Z-Man Games has announced a new card game from famed designer Richard Garfield called SpyNet.

In SpyNet, each player is the leader of a secret agent network, trying to complete as many missions as possible.  To fulfill their goals, they draw cards representing agents, funding, and missions from a common pool.  Since the card pool is shared, players can get hints about the assets the other players collect, which can be crucial to successfully completing missions.

Agents specialize in one of four different fields, and a player can only complete a mission if they dominate the field required for that mission.  Funding cards can increase the strength of an agent, while some agents have special abilities that can drastically alter the landscape of the game.

SpyNet can be played by two players, or as a four player partnership game that adds an extra layer by requiring partners to coordinate their actions.  The game comes with 84 cards and 16 tokens.  It is intended for ages 10 and up, and plays in a bit more than half an hour.  MSRP is $19.99.  The release date has not yet been announced.

Z-Man recently announced plans for the second game in its wildly popular Pandemic Legacy series (see “‘Pandemic Legacy – Season 2’ Slated for Fall Release”).