The Traitors Board Game Second Edition Rules
NOTE: When playing the game for the first time, read through the rules section by section.
Once you complete the steps described in that section, move onto the next one.
PREPARATION
1. Game board: Place the board in the middle of the table so that all players can reach it. Place the spinning dagger firmly in the centre of the game board.
2. Stands & voting cards: Choose the section on the board (1 to 6) closest to you and put a stand on it. Tear off a voting card and put it on your stand.
3. Gold: Each take 3 gold pieces (value 1) and 1 gold bar (value 5). Put this in your personal treasure chest on the board. Place the remaining gold next to the game board. This is the bank.
4. Pen, paper & blindfold: Give each player a blindfold (included) and a pen/pencil and sheet of paper (not included).
5. Summary card: Give each player a summary card with the ‘Gameplay’ side up.
6. Reward cards: Shuffle reward cards and place them in a pile face-down next to the board.
7. Role cards: Take the adventure deck (10 cards) for the adventure you want to play. Do not shuffle the deck or flip it over! Take the ‘Traitor’ role card from the top of the deck - without looking at the back! - and add ‘Faithful’ role cards until the total number of role cards equals the number of players. Shuffle the role cards and deal one to each player. Read your role card without anyone seeing it to find out whether you are a Faithful or the Traitor. The Traitor’s role card also contains secret assignments. Do not read these yet, in order not to give yourself away!
8. Adventure deck: Place the rest of the adventure deck - 4 mission cards and 4 armoury cards (which are arranged in alternating order) next to the board with the assignments (text side) facing up. Don’t shuffle the deck!
PLEASE NOTE: for some assignments each player requires a smartphone (not supplied).
GAME OBJECTIVE
All: Work together during missions to earn gold for the prize pot. The 2 players who have the most gold in their personal treasure chest at the end compete for the prize pot in the End Game!
Traitor: During each mission, the Traitor also attempts to carry out secret assignments to earn the right to murder a Faithful in the Night. A successful murder costs a player personal gold and earns the Traitor personal gold.
The Faithful: The Faithful try to find out who the Traitor is. This earns them personal gold.
GAMEPLAY
The game is played in 4 rounds, each consisting of 4 phases:
Mission, The Round Table, Armoury, Night. When all 4 rounds are complete, players move to the End Game.
Preparations completed? Read the next section then play Phase 1!
Phase 1: Mission
In the Mission phase, all players collectively carry out a mission as a team. If the mission is successfully completed, players earn gold for the prize pot. Meanwhile, the Traitor is also given a secret assignment to carry out during the mission in order to be allowed to murder a Faithful in the Night.
1. Read the mission: Players read the top mission card. Do not look at the back!
BLINDFOLD SITUATIONS
The game includes some blindfold situations in which the Traitor must secretly perform certain actions.
1. Set a 20-second timer on your smartphone.
2. Stand up, put on your blindfolds, close your eyes and rhythmically bang one hand on the table to mask the sounds of the Traitor.
3. The Traitor takes off their own blindfold, performs the described action and puts their blindfold back on.
4. When the timer stops, everyone takes off their blindfold again and sits down.
2. Read the secret assignment: Blindfold situation! If you’re the Traitor, turn over your role card and read the secret assignment with the number corresponding to the mission number. Then put the role card face-down back on the table.
3. Carry out the mission: Players get started on the mission. Some mission cards feature a time limit. Set a timer and press ‘start’ to begin the mission. Place the gold won after the mission in the prize pot on the game board. During the mission the Traitor will also try to carry out a secret assignment.
SECRET ASSIGNMENTS
The Traitor, like the Faithful, is playing for the prize pot and wants this to be as high as possible. The Traitor’s secret assignments are not aimed at sabotaging missions.
As the Traitor, you must judge for yourself whether or not you carried out your secret assignments successfully. At the end of the game you must reveal your secret
assignments, giving the Faithful a chance to check.
Example: Suppose the mission is to collect as many objects as possible that start with different letters within 3 minutes. The Traitor’s secret assignment could be, for example, to let all players know when there is 2:22 and 1:11 left on the timer, or to collect 3 red objects.
Phase 1 completed? Read the next section then play Phase 2!
Phase 2: The Round Table
In this phase, all players vote who they think the Traitor is, often based on suspicious behaviour shown during the missions.
1. Discuss: You are allowed to discuss your suspicions with each other.
2. Vote: Write the name of your suspect on your voting card. If you are in possession of a dagger reward card, you may now use it.
3. Present: Take turns revealing your suspect by saying your suspect’s name out loud and placing your voting card in your stand on the game board.
4. Banish: The player with the most votes loses 2 gold pieces. Put the lost gold back in the bank. In case of a draw, all players with the most votes lose 1 gold piece.
If your personal treasure chest is empty, you can still be banished or murdered, but you won’t lose any gold.
Phase 2 completed? Read the next section then play Phase 3!
Phase 3: Armoury
During the Armoury phase, players carry out an assignment against each other. The winner receives a random reward card. In the event of a draw, all winners will receive a reward card. This could be:
• Shield (×3): Show this card as protection from murder during the Night Phase. When this card is played, you can vote as normal during the next Round Table and will not lose any gold pieces. Discard the card after use.
• Dagger card (×3): Show this card during The Round Table of your choice, when you write down a name. Tick the box behind the name. Your vote now counts twice. If the name you wrote down turns out to be the Traitor in the end, then instead of 2 gold pieces, you will receive 4 gold pieces. Discard the card after use.
• 1 gold piece (×3): Discard this card immediately and add 1 gold piece to your personal treasure chest.
• 2 gold pieces (×3): Discard this card immediately and add 2 gold pieces to your personal treasure chest.
Phase 3 completed? Read the next section then play Phase 4!
Phase 4: Night
During the Night phase, the Traitor gets the opportunity to murder someone.
1. Murder: Blindfold situation! If you’re the Traitor and you successfully carried out your secret assignment during the last mission, you’re allowed to murder a Faithful. Point the spinning dagger on the game board at the player you want to murder. You may also point it at yourself. If you didn’t complete your secret
assignment (or don’t want to murder anyone), point the spinning dagger at the ‘NO MURDER’ section on the game board.
2. Been murdered: Players look to see who has been murdered. If that’s you, you lose 2 gold pieces and may not participate in discussions or vote at the next Round Table. Put the lost gold back in the bank. But if you’re murdered and you have a Shield card, turn it face-up: you survive and stay in the game.
Once phases 1 to 4 have been repeated a total of 4 times (and all the Mission and Armoury cards have been used up), the End Game starts.
END GAME
Reveal
1. Reveal: Blindfold situation! If you’re the Traitor, own up by pointing the spinning dagger at your section of the game board.
2. Secret Assignments: Read out your secret assignments.
Scoring
• Each Faithful gets 2 gold pieces for each time they have written down the Traitor’s name during The Round Table phases. If you have used a dagger card when naming the correct Traitor, you will earn double (4 gold pieces) for that name.
• The Traitor: you’ll get 2 gold pieces for every time you successfully murdered a player (but not if your attempt was prevented by a shield).
When the Faithful collectively decide that a secret assignment – one that the Traitor has deemed as correctly executed – is in fact not executed correctly, the Traitor will not receive 2 gold pieces for it. Instead, the Traitor must pay 2 gold pieces to the unjustly murdered Faithful. This Faithful also receives 2 gold pieces from the bank in compensation.
The Final
The 2 players with the most personal gold in their treasure chests – this can be either 2 Faithful or a Faithful and the Traitor - will play the final game. If there is a tie for second place, take turns spinning the dagger. The player whose spin lands on the section with the highest number gets to go to the final. In the case of a tie, determine who holds the third place by spinning in the same way.
1. ‘Traitor’ or ‘Faithful’: The finalists may confer with each other. Then they secretly write either ‘Faithful’ or ‘Traitor’ (regardless of their role) on the back of their voting card.
2. Reveal: The finalists present what they have written down. There are three possible outcomes:
A. Both players wrote ‘Faithful’: The players both win. They add up all the gold from the prize pot and from their personal treasure chests and divide this amount in half. This is their score. They each record their names and score in the ‘List of Winners’ on the back of the game rules.
B. One player wrote ‘Traitor’: If you wrote down ‘Traitor’ you win. Add the gold from the prize pot to your personal gold and record your score in the ‘List of Winners’.
C. Both players wrote ‘Traitor’: The player who came in third place wins, adds the gold from the prize pot to their personal gold and records this score in the ‘List of Winners’.
You can watch our How to Play video at YouTube.