“Wait, Who Are You?” Five Great Hidden Role Board Games Without a Traitor
With these hidden role board games, you might still be stabbing each other in the back, but it won’t be a surprise when you do.
I love games where I get to be sneaky about my goals, but I have a horrible poker face. Plus, I’m not great at lying since I often lost track of the lies I’ve told. These five hidden role games are meant to be for people like me.
These are games that have some hidden role element, but without worrying about some grand traitor reveal. You’ll still be working against each other, but there’s no mustache twirling moment of “Muah HA! I was working against everyone else the whole time!” Maybe that’s splitting hairs, but it’s my list so I can do what I want with it.
Bristol 1350
In Bristol 1350, players are trying to escape from the Bubonic Plague with their cart of people fully uninfected. However, as the play continues, each cart will become more and less virulent. Once a person is infected, the only option is to kick them off your cart and hope they hop onto another.
But don’t make it too obvious tho one you ousted is sick or they might just be sent running right back to your cart. Alternatively, play as the Plague Doctor and win by making sure no sick people leave the city.
Lord of Waterdeep
An absolute classic of a worker placement game also has a hidden role element as well. Each player is a lord of the D&D city of Waterdeep. But lords act from the shadows and you can’ never be sure who is pulling the strings.
As the lords invest in the city, it’s up to every one else to try to figure out what’s their game exactly. Each lord scores points differently, so being able to see how they are manipulating the city is the only way to work against them.
Coup
One of my absolute favorite party games. Takes only minute to explain and players in maybe 10 minutes. It’s the sort of hidden role board game you’ll play over and over. Each player has 2 role cards. These cards can be used to earn or steal money, swap role cards, or perhaps most importantly, assassinate other players. The last player standing wins.
But players can use the powers of any role, even without having the role card. Though a secret technique called “lying”. While Coup is a game of bluff, you don’t have to be good at lying to win. You can easily win without ever lying. Plus, since the bluffing is so fully saturated into the game, it’s impossible to ever know who is lying and who isn’t.
Voices in My Head
Genuinely one of the most unique games I’ve seen, Voices In My Head is sort of a one-versus-many game, where most players take the role of aspects of the the defendant on trial. The other player is the prosecutor attempting to get him thrown in prison. Other than the prosecutor, all players roles are hidden. They could be Honesty, Selfishness, Drama, Doubt, and others.
There’s a dexterity element of manipulating tokens within Guy’s mind in order to control different aspects of his personality, which will affect how he performs while he’s on the stand. Every player, including the prosecutor has their own set of conditions that will lead to them winning. Often regarding whether or not Guy, the defendant, is sent to prison, but there are plenty of others as well.
Tortuga 1667
Maybe I’m stuck in the early 2010s, but I still love pirates dearly. Tortuga 1667 is a hidden role game of piracy and secret alliances. Each player is a pirate secretly working for either the English, French, or Dutch. Well, actually if they had a Letter of Marque, which sponsored the ship for a specific county, they would be privateer, not a pirate. I won’t apologize for historical piratical accuracy.
Throughout the game, players will manipulate face-down event cards. These cards can help or hurt whoever draws them. Players can peek, swap cards, or draw cards, or force another player to draw cards. However, the captain on a ship can also call votes to attack enemy ships to gain treasure or mutiny to oust the captain. During these events, players all secretly add a card to a pile to determine the result of the event.
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