The Resistance (game)
 |
|
| Designer(s) | Don Eskridge |
|---|---|
| Players | 5 to 10 |
| Age range | 8 and up |
| Skill(s) required |
Precise logical deduction Strategic thought Team play Social skills Roleplay |
The Resistance is a game where players attempt to deduce one another's identities. The setting of the game is an imagined battle between a resistance group trying to overthrow the malignant government and the government spies infiltrating the resistance group. It is similar in structure to party games such as Mafia and Werewolf, where a small, secret group of informed players attempt to disrupt a larger uninformed group, while the larger group attempts to identify the spies and eliminate them. The Resistance uses slightly different mechanics from similar games, and was designed to avoid player elimination and increase available information for player decisions.
Games take upwards of half an hour, and are played with five to ten players. The Resistance was initially playable with a standard 52-card deck of playing cards, but the newest version of the game includes extra cards which cannot be simulated in such a way. The published version of the game includes a board to track progress, role cards, voting cards, mission success and fail cards, tokens, and additional game-modifying plot cards. The Resistance is regarded as more complex than similar party games, giving the players more information and opportunity to deceive.
At the start of the game, one third of the group (rounded up) are randomly and secretly chosen to be government spies infiltrating the rest of the group (the Resistance). One of the players (either a spy or Resistance member) is selected to be the Mission Leader. The government members are made aware of each other without the Resistance knowing – the only thing the Resistance knows is how many government members exist, not who they are. This process is conducted by the first Mission Leader who instructs the group to close their eyes, for the spies to open their eyes and see each other, for the spies to close their eyes again, and then for everyone to open their eyes and begin the game (with long pauses at each stage). Players may never reveal their identity cards to other players (unless the game is being played with "Plot Cards" as discussed below).
During each round of the game, the player to the left of the previous Leader becomes the new Leader. The Leader selects a certain number of players to send out on a mission (the Leader may choose to go out on the mission himself/herself), starting with Mission 1. The table below shows the required number of players to go out on each mission. All of the players then discuss the Leader's choice and, simultaneous and in public, vote on whether to accept the team make-up or not. If a majority of players votes no to the proposal or if it's a tie, leadership passes on to the next player to the left, who proposes their own mission. This continues until a majority of players agrees with the current Leader's mission assignment. After five rejected mission proposals in a row, the Spies automatically win the game.
...
Wikipedia