Secret Hitler
 | |
| Designers |
|
|---|---|
| Illustrators | Mackenzie Schubert |
| Publishers | Goat Wolf & Cabbage Print & Play Productions |
| Publication | August 25, 2016 |
| Genres | Party game |
| Languages | English |
| Players | 5–10 |
| Playing time | 30–60 minutes |
| Website | secrethitler |
Secret Hitler is a hidden identity party game developed by Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC, manufactured by Breaking Games and distributed by Blackbox. The game was designed by Max Temkin, Mike Boxleiter and Tommy Maranges, with artwork created by Mackenzie Schubert, and first released on August 25, 2016. In Secret Hitler, players assume the roles of liberals and fascists in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic, with one player becoming Hitler. To win the game, both parties are set to competitively enact liberal and fascist policies, respectively, or complete a secondary objective directly involving Hitler.
Gameplay
Secret Hitler sees players divided into two teams: the liberals and the fascists, the latter also including the Hitler role. The identity of Hitler is known to all other fascists, while the identities of the fascists are unknown to Hitler in games with at least seven players.[1] The role distribution depends on the number of players in a game session:[2]
| # of players | # of liberals | # of fascists |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 3 | 1 + Hitler |
| 6 | 4 | |
| 7 | 2 + Hitler | |
| 8 | 5 | |
| 9 | 3 + Hitler | |
| 10 | 6 |
At the start of each round, the player to the left of the previous President becomes the new president (the first president is chosen randomly). The President nominates a candidate for the Chancellorship, and every player, including the proposed government, votes either "Ja!" (yes) or "Nein!" (no) to the proposal. If more than half of the players vote for the Chancellor-candidate, the player is granted the office. If successful, following the election, the President blindly draws three policy cards, each of which could be liberal or fascist, of which two are handed to the Chancellor, who in turn selects which of these will be passed and enacted.
If the Chancellor election is unsuccessful, the Election Tracker is counted up by one and the round ends immediately, passing on the Presidential role for a new election. Once three elections have failed in a row, the policy on top of the draw pile is enacted without oversight by the present President or Chancellor, and the Election Tracker is reset. The Election Tracker is also reset if a Chancellor is elected.
While enacting a liberal policy will have no direct effect on the game, passing a fascist law may grant the President the possibility to investigate a player's party membership, check the three top cards of the deck, assassinate a player, or choose the next round's President.
The game ends when either five liberal policies or six fascist policies have been enacted, with the respective party winning the game. Additionally, after three fascist policies have been passed, the liberals can win the game if Hitler is assassinated or the fascists can win if Hitler is elected Chancellor.
Development
Secret Hitler was designed by Max Temkin (the co-creator of Cards Against Humanity and Humans vs. Zombies), Mike Boxleiter (co-founder of Mikengreg, the video game developer behind Solipskier and TouchTone) and Tommy Maranges (the writer of Philosophy Bro), and was illustrated by Mackenzie Schubert (illustrator of games such as Letter Tycoon and Penny Press), collectively known as Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC. The development team worked out of office space provided by the Cards Against Humanity team for new game designers.[3] The original concept was developed by Boxleiter and Maranges as means to re-engineer the gameplay of Avalon, with Temkin adding significant influence from Werewolf variations.[4] On November 23, 2015, Temkin launched a Kickstarter campaign for the game seeking $54,450.[5] The project was successfully funded by 200% within the first 24 hours, and the campaign ended on December 23, 2015, with a total of $1,479,046 pledged by 34,565 contributors, making it one of the most successful tabletop games in Kickstarter's history.[6] Meanwhile, a freeware print-and-play edition of Secret Hitler was released on November 25, 2015, under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons license.[7]
Secret Hitler first shipped for Kickstarter backers, in multiple waves starting on August 25, 2016, and was released to retail shortly after. The physical version is being produced by Breaking Games, a division of Cards Against Humanity manufacturer AdMagic, and distributed by Blackbox, a shipping company founded by the creators of Cards Against Humanity, including Secret Hitler designer Temkin. An official, Wil Wheaton-narrated companion app, Secret Hitler Companion, was launched alongside Secret Hitler, for Android and iOS. The game's sales have benefitted from a surge of interest in fascism, coinciding with the 2016 United States presidential election.[6] In February 2017, free copies of Secret Hitler were shipped to all 100 members of the United States Senate.[8][9] The Trump Pack, a booster pack for Secret Hitler, which replaces the fascists' cards with Donald Trump and prominent members of his administration at the time (respectively Sean Spicer, Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon and Mike Pence), was released in June 2017, with all proceeds generated from the pack's sales donated to the American Civil Liberties Union.[10]
Reception
The game has generally received positive reviews and has earned its place as #13 party game according to BGG.[11] Nonstop Tabletop have described it as "thrilling, tense, dramatic and addictive."[12] and Forbes have also noted that the game was "A Heil Of A Good Time"[13]. Board Game Land have mentioned that the game was "the right amount of tension and feelings of betrayal"[14].
Awards & Honors
- 2016 Golden Geek Best Party Game Nominee[15]
References
- ^ Orsini, Lauren (January 18, 2016). "'Secret Hitler': For Big Groups, A Heil Of A Good Time". Forbes. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
- ^ Orland, Kyle (January 16, 2016). "Secret Hitler, the bluffing game for people who hate bluffing games". Ars Technica. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
- ^ Elahi, Amina (December 23, 2015). "Cards Against Humanity creator's new team to release Secret Hitler game". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
- ^ Hartz, Taylor (September 15, 2017). "Secret Hitler board game an unlikely hit for Chicago game-makers". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
- ^ Taylor, Chris (November 25, 2015). "'Secret Hitler' game turns your friends into Liberals and Fascists". Mashable. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
- ^ a b Bromwich, Jonah (September 5, 2017). "Secret Hitler, a Game That Simulates Fascism's Rise, Becomes a Hit". The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Statt, Nick (November 29, 2015). "With Secret Hitler, Cards Against Humanity's co-working space becomes an idea machine". The Verge. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
- ^ Cullers, Rebecca (February 28, 2017). "Cards Against Humanity's Founder Sent His New Game, About Hitler's Enablers, to All 100 U.S. Senators". Adweek. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ Vainshtein, Annie (September 5, 2017). "'Secret Hitler,' board game about fascism, gaining in popularity". SFGate. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Frauenfelder, Mark (June 6, 2017). ""Secret Hitler" board game adds Trump administration booster pack". Boing Boing. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ "Browse Board Games | BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- ^ "Secret Hitler Board Game Review". Nonstop Tabletop. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- ^ Orsini, Lauren. "'Secret Hitler': For Big Groups, A Heil Of A Good Time". Forbes. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- ^ "Best Kickstarter Board Games of 2019". Board Games Land. November 3, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- ^ "2016 Golden Geek Best Party Game Nominee | Board Game Honor | BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved November 8, 2019.