Ultimate Werewolf is a box version of a classic camp hidden role game in which the town is trying to rid its community of the murderous werewolves. Every player is presented with a different role, each of whom have different actions that they are able to use to influence the game. These range from choosing two players to fall in love (and therefore always die together) at the beginning of the game to choosing a player to die every night. It is a very fun game, however I do have a few criticisms with it.

    My major criticism of this game is that once your character dies in game, you are forced out of the circle and must remain silent until the game is complete. This is a necessity in a game structured this way, however it becomes unenjoyable if you are one of the first people out, waiting for the next round to begin in silence. The hardest part of the game in my opinion is keeping all players invested and having fun, even after they die. Another very difficult part of the game convincing the community to vote with you on who to hang each day. Nobody knows anyone else’s roles, and therefore everyone is suspicious. If you have a good lead on someone you may still be looked at with scrutiny if you are the first to come out with an accusation.

    This leads to Werewolf’s contribution to discussions about leadership. In this game, as is unfortunately the case in many situations, the loudest and most insistent person is usually defaulted to as the leader. This was used to the disadvantage of the town in our playthrough of the game as one of the werewolves had convinced the mayor of her innocence, and the rest of the town blindly followed. Understanding that just because one may be the loudest does not correlate to their abilities as a leader is important in choosing who to follow, and in evaluating one’s own leadership abilities. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes hidden role games such as my friends Amanda and Ben.