The Resistance

The Resistance: 5 - 10 players - Ages 13 plus - 30 minutes

Game Play: (With "The Plot Thickens" expansion cards) You begin by passing out character cards to each player. Each player then secretly looks at their card which tells them they are either playing for "The Resistance" or if they are a spy working for the government. The resistance members are trying to have successful missions against the government while the spies are trying to sabotage the missions. The spies know who each other are at the beginning of the game and can lie all they want throughout the game. The other players cannot look at each other's player cards without a special card.

The leader begins by taking two "plot cards" and distributing them to other players. These cards can allow other players to see other player's identities or to see how other players vote. The leader then chooses some of the players to be on their team to go on a mission. All players then vote to approve or reject the team chosen by the leader. If the leader's team is rejected, the player to the left becomes the new leader and selects a new team. Once a team is accepted, the mission begins.

Each player on the mission now votes as to whether the mission succeeds or fails. Spies can vote either way to hide their identity. These votes are secret so that other players do not know exactly who voted for what outcome but all players see the final tally of the votes. If one vote is a "fail" the mission fails. Play then passes on to the next leader conducting the next mission. Three failed missions and the spies win. Three successful missions and the resistance wins. The spies can also win if five mission teams are rejected in a single round.

Review: I played this with my adult friends right after playing One Night Ultimate Werewolf. We were thoroughly warmed up and ready to argue. The first round is always a bit of a crap shoot as you do not have enough information to make a good decision as to who is on your side yet. If you get the right "plot cards" at this stage you can get some good accusations going. After the first mission succeeds or fails is when the real fun begins. The second mission usually brings about different team members and the "reject" and "fail" cards begin to be played. We found it more dramatic to slowly flip over each mission vote card to add to the tension of whether or not a spy had infiltrated the mission team.

The game went well and most everyone had fun. The rules were easy to explain and we only had to refer to the rule book a couple of times on the voting portions. A few of the ladies who were not as into these types of games preferred the simplicity of One Night Ultimate Werewolf (ONUW) over this multi-round game. Unlike ONUW, everyone had a part to play and no felt left out as we were all on a level playing field because the leader was passing out the plot cards all around.

I played this game before with a group of teenagers that were loosely acquainted and it did not go as well. I recommend playing this game with a group that is comfortable around each other and is not meeting primarily for the first time. A few newcomers would not damage the game but the majority should be well acquainted.

Who will like this game? Good liars, extroverts, close friends, logical thinkers


Who will not: Bad liars, introverts, generally quiet people