Secret Hitler
Designed by: Max Temkin,Mike Boxleiter,Tommy Maranges
Secret Hitler is a social deduction game where one team – the Fascists – know who their members are, but the Liberals do not. Figuring out who is furthering the cause of the opposition is the path to victory…
Each player is dealt a secret party membership and identity. The majority will be liberals, a minority will be fascists, and one of whom will be Hitler himself. Play begins with one player given the role of President, and this player chooses a Chancellor. There’s now a vote where everyone chooses yes or no to approve this combination of president/chancellor, and if it’s passed the President draws three ‘Law’ cards – which will be Liberal or fascist laws – discards one, and passes the other two to the chancellor. The chancellor chooses one of the pair and this law is passed: adding either a liberal or fascist law to the board.
The objective for each team is to pass a certain amount of laws to win, but there’s a layer of fog over proceedings: for a start, the liberals can’t be sure who is on their side. Then the president – which moves around the table – might be a fascist, choosing a fascist chancellor. The president might discard a liberal law and pass only two fascist laws to the chancellor. Or the chancellor might lie and say they were only given fascist laws and had no choice. As the game progresses, players get (possibly misguided) sense of who is who, and proposed president/chancellor combos may be voted down. As parties pass laws, bonuses are triggered which allow players to be ‘shot’: if the liberals shoot Hitler, they instantly win. If not, both sides need a number of laws passed to win.
Sam says
Mechanically, it’s a straightforward game to learn and teach, and as an experience it’s interesting. There’s enough going on here, especially with 8 or more players, that it encourages all manner of theories, coherent or otherwise, as well as opportunities to bluff or to simply lie in barefaced style. Whether a game really needs to invoke a racist, genocidal murderer in order to be fun is another question, and will depend heavily on the individuals playing. For me, The Resistance did it first, does it better, and doesn’t include nazis.
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Take That!
Present, as it tends to be with fascism
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Fidget Factor!
Pretty much non-existent, as you need to be either masking your intentions, or watching others, or both
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Brain Burn!
Light - it's all about the deduction
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Again Again!
The secret identities mean the game is never 'solved' and there's a baked-in escalation as players are forced to take more risks and expose themselves
