Occasionally we feature a post from our friends at The Malted Meeple. Their Game of the Month series highlights one of the many games in their libraries at Ravenwood Castle and The Malted Meeple. They briefly describe the game, how to play it, and why they like it.
Game: Red Scare
The year is 1951. Fear and paranoia fill the air and the America we know and love is fraught with it. The threat of communist infiltration is at an all-time high and red panic is everywhere. Director Hoover has entrusted you and your group of loyal, trusted patriots of the FBI to scour the files for evidence of any kind that might point to a citizen who has been promoting the Soviet agenda and threatening the American way of life! Director Hoover, The FBI, and the entire nation trusts you and your team to detect these traitors. Then, you must accuse and deport them back to Soviet Russia! But be warned. There have been reports of Double Agents everywhere! Even your closest colleagues cannot be trusted. Perhaps even you have something to hide, eh Comrade?
Red Scare is a social deduction game with hidden roles for four to ten players. The game pits Patriots against Soviets, and teams gain points by exonerating their citizens and deporting the opposing side’s citizens. At the end of the game, the team with the most points will be declared the winner. This may sound fairly straight forward, but there’s a delightful little wrinkle – the only way to uncover the truth about your friends is with a pair of secret decoder glasses!
Half of the players are equipped with decoder glasses, the other half are not. Each player, regardless of whether or not they have decoder glasses, receives a secret alignment card denoting whether they are Soviet or Patriot. Players are allowed to claim to be on either team, but are not allowed to show their alignment card to anyone. Players are also given two Judgement Markers and a hand of three cards. Here is where the decoder glasses come into play. There are two types of cards; some cards that can only be identified with the decoder glasses and some that can only be identified without the decoder glasses.
Read more about the game play for Red Scare on the Meeple Moments blog.