Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe may be an interesting play, but it’s also one of many secret roles in the game Ultimate Werewolf. In this game, each player is assigned a hidden role from a select list of cards. These roles may very based on player count and interest in certain aspects of the game (ex. a role called Cupid, who makes two players fall in love and die together, may be added into the game, but is not required for gameplay).

The story of Werewolf is that all players live in what is seemingly a quiet and peaceful village. One morning, all villagers awaken and go to the town square at the same time (as villagers typically do), and discover a body that has been mauled to pieces by werewolves. Immediately, everyone in the village begins pointing fingers and trying to figure out who among them is a werewolf.

Werewolf is a game that consists of 2 teams: The Werewolves and The Village. In order to win, the Werewolves must control a majority of the town (done by killing village members and remaining unsuspicious) and the village must lynch every werewolf, ensuring the safety of the village. Although roles may vary from game to game, every game must have at least 2 werewolves, a seer, and a variety of villagers. Other roles may be added in to make the game more challenging for either team, or for just pure fun. Take Virginia Woolfe, for example: Viriginia herself functions as a normal villager, and doesn’t necessarily directly affect gameplay. However, Virginia is special in that she chooses somebody that is afraid of her; so afraid of her that if Virginia dies (either via werewolf or a town lynch), that person becomes so mortified by the fact that Virginia’s ghoul is now chasing them around and also dies. Although you may think this is a good tactic to use to kill a werewolf by killing Virginia, Virginia must pick her target before the game has started, and has no idea what that person’s role may be. If Virginia dies, there is a possibilty that the Seer may also die.

The most challenging part of this came is, funnily enough, also the most boring part of the game: being a regular Villager. Unlike the rest of the roles, regular Villagers have no special abilities. Unfortunately for villagers, claiming Villager as a Werewolf is the safest bet, and villagers claims are often hung by town. Villagers have two options in this game: they can claim a unique villager role and hope that nobody counterclaims them (which they will) or fight their hardest to convince the town they are who they say they are (which never works). As a villager, you have to be willing to accept that you will die, either via town lynch or werewolf, and you also have to hope that your friends will be up to play another round of Werewolf so you can get a fun role.

Leadership is a key quality for both teams in a game of Werewolf. You have to be able to speak up for yourself and for your known team members or you will get hung. Masons are a good demonstration of this skill. Masons also function as regular villagers, but they know who the other Mason is. When the game begins, if anyone mentions the word Mason or hints at the Masons, they die. In our game, we ended up lynching a Mason because he could not claim his role without dying. His other Mason, who was silenced at the time, should have defended him, but could not.

I think that my friend Alec would like to play this game because he enjoys hidden role games in which he can create chaos. I could see him liking any of the roles this game has to offer (yes, even villager) and really just giving it his all. Overall, I think that this is a great game to start any class with because it gives people a chance to know each other and feel a little more comfortable before diving into the material.