Shadow Hunters
A social deduction game of hidden factions and secret identities.
via Wikipedia: Shadow Hunters · see source
Shadow Hunters is a social deduction board game designed by Yasutaka Ikeda, first published in 2005 by Game Republic in Japan. Z-Man Games published it in the United States in 2008. The art style closely resembles Japanese anime and manga. Players are secretly assigned to one of three factions: Shadows (supernatural creatures of the night), Hunters (humans trying to exterminate Shadows), and Neutrals (unaffiliated characters with individual victory conditions). No one knows anyone else's identity or allegiance; players use cards, negotiation, and guesswork to figure out who everyone is. The game ends when one or more players fulfill their victory conditions, and all who have done so are declared winners, even if they are on opposing teams or dead.
Quick Facts
- Designer
- Yasutaka Ikeda
- Publisher
- Game Republic (Japan); Z-Man Games (U.S.)
- Date
- 2005
- Players
- 4-8
- Ages
- 10+
- Setup time
- 5 minutes
- Playing time
- 45-60 minutes
- Random chance
- High
Facts from the source article.
Setup
First, shuffle the six area cards and place them randomly on the designated spots on the game board. Next, shuffle the White, Black, and Hermit decks separately and place them face down on the marked area on the side of the board. Each player chooses a color and places one piece in the No Damage circle on the board (the HP piece) and one piece in front of them (the Player piece). Shuffle the Shadow, Hunter, and Neutral character decks face down separately. Looking at the table below, pick out the appropriate number of cards from each deck, shuffle all selected character cards together, then hand out one card to each player, face down. Make sure other players cannot see your character card when you receive it. Once you have your character card, read it to see your affiliation, special ability, and victory condition. Finally, randomly determine the starting player and begin the game.
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