Malware Mayhem Hacker Duel is a competitive tower-defense style board game where two players engage in a cyber warfare to capture each other's secrets from one of three systems containing data of high, medium, and low value. The players, adopting distinct hacker archetypes such as the White Hat Hacker and the Black Hat Hacker compete to build and deploy cyberweapons like botnets, trojans, and zero-day exploits in attacks against each other while bolstering their own defensive systems with additional firewalls, anti-virus, and intrusion detection systems.

Attacks occur in three phases: breaching the network, hacking the system, and in subsequent turns stealing the data and any co-located secret. If you capture the other player's secret, you win the game.

Each player is aided by Agents who assist in raising funds, restoring disabled cyber assets, or utilizing special abilities such as sending spam or initiating ransomware. The game currency is cryptocoins, used for purchasing weapons and defenses or selling stolen data in the DarkWeb Marketplace. Gameplay also involves using two decks of cards for resource collection and executing special actions.

Three editions of the game are available: Cyber War, State Actor, and Chaos, each featuring different hacker duels supported by aligned agents, offering varied geopolitical or ideological backdrops. These editions can be combined to accommodate up to six players in either team or free-for-all formats.

Each hacker archetype, from ethical White Hat Hackers to rebellious Anarchist Hackers, offers players unique motivations and strategic experiences, personifying various aspects of cyber warfare and digital ethics.