What is the werewolf game?

Werewolf is a hidden-role party game. Most of the table is the village. A few people are werewolves. The village talks, accuses, and votes. The werewolves spend the day sounding like villagers.

Two ways people play it

The name covers two shapes. Classic Werewolf, which grew out of Mafia, runs for several nights. Each night the wolves choose a victim, a special role investigates or protects, and the dead leave the table. It is a good game with an hour and a patient narrator. It is a poor fit when you only have twenty minutes, because the first player out just watches.

The other shape is one night, then one vote. There is no line of bodies. Cards move. The Seer might have seen a wolf who was later swapped into the center. You might have started as a Villager and ended as a wolf without waking for it. You win or lose as the card in front of you at dawn, not the card you were dealt. That is the game Werewolf Night runs.

What you are trying to do

The village is trying to kill at least one werewolf. The wolves are trying to survive the vote. A few roles, written up on the roles page, win on a different condition: the Tanner wants to die, and the Minion is on the wolf team without being a wolf. If you have never played, read how to play once and deal. The first reveal teaches more than a second explanation.