The chair creaks as you settle onto it. The candlelight flickers. All around you the ravenous faces of your so-called friends twist in delight as you slowly open the box laid out on the table. Welcome to Dangerous Games! Each week, we'll feature a horror/thriller/monster tabletop game you should be playing. Don't be scared… roll the dice… what's the worst that could happen?
One Night Ultimate Werewolf (Bezier Games, Inc, 2014)
The moon is full! A plump, yellow, foreboding orb that spells doom (or feast) to you and your village. Are you the werewolf, destined to taste the blood of your fellow townsfolk? Or are you a villager, trying to find and exterminate the traitor in your midst?
In One Night Ultimate Werewolf, three to ten players take on various roles in a small town. In the short ten-minute game, players will bluff their way to either victory or defeat. At the end of this fun little party game, the werewolves win if none of their kind have been killed, and the humans win if they nab the monsters.
Gameplay Mechanics
One Night Ultimate Werewolf starts with each player drawing an identity card. Some will be werewolves, most will be villagers. Either using an app the game provides or with the help of a narrator, the players all close their eyes for the "night." Then various types of characters do various things. Werewolves open their eyes and silently point to a victim they will kill. The troublemaker switches his identity with another player. The drunk randomly changes their identity.
During the "daytime" phase, players argue, haggle, and vote over who they think is the werewolf. You're saying you're not the werewolf? Why should I believe you? He's saying he was the troublemaker? I don't believe him! Accusations, bargaining, and bold-faced lies rule the game. And the simple mechanics will take a second to learn. In the end, if the werewolf's been hanged, the villagers win. If an innocent has been hanged, well… see you on the next full moon.
Replay Value
This game got rid of the one aspect plaguing any good game of Werewolf: usually, a game consists of several rounds. After a round some players are eliminated from the game. Well, that's no fun. So they messed with the rules a little bit, and now we've got a quick game where everyone's in it until the end! Does this game have good replay value? Hell yes. You'll be pulling this game out every time more than three of you congregate in the same place. It will become your new addiction. You'll play it during class. You'll play it at Thanksgiving dinner. You'll play it in your sleep!
Overall Impressions
There have been numerous Werewolf games in the past. The game is actually a spin-off of a party game (that had no official rules and came in no box) traditionally called Mafia. More akin to a type of charades-style party game than an actual board game, Mafia was all about lying to and secretly killing your friends. Werewolf changed the setting to werewolves in a small town, and the game soon took off. It was then codified into rules by several different companies, but Ted Alspach of Bezier Games turned it into a masterpiece with Ultimate Werewolf. The game I just reviewed, his newest incarnation, is an awesome improvement. It's a fast party game with simple rules, and I've quickly fallen in love with it! But if anyone was asking… I wasn't the werewolf. I swear!