Sometimes called "social deduction" games, hidden identity board games are exactly what they sound like. One of the players may not be who they appear to be. Usually, you're trying to weed out a traitor (unless you are the traitor!) Sometimes you're just trying to stay alive in a room full of hostiles. No matter the format, you will probably have to lie to your friends, and you'll like it.
The best kinds of board games are those that can ruin friendships, don't you think? If you love some recreational treachery, these hidden identity games are just the thing for your next game night.
10 Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition
One of the most popular social deductions games of all time, Ultimate Werewolf takes the familiar homebrewed rules of the game Mafia and refines them into addicting gameplay. The ultimate edition can accommodate up to 75 players, which makes it a great pick for conventions or other gatherings. But for the casual player, somewhere around 10 or 20 players will probably be the sweet spot.
The game divides players into two teams: werewolf and villager. The villagers want to find and kill the werewolves, and the werewolves want to lie through their fangs to stay alive. With most villagers having special abilities to help them find their furry friends, there's a lot of variation from game to game.
9 Two Rooms and a Boom
"The party game that's always a blast" has players divide into two groups that stay in two separate rooms. There are also two teams: Blue Team and Red Team. Blue Team has a President they're trying to protect, while Red Team has a Bomber.
The game is played over three rounds, and at the end of each round one "hostage" is chosen to exchange between rooms. At the end of the game, if the Bomber is in the same room as the President, the Red Team wins. There are a variety of role cards that keep the game fresh between plays. You'll want to identify your allies as quickly as possible as each round is shorter than the last.
8 Crossfire
Crossfire also features two teams alternately trying to protect and assassinate a VIP. Everyone's identities start off secret. Players can claim to be any role they want and you have three minutes to determine who your targets are.
When time runs out everyone points a "gun" at the player they want to injure. However, it's not quite as simple as who was shot and who wasn't. Some players want to be targeted, and some people choose who to protect instead of who to eliminate.
7 Dead of Winter
This zombie-themed deduction game runs on the longer side. You'll be struggling to survive 60-120 minutes of paranoia. The game sets the players in a colony of survivors following a zombie apocalypse where they have to make it through the brutal winter. Each player leads a faction and will have to work together to fend off threats, find supplies, and resolve internal conflicts.
And boy, will there ever be conflicts. The trick of the game is that each player has a secret hidden objective. This could be some harmless psychological tic, or it could be the destruction of the entire colony. You'll need to make hard decisions about your survival, all while wondering whether your allies really have your best interests at heart.
6 Secret Hitler
While this is an understandably controversial game, it's more interested in pointing out the insidious nature of fascist regimes than glorifying them.
Secret Hitler is exactly what it sounds like; one player is secretly Hitler and he and his supporters are trying to covertly pass fascist laws. They have to be sneaky though because if the other players figure out who the fascists are, they can keep them out of the lawmaking group.
5 The Resistance: Avalon
The Resistance: Avalon is a twist on the base game The Resistance, where players are trying to complete missions but are vulnerable to sabotage by traitors in their midst.
Avalon gives this gameplay an Arthurian twist and refines the already fun mechanics. Crucially, no one ever dies in the game, meaning one player doesn't get left out because of an unlucky early death.
Players are given a secret role as either a loyal knight or a duplicitous lackey of Mordred. All players then select teams to go on missions, where players place a "pass" or "fail" card into a shared pool.
Even one fail card sabotages the mission and means one of the people on the mission is a traitor. Sometimes you'll even be a unique role with a special ability, but good luck getting anyone to trust you.
4 Shadows Over Camelot
Another game with an Arthurian aesthetic, Shadows Over Camelot is another one of those longer board games, and it's great at maintaining the tension throughout the entire play time.
Players take the role of knights of the Round Table and are working to defend Camelot from its mounting enemies. During their turn, they can take heroic actions to build their forces but they must also take one evil action that benefits their enemies.
The real kicker is that one of the knights might be a traitor to the cause...but not always. That little doubt that your allies might not be what they seem raises the stakes and keeps players guessing.
3 Coup
Coup is a great, fast-paced game where you can play several quick rounds in succession, building on past betrayals. Players are given two role cards at the beginning of the game and these cards give them certain abilities, such as stealing money from another player or ordering an assassination.
The trick is that no one knows what your roles are. You can perform an action of a card you don't have - as long as no one catches you in the act. Players can accuse others of lying and if they're right, the liar loses a character card. If the accuser is wrong, though, they lose a character card instead.
2 A Fake Artist Goes To New York
Who doesn't love a good drawing game? Players all take turns drawing on the same whiteboard trying to depict a clue. One player is the titular "fake artist" and doesn't know what the clue is.
They'll have to do some quick thinking and bluff their way through the game to keep their identity a secret. Meanwhile, all the real artists need to draw clearly enough that they don't seem like the fake, but vaguely enough that they don't immediately give the clue away to the fake artist. A great game for all ages and groups.
1 One Night Ultimate Werewolf
This is, shall we say, the ultimate hidden identity game. It has the same basic concept as regular old Werewolf but condenses it into frantic single-night rounds. Every player gets a role card and some roles affect the cards of other players. Werewolves try to live through the night, while everyone else hunts them. There's even a handy app to act as a moderator, so everyone can join in on the chaos.
There are a number of expansions to the base One Night Ultimate Werewolf experience, including Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak, and new themes like Ultimate Vampire or Ultimate Alien. Every round is fresh and exciting and you'll never be able to trust your friends again.