has combined her ecommerce background with in-depth interviews of children and teenagers, producing insightful articles that explore the evolving interplay between play, communication, and online interaction. 
