How to Play Secret Hitler: Game Setup, Rules, and More

Co-authored by Hunter Rising Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: November 26, 2024 Fact Checked

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Are you looking to spice up your game night with some fun social deduction and backstabbing? In Secret Hitler, you and 4–9 of your friends are secretly split into teams with hidden identities. Over multiple rounds, you’ll work together (or against each other) while you try to figure out who is a Liberal, a Fascist, or Hitler. You’re probably excited to get Secret Hitler to the table and start playing, so keep reading for all the rules you need to know to play!

Section 1 of 6:

Objective

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Every round, a player will select either a Liberal or Fascist Policy to add to their team’s board. If you’re on the Liberal team, you won’t know who’s on your team and who’s working against you, but you’ll want to add a Policy to your team’s board every round if it’s possible.^{[1]
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You’ll want to pick Fascist policies to enact, but you won’t want to let everyone know that you’re playing for that team. You’ll know who your teammates are, but you’ll have to try fooling everyone else that you’re a Liberal so you can blend in.^{[2]
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Every round, a player is elected the Chancellor and enacts Policies. Once your team fills your track halfway, you can automatically win on any round Hitler becomes Chancellor. At that point, you’ll have to try and persuade the Liberal team to vote for that player without giving yourselves away.^{[3]
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Section 2 of 6:

Setup

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1
Set out the Liberal and Fascist boards for the number of players playing. You’ll use the same Liberal board no matter the player count. Check the bottom of the red Fascist boards and find the one for the number of players you have. Put the boards somewhere where all the players can easily reach them.^{[4]
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- The actions on the Fascist boards are different depending on how many people are playing.
There are 6 Liberal and 11 Fascist Policy tiles in the game. Shuffle them all together so they’re mixed well and set the stack down onto the draw pile space on the Liberal board.^{[5]
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Fill an envelope with a Secret Role and Party Membership for each player. There are 10 Secret Roles and 10 Party Membership cards. Check if the Secret Role card says Liberal or Fascist and pair it with a matching Party Membership card. Hitler will always get a Fascist Party Membership card. Put each pair of cards into a separate envelope.^{[6]
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- The Party Membership card just makes it easier to see which team you’re on when you peek into your envelope.
- At the end of the game, just leave the Secret Role and Party Membership cards in the envelopes for a quicker setup next time!
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Set out the envelopes depending on your player count. There will always be more players on the Liberal team than the Fascist team, but the exact number depends on how many people are playing.^{[7]
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- With 5 players, use 3 Liberals, 1 Fascist, and Hitler.
- With 6 players, use 4 Liberals, 1 Fascist, and Hitler.
- With 7 players, use 4 Liberals, 2 Fascists, and Hitler.
- With 8 players, use 5 Liberals, 2 Fascists, and Hitler.
- With 9 players, use 5 Liberals, 3 Fascists, and Hitler.
- With 10 players, use 6 Liberals, 3 Fascists, and Hitler.
Each player gets cards with “Ja!” and “Nein” so they can cast votes later in the game. Shuffle the envelopes together before handing one to each player so the person who filled them doesn’t know what team everyone is on.^{[8]
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Everyone looks at their Secret Role and Party Membership privately. Take a peek at what’s inside your envelope, but don’t let anyone else see! Be careful not to make any expressions that could give away what team you’re on.^{[9]
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- If you’re on the Liberal team, you should usually tell the truth because lying makes you look untrustworthy and like a member of the Fascist team.
- If you’re on the Fascist team, you want to try and convince the other players you’re Liberal so you can gain their trust before enacting your own Policies.
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Fascist players secretly reveal themselves to one another. Once you all know your roles, you can either use the official Secret Hitler app to give the next directions or you can say them yourself.^{[10]
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- For 5–6 players, ask everyone to close their eyes. Have the Fascist team and Hitler open their eyes and acknowledge each other. Take a long pause and tell everyone to close their eyes again.
- For 7–10 players, have everyone close their eyes and put their fist out in front of them. Have everyone who’s a Fascist except Hitler open their eyes and acknowledge each other. Ask Hitler to stick up their thumb so the Fascists know. Take a long pause before asking everyone to close their eyes and put their hands down.

Section 3 of 6:

Overview

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Every round has an Election and Legislative Session. You’ll play the game in rounds until either the Liberal or Fascist team completes their objective. During an Election, players will vote on a President and Chancellor. Then, in the Legislative Session, the Chancellor will enact a Policy.^{[11]
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- Some Legislative Sessions will trigger special Executive Actions the President can take.

Section 4 of 6:

Election

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For the first round of the game, choose as a random player to start as the Presidential Candidate. Set the wooden placard labeled “President” in front of them.^{[12]
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The Presidential Candidate nominates a Chancellor. As the Presidential Candidate, you can choose one other person to give the Chancellor placard. You’ll want to find someone on your team to help you enact your Policies. You can openly talk to the other players at the table and ask for their opinion, but it’s ultimately your decision on who you choose.^{[13]
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- Any player can say whatever they want to convince the Presidential Candidate to nominate them as Chancellor. You can even lie about what team you’re on!
- The players who were last elected President and Chancellor cannot be nominated as Chancellor in the following round. If there are only 5 players, then only the last Chancellor cannot be nominated.
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Every player votes “Ja” or “Nein” for the Presidential Candidate and Chancellor. Everyone including the Presidential Candidate and Chancellor nominee can vote. Choose “Ja” if you agree with the nomination or “Nein” if you disagree. What happens next depends on who won the vote.^{[14]
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- If there’s a tie or a majority of players vote “Nein,” find the Election Tracker on the Liberal board and move the token up 1 space. Pass the Presidential Candidate placard clockwise and have the player nominate a new Chancellor. If you tie or vote “Nein” 3 times in a row, then the top Policy of the stack is revealed and immediately placed on the matching board. Whenever the token reaches the end of the track, reset it to the bottom.
- If a majority of players vote “Ja!”, then the candidates become the President and Chancellor. If there are already 3 Fascist Policies enacted, ask the Chancellor if they are Hitler. The player must be honest and if they are Hitler, the Fascist team immediately wins. Otherwise, the game continues.
- When you’re on the Liberal team, try to slow down the vote and discuss since the Fascist team might try to rush to a decision.

Section 5 of 6:

Legislative Session

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The President draws the top 3 Policies and discards 1 face-down. Take the top 3 Policy tiles, but keep them hidden from the other players. Choose 1 that you want to get rid of and set it in the discard pile without showing anyone what it was.^{[15]
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- If there aren’t enough Policy tiles in the stack in later rounds, shuffle the discard pile and draw pile together to form a new stack.
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The Chancellor chooses to enact one of the remaining Policies. The President hands the Chancellor the 2 remaining Policy tiles without any form of communication. The Chancellor gets to look at the Policies secretly and pick one to discard and one to enact. The Chancellor places the enacted tile on the matching team’s board.^{[16]
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- If the Chancellor enacts a Fascist Policy, it could mean the President or the Chancellor is on the Fascist team, but it may have been an unlucky draw. Remember you can lie and deceive the other players about why you made a decision.
- After 5 Fascist Policies have been enacted, the Chancellor can choose to veto the 2 Policy tiles they have to choose from. If the President agrees, the Policy tiles are discarded. Move the Election Tracker up 1 space and pass the Presidential Candidate placard clockwise to start a new election.
- You can always ask a player why they chose that specific policy, but they don’t have to tell the truth.

Section 6 of 6:

Executive Actions

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The President gets to use an Executive Action if the Policy covers it. When Fascist Policies are enacted, there might be a special Executive Action that can help out the Liberal team. Pictures on the board will help remind you which action activates. The President must use the action before the next Election starts.^{[17]
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- If there wasn’t an Executive Action on the covered space, then start the next Election.
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Investigate Loyalty. The President picks a player and the player has to hand their Party Membership card to them. The President checks the card in secret and returns it to the player. The player doesn’t have to show their Secret Role.^{[18]
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- Players can only be investigated once per game.
- The President can choose to lie or tell the truth about what they saw on the card.
The President hands their placard to any player that they want to make them the next Presidential Candidate. They’ll nominate a Chancellor and run an Election like normal. After the Special Election, the placard goes to the player to the left of the President who used the Executive Action.^{[19]
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The President gets to look at the top 3 Policy tiles of the stack. They keep the tiles secret but must return them in the same order. The President can tell the truth or lie about what they saw.^{[20]
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The President picks one player and chooses to execute them. Ask the player if they were Hitler. If they were Hitler, they must answer truthfully and the Liberal team automatically wins. However, if they were not, then the person is out of the game and their Party Membership is kept secret.^{[21]
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