SECRET HITLER

You’ve opened your eyes as a liberal player, and sat around the table are your friends and fellow players. Except two of them are not as they seem. Two of them are fascists, specifically, one being Hitler, and one being his chancellor, though you cannot tell at this stage which they are, and only they know of each other, after being randomly decided at the beginning of the game by a card draw. You’re going to have to try to call them out based on the policies they’re trying to pass with every card they lay down, but in this time period of Germany, those cards are stacked in the favour of the fascists, and they may have no choice but to pass a fascist policy. You question them – did you have a choice in which card you lay down? No, they say, but you cannot be sure. Are they truthful, or are they a wannabe dictator in disguise? Secret Hitler is a game that many are put off by simply because of the name. Whilst understandable, it’s a shame, because it’s an incredibly clever little social deduction game. At every turn you’re scrutinising the moves of the others, trying to track whether they’ve just been unfortunate with the cards they’ve been dealt, or are stealing sneaky looks to their chancellor across the table – or indeed, trying to conceal your own sneaky looks and liberal cards. The dual layer of distrust in both the persons role, and then suspicions through the cards, and the impact of passing too many of one kind of policy, brings it together in a well balanced game where you’ll rarely be 100% certain of any accusation made. If your idea of a party is shouting at your friends, this is the one to do it with.