Okay, guys, who is it? (Are You The Traitor?)

The moment of truth is at hand.  You know the key must be destroyed, but who do you to trust to do the task?  Which wizard won't wield the wizardly wonder of the world?  And which will?  Perhaps the most important question is this: Are YOU the traitor?



GAME DESCRIPTION: Are You the Traitor? is a social card game for 4-10 players.  Each round, every player is given a character card face-down.  Once obtained, the two wizards will reveal themselves, and both are given either a good wizard card or evil wizard card that they keep secret.

OPTIONAL REVEALS:  If you are playing with more than 5 players, then the Keyholder will reveal themselves to everyone but the wizards.  If you are playing with more than 7 players, all Traitors will reveal themselves to the other traitors.



TARGETS: Each player, outside of the Traitor, has a target they're looking for.  The Guard and Good Wizard are trying to find the Traitor, the Evil Wizard is looking for the Key Holder, and the Key Holder is looking for the Good Wizard.  When a player believes that they have the correct player, they call "Stop!" and make their accusation.

TREASURE: If a good player (Key Holder, Good Wizard, Guard) guesses correctly, everyone on that team gains a treasure card.  If they guess incorrectly, the Evil team (Traitor, Evil Wizard) will instead gain the treasure.  The reverse holds true for the Evil team.  Once a player is called, all cards are revealed, shuffled, and dealt again face-down.  Once a player gets to 10 Treasure points, they win.

CONCLUSION: First off, I'm bad at playing Are You the Traitor.  But honestly, I can't say I have ever truly enjoyed playing it based on its own merits.  It is one of the most open games I've ever played, but that seems to be to its detriment.  Without some kind of actual gameplay to keep conversation going, there's not a lot to talk about, and it either goes off the rails, or you become focused on giving clues to subtly reveal yourself.  The problem I found was that actually playing the game makes the conversation stilted.  I like the social aspect, but the games rules seem to prevent actual conversation.  I just can't recommend this one when there are better games in this style like Resistance and Secret Hitler.