(Found at the University of Oregon gaming club website, but apparently the original author is a friend-of-a-friend of mine. -M. 2002-09-11) HOW TO PLAY WEREWOLF Werewolves are terrorizing a small village, eating anyone they can get their claws on. Its up to the villagers to find out who the werewolves really are and lynch 'em or everyone is going to die. Werewolf is a fun party game that requires a minimum of 9 people to play. It is best played with 12-15. At the start of the game someone is chosen as the moderator for that game. This player will not actually play. Instead, he or she will "run" the game. The moderator sets up the game by picking out certain cards from a regular poker deck. The moderator must pick out one card for each player and must also pick out three different types. The cards picked should be: the two black aces, the joker, and all the rest are hearts (but not the ace of hearts to avoid confusion). The moderator then shuffles the cards he or she has picked out and deals one to each player in the game. All the players look at their card but do not reveal their card to anyone else. A player who gets a black ace will be a "werewolf" this game. The player who receives the joker will be the "seer" for this game. All the players who receive hearts are "villagers." Once all the players know who they are they place their card somewhere where no one can look at it. Now the game is ready to begin. The game works in two phases: night and day. NIGHT To start the game the moderator will tell everyone that it is nighttime and instruct everyone to close their eyes. Once everyone's eyes are closed, the moderator will instruct the two werewolves to open their eyes and choose a victim. At this point, both players who received the werewolf cards open their eyes. They silently point and agree on ONE person to kill. Once the moderator sees who the werewolves have chosen, the moderator instructs them to close their eyes again. Then the moderator asks the seer to open his or her eyes. The player who received the seer card then opens his or her eyes and points to one player who they think might be the werewolf. The moderator confirms who the seer is pointing at and then gives them a "thumbs up" if the person selected is one of the werewolves or a "thumbs down" if the person selected is not a werewolf. After the seer has received an answer, the moderator instructs the seer to close his or her eyes. DAY The moderator then announces that it is daytime and everyone opens their eyes. During daytime EVERYONE is considered a villager. Werewolves and the Seer get to participate along with everyone else without anyone knowing their true identity. The moderator will announce which player has been killed in the night. That player must immediately be silent and hand their card into the moderator. They are out for the rest of the game. Players killed by werewolves DO NOT show their cards to other players. Once everyone knows who is dead, the villagers must try and figure out who they think is a werewolf. Everyone talks and argues and finally players nominate people who they think is a wolf. During this period of time it is the moderator's job to keep things roughly productive and organized. Some chaos is good, after all this is an angry lynch mob, but if players are arguing pointlessly for too long and the game is going no where then the moderator should step in and try to hurry things along. Once people have been nominated as wolves, the players then vote on who to lynch. A person must receive a majority vote (over half the remaining players) to be lynched. People who are nominated as wolves still get to vote (but they may not vote for themselves: there's enough death and mayhem in the game without suicide). If no player receives a majority, then people must keep talking and trying to figure it out until someone gets a majority vote. When someone does finally get a majority vote, they are lynched! A lynched person must stop talking and is out for the rest of the game. A lynched player must also reveal their card for ALL to see. This way villagers know if they have killed a wolf or a villager. This is the ONLY TIME when a player may reveal his or her card. After a player has been lynched, it is night again and the cycle repeats. The game keeps going until either both werewolves are lynched (in which case the villagers win) or until there are an equal number of werewolves to people (in which case the werewolves tear the remaining villagers apart and win). A FEW NOTES: * Lying is perfectly allowed in the game of werewolf. A person can claim to be an innocent villager, a werewolf, or the seer whether or not they actually are. It's up to the other players to decide who and what they believe. The moderator MAY NOT lie, take sides, help out, or give clues. They must remain completely neutral. * If you play multiple games of werewolf in the same night (which is the best way to do it) then every new game should have a new moderator so that everyone gets a chance to play. Also, if someone is killed on the very first round by WEREWOLVES then they are not allowed to be killed by werewolves the first round on the very next game. This gives them a guarantee that they will at least get to play the first round of daytime. * It is sometime fun to play creepy music during nighttime. This adds to the feeling of the game and also helps mask sounds that could give the werewolves and seer away.