In social deduction games an informed minority plays against an uninformed majority. That is to say, the players in the minority team know who is on their team, but the players in the majority team don’t. The majority team tries to achieve a goal and the minority team tries to sabotage them, while keeping their identities hidden using deception, plots and schemes.
- Lively discussion
- Intricate plots, schemes, and deception
- Short (average playing time 15 minutes)
- Unlimited replay value
Social deduction games are great party games because they are short, very exciting and lead to lively discussions. Usually the minority team roles are the most exciting because they require bluffing and lying to your friends. But being on the majority team is also exciting because everyone you’ll have to achieve your goals while figuring out which players are lying to you.
There is endless room for improvement in social deduction games because the plots and schemes that you and your fellow players will develop continue to evolve as you play more and more. And if you play with a new group you’ll have to develop new strategies yet again because the same tricks don’t fool everyone. That’s why the replay value of social deduction games is virtually unlimited.
Social deduction games are probably our favorite kind of games. In this article we rank the best social deduction games of all time.