TDmonthly · Brand Spotlight · Meet the Maker · October 2026
Meet the Maker: Spy Alley Partners, the Minnesota Family Behind SCORE 4 and Spy Alley
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.
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. 
