Smirk & Dagger Dead Last

As a board game enthusiast, this is one of my favorite large group games! Each round starts with every person alive and well. You start a timer, and then everyone decides who they are going to try to kill. Everything goes: verbal, non-verbal, code words, etc. At the end of the minute, everyone plays a card face-down corresponding with another player at the table. Then, you flip up, and the person (or people) with the most cards (the "target") is eliminated. Also, anyone who votes to kill someone who *isn't* the target is also eliminatedBUT THERE'S A CATCH: If the target plays an "ambush" card, they can choose any of the people who tried to kill them and eliminate that person instead. What's that? You tried to ambush and you *weren't* the target? Yep, you die too.It's a great cat-and-mouse game that is simple to learn, plays quickly, and leads to some fun moments as people try to figure out how to reach a consensus on who to kill without tipping off that person (who would otherwise play an ambush card).My only complaint is the system when it's down to 2 people is sort of a bore. You get dealt new cards and play a short prisoner's dilemma type of game to decide who gets the gold, whether you share, etc. But the rest of the game is so well designed that I'd still highly recommend this game.

It is a good game for what it is. The game is very simple. Basically each person is one color (or person) and he/she has their color card standing up in front of them. When their card is standing up, that means they are still alive. Then each person has colored cards of all the other people's colors that are playing, along with a card of their own color.What happens is people try to informally target certain players and people vote who they want to eliminate/kill by putting a card of the person's color down that they want eliminated. Then everyone's chosen card is flipped. The majority color (e.g., blue) that shows up, the blue person would be eliminated. The thing about this game is that anyone who did NOT vote with the majority, is also eliminated (e.g., yellow person voted to eliminate red, but red wasn't the majority). So the trick and whole point of the game is to silent team up on people without them knowing.. that way everyone is in on the majority. Also the reason each person has a card of their own color (e.g., yellow person also has a yellow card), they can play their own color card as a way to retreat and not get eliminated if they are the majority. HOWEVER, if a person is not the majority (e.g., yellow plays their own yellow card), then they basically commit suicide. But if they are the majority, they aren't eliminated.That is basically it for this game. It is fun for what it is, but it is very simple/basic. It seems it could get stale after awhile of playing multiple times. Also if people do not like the 'gang up on someone' gameplay, then you will not like this. Some people might get upset or take it personally if lots of people gang up on that person.

What a fun game! This game is excellent for parties, and the more people that play it the more fun (and more tricky) it becomes. The game is supposed to be relatively quiet since you aren't allowed to talk to one another, but you won't be able to help yourself when it comes to snickering and laughing. I recently played a few games of this over an extended weekend trip with my church youth group and we really had a blast playing it!In this game, each player is assigned a color and then given a deck of cards that contains one card of each of those colors. The goal of the game is for players to eliminate one another, and this is done by voting. Players vote one color card (representing the player that they wish to eliminate) face down and then all players reveal the cards simultaneously. The player who receives the most votes is eliminated from the current round, but so, also, are all of the players who DID NOT vote for that player. Because everyone is fearful of being eliminated and wants to vote with the majority, each player's eyes are in constant motion to try to read the other players' non-verbal communication. This is really the fun part of the game: trying to send non-verbal signals to the other players to get a majority of people to vote for a specific person - all without any verbal discussion. If you are subtle enough and clever enough, you may make it until the final showdown, but if not, you'll be eliminated and not get to share in the loot (cards with bars of gold pictured on them that are awarded to the last player still sitting at the table. The game is a real hoot, and I highly recommend it for parties.

This is a great party game for people who really enjoy deduction games, with a bit of social manipulation mixed in. We finished a round and immediately wanted to start another. I can't recommend this enough.