Here’s a simple game that I was introduced to over the weekend, immediately went out and bought and played dozens of times since. Each game lasts roughly ten minutes and usually involves a lot of yelling, which is just awesome. We’ve already got the ‘Daybreak’ expansion on the way so we can get larger groups into the game.
It’s likely that you’ve encountered this kind of game in the past as ‘Mafia’, ‘Wink Murder’ or ‘Werewolf’, or you’ve played a similar tabletop game like Resistance. Everyone gets a random character card, with 1 or 2 players being werewolves. It is up to the rest of the players to determine who the werewolves are whilst said monsters try and cast suspicion on the innocent villages. What sets this particular game apart is that there’s a range of character roles with different abilities and you only get one chance to catch the werewolves. Once everyone gets their characters and memorises them, the players close their eyes and each character takes it in turn to open their eyes and play out their ability. This is managed by an Announcer player who gives instructions, or with the free smart phone app that gives instructions on a timer and provides some ambient background music.
The role you draw can greatly vary your experience in play. The werewolves simply open their eyes and find out who is on their side, but the Robber swaps his card with another person and looks at what they have become. The Seer will take a peek at some cards round the table (or the three unused cards in the middle), the Troublemaker swaps other people’s cards and the Insomniac checks their card at the end of the night to see if it’s been changed. This means that when everyone opens their eyes to discuss who they think the werewolves are, each player brings a different bit of information that they may or may not share. Quite often people will want to hang off on sharing their information to see if someone slips up and gives themselves away. This few minutes of discussion involves clever deduction, lies, bluffs and accusations before all are called to vote by pointing at the suspected werewolf. The player is ‘lynched’ and if it’s a werewolf, the villagers win, otherwise the werewolves win!
It’s easy to learn, can host anywhere from 3 to 13 players with the base deck and has proven to be a lot of fun with a couple of different groups. Some of the characters can add an extra element of intrigue for more experienced players, beginning with the Minion who tries to take the fall for the werewolves, the suicidal Tanner who wants people to think he’s a werewolf and the extra muddling Doppelgänger, who copies the role of another player.
For a quick, high energy fun and good hearted yelling this is a great buy. We’re looking forward to extra 11 roles with ‘Daybreak’ so we can increase the player count to 20!
