
- BGG rank
- BGG #2,271
- BGG rating
- 6.8
The Great Heartland Hauling Co.
- 2–4 players
- 30 min
- Complexity 1.8/5
- 2013

2015
Rules assistance for Dead Drop
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Dead Drop is a board game released in 2015 for 2–4 players, 10 minutes per game, and ages 13 and up. It was designed by Jason Kotarski and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Trading, and Memory.
Dead Drop is a game that involves elements of memory, deduction, and crafty maneuvering. As secret agents working for different organizations, players scour the globe seeking information that will help them find the location of a hidden explosive device. Agents must trade information and sell secrets in order to learn the location of the device and grab it before it falls into the hands of another agency! On a player's turn, you must choose one of the following actions: Share Info: Trade one card from your hand with one card from any other agent. The target agent must trade and may not look at the card she is being given before handing over her card to the active agent. Hack the Cache: Trade one card from your hand with one card in the cache. The card from your hand becomes a part of the cache and should be face up. Sell Secrets: Reveal two cards from your hand to another agent, who must then answer "yes" or "no" to reveal whether or not she has a card equal to the sum of those cards. If she says "yes", she must hand a card of that value to the active agent in exchange for one of the cards shown. The active agent chooses which card to hand over. At the end of a turn, after performing a regular action, the active agent may choose to Grab The Drop: Place two cards from your hand face up next to the card in the middle of the table. Then, secretly look at the card in the middle to determine whether this card is equal to the sum of the two face-up cards. If you guessed correctly, you win the round; if you're wrong, you're out of the round. (In a three- or four-player game, if an agent is eliminated, she must place her cards face up in front of her. Other agents may trade with an eliminated agent's cards by placing the card traded from their hand face up in place of the card they take.) The first player to win three rounds wins the game. ••• Dead Drop includes three sets of cards with different artwork (Spies, Monsters, and Kids). Dead Drop Deluxe features the same gameplay as Dead Drop, but it includes eight decks of cards instead of three, each illustrated by a different artist with a different theme. These extra sets are: Vikings (by Naomi Robinson) Outlaws (by Oliver Meinerding) Birds (by Ashley Davis) Rogues (by Rob Lundy) Robots (by Sean Dove) Dead Drop Deluxe contains a cloth travel bag and silkscreened wooden tokens instead of plain cubes, and it comes packaged in a UV coated box sleeve.
Dead Drop supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Dead Drop is 10 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Dead Drop for ages 13 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Dead Drop has a complexity rating of 1.6 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Dead Drop belongs to these categories: Card Game, Deduction, and Memory. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Trading, and Memory. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Dead Drop are: Jason Kotarski. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Dead Drop as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.