Every week here at IUP Tabletop Gaming Club we play several games in smaller groups.

However, this week we found a game that could be played with all 14 present members!

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is what we call a hidden role game, meaning each player has a character role that’s secret from the rest of the players. It’s like the game Mafia in a card or tile format. The group is secretly split between the werewolf team and the villager team. The villagers’ goal is to deduce who the werewolves are and vote one of them off, while the werewolves want to trick the villagers into voting off another villager. The game also has more specific roles with unique actions, such as peeking another’s card or swapping cards. There’s two phases, the night and then the day. After passing out the role cards, you go into the night phase, where everyone closes their eyes and takes turns opening their eyes to take their unique action. The game even comes with a convenient app that narrates the night phase, telling you when it is your turn and what to do for your action based on who your character is. Then comes the day phase, where the debating begins. Players may reveal their role, but they may also keep quiet or lie. At the end of the timed discussion, players vote and the winning team is determined. The game is only around 15 minutes long, allowing for multiple plays so everyone gets a chance to play different characters.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a member favorite at the IUP Tabletop Gaming Club. Theoretically it can fit as many as 20 players, so it’s one of the few games we can play with everyone at once. It’s a fun mix of competitive and collaborative that can keep things interesting without creating conflict. The discussion aspect allows players to interact with and get to know people who they might not have had a chance to play a game with before. However, when playing with so many players, it can get almost too chaotic and complicated. Overall it’s a great game but is better with a smaller group between 5-10 players. Perhaps next week we’ll try running two separate smaller games of Werewolf!