Five of Spades

Manga
OVA
Netflix

Five of Spades, titled "Tag" is a game featured in Chapter 6 of Alice in Borderland. It is a game where the players have to find a safe zone and press a button while avoiding a tagger in the hallways of an apartment building. This game was cleared by 4 players, mainly Ryohei Arisu and Yuzuha Usagi.

Game Overview[]

Set-Up[]

Player Limit: 13
Time Limit: 20 Minutes
Prize: None
Starting Condition: The registration deadline is 6:00pm sharp. “It” begins to move at 6:05pm.

Rules[]

Everyone in the complex will be running from the "Oni", also known as “It”.
There is an unlocked room in the complex which is the "safe zone".
It is GAME CLEAR if a player finds and touches the "safe zone" within the time limit.
It is GAME OVER if the time limit is reached or if the "Oni" kills all the players.
The "Oni" is a dealer in charge of the game and is a muscular uzi-wielding horse masked individual.
The perimeter of the building is mined.

Details[]

The apartment complex is 9 stories and is shaped in an L. There are 3 stairwells, one on each end and one at where the 2 corridors intersect. Although never stated in the rules, 2 players are needed to clear the game. To deactivate the bomb, there are 2 buttons a distance away in the safe zone which must be pressed simultaneously.

Solution[]

The safe zone was a room on the 4th floor. This was deduced by both Chishiya almost immediately and Arisu near the end of the game. Arisu noticed that there were bullet holes against the walls, but the judging from the angle, it couldn’t have been shot from the same floor. When the 2 beginner unnamed players were on the 4th floor making their way to the door, the tagger shot at them from another floor, which was the only time the tagger shoots at such a long distance. This explains the angle of the bullet holes. The two realized that the only reason the tagger shot from so far was to protect the correct door.

Strategy[]

Chishiya took in a pistol which he received from his prior Six of Diamonds. Since the rules don’t say anything against it, it’d be foolish not to bring a weapon into a Spades game. After the game began, he went to the front of the southern staircase of the highest floor to observe the rest of the apartment. This is the most powerful passive position to take, as from there the entire perpendicular branch can be seen. From just observation, the location of all players and the tagger can be tracked; and should the tagger ascend to the 9th floor, escape is possible by running down the southern stairs. Should the tagger climb up the southern stairs, it’d be easy to hear and there would be time to dash to and down the central stairs. The rules also never stated that climbing around the structure was forbidden. This was done countless times by Usagi when searching for the safe zone and climbing to help Arisu clear the game. Karube and 2 unnamed players also attempted to kill “It”. Admittedly, this was an extremely dumb choice, as noted by Chishiya, since it’s not a game of tag anymore if players hunt down the person who’s “It”.

Synopsis[]

Five of Spades Participants[]

Ryouhei Arisu	GAME CLEAR Reached the safe zone and pressed the button	Yuzuha Usagi	GAME CLEAR Reached the safe zone and pressed the button
Chishiya Shuntarou	GAME CLEAR Players found the safe zone successfully	Daikichi Karube	GAME CLEAR Players found the safe zone successfully
Gun Fanatic	GAME OVER "Tagged" by Horse Head	Wrestler	GAME OVER "Tagged" by Horse Head
Hat	GAME OVER Attempted to leave game venue	Glasses	GAME OVER "Tagged" by Horse Head
Nitobe	GAME OVER "Tagged" by Horse Head	Punk #1	GAME OVER "Tagged" by Horse Head
Punk #2	GAME OVER "Tagged" by Horse Head

Trivia[]

An unnamed male participant said that in the past, a mass murder occurred in the apartment. The game is likely a tribute to the event.
The game venue in the manga is L-shaped, when the one in the Netflix Series is T-shaped.

Games
Clubs [♣]
Spades [♠]
Diamonds [♦]
Hearts [♥]
Others [⚂]	Unknown Cards · Unknown Venues