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One Night of The Traitors Castle of Lies Game Rules

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A thrilling, fun-filled, duplicitous game night of The Traitors

TO THE HOST

To make the experience of playing One Night of The Traitors even closer to that of the TV-show, you could decorate your house to make it look like a castle. Close the curtains, dim the lights, play thrilling soundtracks and even serve your guests themed snacks and drinks. Be sure to complete “The Castle” setup before guests arrive.

SETUP

The Castle

Hang the 6 scrolls on different walls throughout the castle (your house or any location you’re using to play the game). The scrolls must be at least 4 metres/12 feet apart and preferably in different rooms.

The Table

Take the following steps to prepare your table (play area).
1. Vote Tokens: Hand each player 4 vote tokens.
2. Prize Pot, Gold Pieces & Shield Tokens: Place the prize pot card in the middle of the table and place the gold pieces and the shield tokens next to it.
3. Pens/Pencils & Paper: Hand each player a pen or pencil and keep a few sheets of paper nearby.

The Vote Room

You will need a separate room/location nearby that’s not visible from the table. This location will be used for voting.
1. Vote Box: Assemble the vote box and write down the names of all players on the lid. Place the vote box on a table or chair.
2. Role Cards: Select a number of role cards, based on the number of players:
  • 4 players: 3 Faithful role cards, 1 Traitor role card.
  • 5 players: 4 Faithful role cards, 1 Traitor role card.
  • 6 players: 4 Faithful role cards, 2 Traitor role cards.
  • 7 players: 5 Faithful role cards, 2 Traitor role cards.
  • 8 players: 6 Faithful role cards, 2 Traitor role cards.
Shuffle the role cards and place them in a face down pile next to the vote box.
3. Murder Tokens: Place 1 or 2 murder tokens - equal to the amount of Traitor role cards in play – underneath the top of the game box, next to the vote box.
4. Traitor Assignments: Place the 4 Traitor assignment cards face down next to each other in ascending order next to the vote box. Do not look at the backs of the cards!

Dividing the Roles

Now that the preparations are complete, it’s time to determine who the Traitor(s) among you will be. Gather at the table, then one by one visit the vote room in private, for at least 15 seconds. This minimum time will make sure the Traitor(s) - who will need more time - won’t stand out.

In the vote room, you will take the following actions:

1. Draw a role card. Don’t look at the other role cards!
2. If - and only if - you have a Traitor role card, read the Traitor Assignment card for “Day 1” carefully and then place it back.
3. Take your role card back with you to the table, don’t show it to anyone, and place it face down in front of you. Now the next player will enter the vote room. Continue until all players have been to the vote room.
4. If there are 2 Traitors, the Traitors will now reveal themselves to each other: All players return to the table and close their eyes. After 2 seconds, the Traitors both open their eyes, look at each other and then close their eyes again. After 10 seconds, all players open their eyes again.

You are now ready to start playing!

TRAITOR ASSIGNMENTS

Traitor assignments are small tasks the Traitor(s) must perform each day in secret, before the night phase. These tasks are not aimed at sabotaging missions - the Traitors want the prize pot to be as high as possible too!

Examples of Traitor assignments:
  • Point at each player at least once.
  • Name 4 pieces of fruit. At least 1 Faithful should be able to hear you.
  • Drop the same object on the floor twice. At least 1 Faithful should be in the room with you.

GOALS OF THE GAME

All: Earn as much gold for the prize pot as possible!

Faithfuls: Identify the Traitor(s), vote them out in the finale and share the prize pot!

Traitor(s): Complete Traitor assignments, murder Faithfuls at night and survive the finale to steal the prize pot!

GAMEPLAY

The game is played in 4 rounds, called ‘days’, followed by the finale. Each day consists of 3 phases:
A. Mission: Work together as a team to earn gold for the prize pot.
B. The Round Table: Vote for the Traitor(s) to banish them.
C. Night: The Traitor(s) get to murder a player and look at their next Traitor assignment.

A. Mission


1. Mission: Open the envelope of the current day and take out all the contents. Then, read the front of the mission sheet. Make sure you don’t expose the back of the mission sheets or other contents! When the preparations are done and the mission details are clear, start the timer (if necessary) and begin the mission! Any discussions about tactics must be held once the timer is running.

2. Prize: After playing the mission, check out the “Prize” paragraph at the bottom of the mission sheet and determine how much gold your team has earned for the prize pot. Place the gold pieces on the prize pot card in the middle of the table.

3. Reward: The back of the mission sheet indicates which player performed best during the mission. This player receives the following 2 rewards:

Viewing the Traitor Assignment: The player may go to the vote room, look at today’s Traitor assignment card, and put it back. The player may then decide to share this information with the group, keep it secret or even lie about what the Traitor assignment is. If the Traitor is the one that’s rewarded, it could be beneficial for them to lie about the Traitor assignment in order to cast suspicion on other players.

Shield: The player takes the shield token and places it on their own name on the vote box. This player cannot be murdered during the coming night!

B. The Round Table


1. Discuss: Discuss your suspicions with the group. Is anyone showing suspicious behaviour? Have you seen anyone perform a Traitor assignment?
2. Vote: Count down from 3 to 0, then all point towards your suspected Traitor. However, you cannot vote for yourself.
3. Banishment: The player with the most votes is banished and loses 1 vote token. In case of a tie, all tied players lose 1 vote token.

VOTE TOKENS
Vote tokens are used in the finale only. The more vote tokens you have by the end of the game, the more influence you have in the finale and the higher your chances of winning.

C. Night

1. Murder & New Assignment: One by one, each player privately visits the vote room for at least 15 seconds and performs the following actions:

Faithful: Do nothing. Just stand there for 15 seconds.

Traitor(s):
a. Murder: If - and only if - you have successfully completed this day’s Traitor assignment, you may murder a player. To do so, take your murder token out from underneath the top of the game box and put it in the compartment with the name of the player you wish to murder. This cannot be the player with the shield!
If you play the game with 2 Traitors, then the Traitor who commits the first murder chooses a colour murder token. The other token is for the other Traitor. The Traitors use their own colour token for the rest of the game.
b. New Assignment: Read the Traitor assignment for the next day. This new assignment must be fulfilled during the next day, before the night phase starts.

2. Murdered: The last player to visit the vote room takes the vote box back to the table - without shaking or tilting it - and then lifts the lid to reveal the results. Each player with a murder token in their compartment loses 1 vote token. If a compartment contains 2 murder tokens, this player still only loses 1 vote token.
To prevent this from happening, the Traitors could try to communicate their targeted victims with one another. Afterwards, return the vote box, shield token and murder tokens to their original locations.

Repeat the whole process 4 times. After the 4th night, play the finale.

FINALE

The finale consists of multiple voting rounds. During each round, 1 player can be eliminated from the game. The players who remain at the end will share the prize pot!

Voting Process

Each player receives 1 extra vote token. From this point forward, the players may hide their voting tokens, to keep the exact number they have left a secret from the group.

Each voting round consists of the following steps:

1. Discuss: Discuss your suspicions with the group and strategise.

2. Vote: One by one, each player privately visits the vote room and puts any amount of vote tokens (0 is also an option) into the vote box. You are allowed to vote on multiple players at the same time.

3. Eliminate: The last player to vote takes the vote box with them to the table and opens the lid to reveal the results.
  • The player with the most votes is eliminated from the game. Remove all tokens from the box.
  • If there is a tie, no one is eliminated. Place the lid back on the box without removing the vote tokens and resume the voting process from step 1.
4. Repeat: Repeat this process until:
  • a. There’s only one player left OR
  • b. The vote box comes back empty.
The second option may occur when the remaining players decide only Faithfuls are left and therefore wish to stop the voting process.

5. Reveal: After the voting process has come to an end, it’s time to reveal the Traitor(s) among you! One by one, reveal your role cards, starting from the player who was first eliminated and ending with the last remaining players.

If the remaining player/s are all Faithful, they have won the game and split the prize pot between them. However, if even one Traitor remains without being eliminated, the Traitors win the game and take everything for themselves.

DAY OVERVIEW

A. Mission

1. Mission: As a team, play this day’s mission.
2. Prize: Success? Add gold pieces to the prize pot.
3. Reward: The best player may look at today’s Traitor assignment.

B. The Round Table

1. Discuss: Discuss your suspicions with the group.
2. Vote: Count down from 3 to 0, then all point towards your suspected Traitor.
3. Banishment: The player(s) with the most votes lose(s) 1 vote token.

C. Night

1. Murder & New Assignment: In turn, all players visit the vote room for at least 15 seconds and perform the following actions:

Faithful: Do nothing but wait for at least 15 seconds.

Traitor(s):
a. Murder: If the Traitor assignment is completed, murder a player by placing your murder token in their compartment of the vote box.
b. New Assignment: Read tomorrow’s Traitor assignment.

2. Murdered: Check the vote box. Each murdered player loses one vote token.