Secret Hitler is a dramatic game of political intrigue and betrayal set in 1930s Germany. Each player is randomly and secretly assigned to be a liberal or a fascist, and one player is Secret Hitler. The fascists coordinate to sow distrust and install their cold-blooded leader; the liberals must find and stop the Secret Hitler before it’s too late. The liberal team always has a majority.
BoardGameGeek Rating: 7.6
MSRP: $35.00
Players: 5–10
Ages: 13+
Playtime: 45 Min
Publishers: Goat Wolf & Cabbage
Designers: Mike Boxlieter
Year: 2016
Concept
A humorous, bluffing, deduction, party card game. Players are of either members of the liberal or fascist party and only the fascist know who’s who. One player is Hitler but, he’s completely clueless. It’s the job of the liberals to over throw the Hitler’s fascist regime by enacting more liberal polices into play then fascist.
Players take turns running for President, where they choose their Chancellor and the table vote to elect the President — Chancellor combo by voting Ja! or Nein. If elected, the president draws three policies, chooses two and passes them to the Chancellor, who then chooses which police will be enacted.
Players argue, fight, point fingers, celebrate and sometimes even kill off their own teammates in this epic social deduction party game.
Quality
This is a mix of things that are great and things that are just okay. It does come with two wooden name plates for the President and Chancellor, which is awesome. The boards are great quality, double sided for different player counts. The policy cards are also nice. My biggest complaint is that the majority of our envelopes came unglued the first time we played with them. We could tape them, but then we’d have to tape them all as to not bring awareness to whose who.
Artwork
Not much to say here. The games does a good job of capturing that WW2 propaganda feel. Love the color scheme.
Difficulty
This was a little confusing at first, but easy to pick up, especially if you every played the Resistance, Mafia, or Werewolf (even One Night). It did take a few games to fully understand that strategy, but that isn’t out of character for these types of games.
Replayability
— High
Our Reviews
My rating: 9
by Aaron KlaserI have played a lot of these secret deduction party games. This game is very similar to The Resistance but it adds some additional elements that really boost replayability. The President — Chancellor selection process really brings a hole new level of strategy which I feel is what really sets it apart from The Resistance or Werewolf.
The game players a little longer then the Resistance or One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but not as long as Werewolf or Mafia. We probably played this game 12 times in one evening and it never got old, though due to large quantities of adult beverages, it did get rather difficult to be strategic.
I really hate to say this because I love One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but this is my new favorite party game.
My rating: 7.9
by Beth KlaserI’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of party games. I, generally, prefer the smaller, less chaotic — quiet(ish) games. Regardless, I had a great time playing Secret Hitler with our group of friends.
If you are worried about the learning curve. Don’t be. The learning curve is pretty low. It can be taught in under 10 minutes. In fact,there were seven in our group and none of us had played previously. I would suggest that it be played at a larger table so everyone can spread out a bit.
The game itself has pretty simple mechanics. There are two “teams” — the Liberals and the Fascists. The Fascists use there powers to create extra chaos while the Liberals goal is to pass five policies or kill Secret Hitler. If either side is the first to complete there goal they are deemed the winner(s).
But what does it all mean? Find out how we review the games we play!
