Looking to lighten up the atmosphere of your party nights? If so, the secret Hitler Board game can keep you and your friends entertained. This game is fun, will poke at your ability to deduce, and also includes a lot of backstabbing. Interesting? Let’s dive in.
In this game, Secret Hitler, you get to take your friends of about 4-9 players on an adventure. Players are split into groups with different hidden identities, Liberal, Fascists, and Hitler. Through multiple rounds, you work with or against other players, figuring out who is a Liberal, a Fascist, or Hitler.
Thus, with this much-anticipated fun, let’s dive into how to play Secret Hitler, going through the components, rules, setup, and many more, helping you to get a clear picture of how this game works for effective gameplay.
Components
- 17 Policy tiles
- (6 Liberal, 11 Fascist)
- 10 Secret Role cards
- 10 Party Membership cards
- 10 card envelopes
- 10 Ja! Ballot cards
- 10 Nein Ballot cards
- 1 Election Tracker marker
- 1 Draw pile card
- 1 Discard pile card
- 3 Liberal/Fascist boards
- 1 President placard
- 1 Chancellor placard
Objective of the Game
Any player can either be on the Liberal team or the Fascist team.
The Liberal team wins if they successfully enact five Liberal policies, or if Hitler is assassinated. At the start of a round, each player will select either a Liberal or Fascist policy to add to their board. You won’t know who is conniving against you if you’re on the liberal team. Possibly, however, you would still want to add a liberal policy to your team’s board.
On the other hand, the Fascist team wins if they also succeed in enacting six Fascist policies. You will select which Fascist policies to enact, but still, conveniently hide your identity from all team members. You will definitely know who your team players are, but still, disguise yourself as a liberal to fool everyone.
In addition, the Fascist team can also win if Hitler turns chancellor after three (3) Fascist policies. Every player gets the opportunity at being Chancellor after each round and also passes policies. If your track is filled halfway by your team, you can win at any round Hitler turns chancellor. During this time, you need to start persuading your team members to vote for the player while at the same time hiding your identity from them.
Setup
Using the number of players available, set up the Fascist and Liberal boards. You will use the same Liberal board irrespective of player count. Properly check the Fascist boards in order to find the number of players available. Ensure the boards are within the reach of all players.
Start mixing up both the Liberal and Fascist cards. Shuffle them very well to ensure they’re well mixed up and then lay them down on the liberal board.
Look for the envelope for each player, each containing a Secret Role card, a corresponding Party Membership card, a Ballot card, and one Nein Ballot card. The cards contain 10 secret and party membership cards respectively. Correctly match each secret roles cards to their respective party membership cards. Hitler always gets a Fascist party membership card. After you’re done, place each card in a separate piece of envelope.
Envelopes are always set according to player count and in relation to the list below. More players will always be on the liberal side, but how many, depends on the player count.
- Five Players = 3 Liberals, 1 Fascist, and 1 Hitler.
- Six Players = 4 Liberals, 1 Fascist, and 1 Hitler.
- Seven Players = 4 Liberals, 2 Fascist, and 1 Hitler.
- Eight Players = 5 Liberals, 2 Fascist, and 1 Hitler.
- Nine Players = 5 Liberals, 3 Fascist, and 1 Hitler.
- Ten Players = 6 Liberals, 3 Fascist, and 1 Hitler.
In order to make it possible for players to cast votes during the game, each player must be given a “Ja” Ballot and a “Nein” Ballot card. After, shuffle the cards to ensure each player’s identity remains hidden from other players.
Following the receipt of the envelope, players can now take a quick look at the contents of their envelope. Every player must be cautious to hide their true identity whether Liberal or Fascist. Avoid anything that will give away the specific team you belong to.
If you find yourself on the liberal team, no need to hide the truth. Just let it out.
However, if on the Fascist team, try to persuade the others that you belong to the liberal team, and gain their loyalty before starting to execute your own policies.
If you’re a Fascist team player, you can reveal your identity to other fascist players. You should be all set by now, knowing all your roles, and also using the official secret app to provide the next directions, or just talk to yourself.
- If there are 5 -6 players, request everyone to close their eyes. The fascist team and Hitler will open their eyes to know each other. After a long wait, tell everyone to close their eyes again.
- If 7-10 players, players should close their eyes and put out their fists in front of them. Everyone who is on the Fascist team should be made to open their eyes and recognize each other. Hitler should be left out. After, Hitler will be called to bring up his thumb to be acknowledged by the Fascist team. Wait a while and ask everyone to close their eyes and bring their hands down.
Gameplay
Now to the main game. Each round has both an election and a legislative session. The game only ends if either the liberal or the executive team wins. During the election phase, the players will hold a ballot for both a president and chancellor. The legislative session, on the other hand, is where the chancellor also enacts a policy.
Election
- At the start of the round, any player is chosen to start as a presidential candidate with a placard then placed in front of them.
- With the presidential candidate chosen, that player can now choose any player to give the chancellor placard. However, your own team is the best bet because you need someone to enact policies. If you choose, you ask for suggestions or better still make your own decisions.
- Any member of any team can try persuading the president for the slot of chancellor. It doesn’t matter if you don’t belong to that team.
- If you were nominated as a president or chancellor in the last game, then you forfeit the chance of being elected chancellor. Moreover, if the player count is five, only the last cannot be selected again.
- Players will then start voting for the presidential candidate or chancellor using the “Ja” or “Nein” ballot card. This voting includes also the presidential candidate and the chancellor nominee. If you agree, select “Ja”, but if you disagree with the nomination, choose “Nein”. Everyone will pull out their ballot cards at the same time in order to be seen by everybody else.
- If more than half the votes are “Ja”, the Presidential and Chancellor nominee will respectively become President and Chancellor.
- Provided more than three to five Fascist policies have been enacted, the game will end with the Fascist team as winners if the Chancellor is a Fascist. If not, you proceed to the legislative session.
- If the vote is 50-50, then the presidential placard moves clockwise onto the next player, and the election tracker will be activated.
Election Tracker
- Having three Governments rejected three times in a row, calls for the populace to take matters into their own hands.
- Bring the policy to the view of everyone and enact it.
- Powers granted by this policy will lose their effects, but players still have the right to hold the office of the chancellor in successive rounds.
- Provided a government is successfully elected or the populace takes matters into their hands, the election tracker must be reset.
Legislative Session
- This phase of the game starts with the president removing the top 3 policy cards, discarding one, and placing it face down. The tiles should, however, be kept hidden from the other players. If the policy tiles are not enough, shuffle them together with the discard pile to create a new pile.
- Next, the chancellor starts executing his or her powers by enacting a policy. He receives from the president the remaining two policy cards, also discarding one and picking one to enact. Following that, the chancellor places the executed policy tile on the matching team’s board.
- If the policy tile enacted is Fascist, it proves the chancellor may be on the Fascist team. However, it could be a lie since you can use that to convince others to go through with a decision.
- When five Fascist policies are enacted, the chancellor can decide to veto the two policy tiles they have at their disposal. If the president consents to it, the policy tiles will be removed. After, move the election tracker by one space and move to choose a new presidential candidate by moving clockwise.
- Players can choose to lie or tell the truth about why they enacted a particular policy because they are free to do so.
- If a Fascist player enacts a policy that grants the president some power, then proceed to take executive action.
Executive Actions
- The president will have the chance to use the executive if it is allowed by the policy. Using the pictures illustrated on the board, the president can know and use the power granted to him.
- Investigate Loyalty — The president selects the player he wants; the player hands him his part membership card and he checks it in secret. After he gives it back to him without revealing it to any other player. Similarly, the player does not have to reveal his identity to others.
- One player per game can be investigated.
- The player can deceive the other players if he wants to. He can either tell the truth or lie about the identity of the player.
- Call Special Election — The player can give his placard to any player he chooses, making him the next president, giving them the mandate to nominate a chancellor, and run a normal election. After that, the mantle of the presidency goes to the player left of the president who used his special executive powers.
- Policy Peek — Similar to investing in other players the player can take a look at the top three (3) policy tiles, keeping it a secret, and lying or telling the truth about it if he wants to.
- Execution — In addition to his executive actions, he can also choose any player to execute. Any player selected must answer truthfully to the question of the president. So, if he is asked whether he is Hitler, he responds yes if he is. If so the Liberal team wins. In another case, if he is not, the player exits the game with his identity still kept hidden.
Conclusion
In summary, the above rules can help you know how to effectively play the secret Hitler.
If you’re interested in the hobby of playing board games, run over to our board game page for more ideas, and our board game quotes for inspiration.
Don’t own the game yet? Buy it here on Amazon.
References
- https://www.secrethitler.com/assets/Secret_Hitler_Rules.pdf
- https://youtu.be/vNxfqNDArPk?t=256
- https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188834/secret-hitler
