Werewords by Ted Alspach, from Bezier Games

The Amazing Werewords App

Install the Werewords app on your iOS or Android mobile device (go to beziergames.com to get the app).

Place the device where everyone can see and hear it. If playing with a large number of people, it’s best to use a tablet, so that everyone can see and hear more easily.

The Werewords app walks you through the Night Phase of the game, providing the Magic Word to the Mayor, Seer, and Werewolf. It also includes timers for guessing the Magic Word and for discussion prior to voting.

Open the app and select the roles you want to use on the main screen. A role with a square frame around it is selected (the Mayor is always in play, and does not need to be selected in the app). The number of players is indicated in the leftmost button above the Play button (tap this to quickly increase or decrease player count).

The difficulty level is displayed immediately below the roles on the right. Tap this button to cycle through all four difficulty levels.

The Game Timer button indicates how much time players have to figure out the Magic Word. Tap and hold this to adjust the time.

Tap the Gear button to:

  • Select special category word lists (movies, food, sports, etc.)
  • Create custom word lists
  • Access community word lists
  • Determine how many words the Mayor chooses from
  • Adjust narration/music volume
  • Change the game timer length
  • See detailed help for the app
  • All other settings in the app

The Werewords app will be updated occasionally with new features, updated word lists, and more, so be sure to use the latest version of the app when you play.

Rules

Game Setup

  1. Take the Mayor, Seer, and one Werewolf card, and add Villager cards so that the total number of cards is one more than the number of players. For instance, with six players, use the Mayor, the Seer, one Werewolf, and four Villager cards.

    If playing with 7–11 players, use two Werewolf cards. If playing with 12 or more players, use three Werewolf cards.
  2. Place the Yes/No (/) tokens in the large compartment in the box and the Maybe () tokens in the small compartment. Slide the large Correct (), So Close (), and Way Way Off () tokens in between the plastic insert and the sides of the box.
  3. Shuffle the cards and deal one facedown to each player, leaving one card in the center. Then look at your card secretly. For a six-player game, it would look something like this:

Mayor Setup

The player with the Mayor card reveals his card, then takes the center card and looks at it secretly—this is the Mayor’s secret role. He places the box with the tokens in front of himself.

Finally, he places the mobile device near enough for him to reach it, but still as close as possible to the other players.

If no player has the Mayor card, the player to the left of the last Mayor takes the center card (which is the Mayor card) and reveals it. If this is the first game, redeal the cards until one player gets the Mayor card.

Gameplay: Night Phase

To start the game, the Mayor presses the Play button on the app. The app tells all players to close their eyes. Then it tells the Mayor to wake up and tap his secret role. The Mayor opens his eyes and taps his secret role (such as a Villager, Werewolf, or Seer) in the app.

Next, the Mayor chooses a Magic Word from the options shown. The Mayor should choose a Word that he thinks the players will be able to guess.

The Magic Word is shown to the Mayor to confirm his selection. Then the app tells the Mayor to close his eyes.

Next, the app tells the Seer to wake up. The Seer views the Magic Word, and then the app tells the Seer to close her eyes.

Finally, the app tells the Werewolf to wake up. The Werewolf views the Magic Word. After a few seconds, the app tells the Werewolf to close his eyes.

Gameplay: Day Phase

The app then tells everyone to wake up and starts the timer for the Day Phase.

While the timer is running, all the players try to figure out the Magic Word.

The players do this by asking the Mayor questions that require a “yes” or “no” answer. The Mayor may not speak; instead, he must give the person who asked the question an answer token:

Yes/No (/)—with the appropriate side up, Maybe (), or So Close ().

The Mayor may not point at any players or tokens, or speak until time runs out or the Magic Word has been guessed. The Mayor may not ignore questions posed to him even if they have been previously asked. If the players are way, way off track (maybe they’ve interpreted an answer poorly or they think they’re very close when they aren’t), the Mayor may place the Way Way Off () token in the middle of the table to indicate that they are indeed way, way off. This token may go to a specific player, but does not take the place of a regular Yes/No (/) or Maybe () token.

Players may speak to each other during the Day Phase, and can even ask each other questions before posing them to the Mayor. Only one question should be asked of the Mayor at a time. The Mayor may not speak at all, even to verify a previous question and answer. Players (including the Mayor) may not look up the Magic Word or consult with anything or anyone outside the game regarding the Magic Word until the Day Phase is over. The tokens are limited—when the last Yes/No (/) token is given to a player, the Day Phase is over and the Mayor must tap the No More Yes/No Tokens button on the app.

To guess correctly, players must directly ask the complete Word. (e.g., “Is the word ‘frog’?”; “Is it ‘frog’?”) An indirect guess, even if it includes the Magic Word (e.g., “Is it a kind of frog?”), is not correct. The Mayor might want to use the So Close () token in this case.

If The Magic Word is Guessed Correctly

If the players guess correctly before time runs out, the Mayor taps the yellow Correct () button on the app, and then hands the Correct () token to the player who guessed correctly.

After a correct guess, only the Werewolf shows his card. The Werewolf then has one last chance to win if he can guess who the Seer is.

During this time, all players, including the Mayor, may say anything they’d like to, including what their secret role is. Players are allowed to lie about what their role really is. No one may reveal their role card until after the vote.

The Werewolf has just 15 seconds to decide. Then he must point at a player, who turns over their role card.

If the Werewolf finds the Seer, the werewolf team wins and the village team loses. If the Werewolf does not find the Seer, the village team wins.

If No One Guesses the Magic Word

If the players don’t guess the Magic Word before time runs out or the No More Tokens button is tapped, players have one minute to discuss among themselves who they think the Werewolf is.

When this discussion starts, players (including the Mayor, who is now allowed to speak) may claim to be certain roles (whether they are that role or not), but may not reveal their cards until the final vote has taken place.

When the minute is up, everyone points at the player they think is the Werewolf (you may not point at yourself). The player with the most votes must reveal their card.

If the majority of players point at a Werewolf, the village team wins and the werewolf team loses. If they do not, the werewolf team wins.

If there is a tie for the most votes, all tied players reveal their cards. If any of them is a Werewolf, the village team wins and the werewolf team loses. If each player receives one vote, the werewolf team wins.

Whoops

Sometimes you’ll guess the Word just as time runs out, and the Mayor doesn’t have time to tap the Correct button before the app announces that time has run out. Or maybe the Mayor tapped the Correct button accidentally, when the Word actually had not been guessed.

Either way, you can get things back on track by tapping the Whoops button in the lower right; this will display the other endgame condition than the one currently shown on the app.

Play Again

If you want to play again quickly, tap the Play Again button on the screen that appears at the end of the game. You can also change the difficulty level on this screen.

Werewolf-Mayor

If the Mayor is a Werewolf, he doesn’t want the players to guess the Word; his winning condition is the same as any other Werewolf. In this case, the Mayor might want to choose a slightly harder Magic Word. During the Day Phase, the Werewolf-Mayor may mislead or even lie to the players when giving tokens to lead them away from the correct answer.

Seer-Mayor

If the Mayor is the Seer, he wants the village to guess the Word. Because he doesn’t have a Seer to help him out, he might want to choose a slightly easier Magic Word. Of course, if the Word is too easy, the Werewolf might figure out that the Mayor is the Seer.

Second Werewolf

If you have seven or more players, add a second Werewolf to the game. If you have twelve or more players, add a third Werewolf to the game. Always keep the total number of cards, including the Mayor, to one more than the number of players.

When using a second Werewolf, the app allows each Werewolf a chance to see who the other Werewolf is right before they view the Magic Word.

If the Magic Word is guessed correctly, each Werewolf may vote for a different player, and both of those players must reveal their cards—if either one is the Seer, the Werewolves win.

If the Magic Word is not guessed correctly, the players only have to find one of the two Werewolves to win. As long as either Werewolf gets the majority of votes, the village team wins and the werewolf team loses.

Basic Strategy

All village team players should pay attention to everyone who asks questions. If someone seems to be playing slowly or trying to derail the line of questioning, that person just might be a Werewolf.

The Seer has to be careful not to make her knowledge so obvious that the Werewolf will know who she is.

A Werewolf should, without making it too obvious, attempt to slow down the rate in which the group reaches their conclusion and use up tokens with questions that don’t really help the other players.

A Werewolf should also pay attention to the other players to try to spot the Seer.

Custom Word Lists

You can add your own custom word lists to the Werewords app.

Word lists can be assigned any of the four difficulty levels, and you can quickly paste in word lists right on your mobile device.

Download word lists submitted by other players, all categorized by age appropriateness and difficulty level, directly into your app, and go to werewords.com to submit your own custom word lists.

Add you own custom word lists or search through lists submitted by other players on this site, to find custom word lists from other players that you can put in your app, and to submit your own custom word lists, all categorized by difficulty level and age appropriateness.

Werewords Deluxe

If you’re looking for additional Werewords challenges, Werewords Deluxe Edition is available from beziergames.com. This Deluxe Edition contains several additional roles and a new gameplay mode:

The Apprentice takes over as the Seer when the Mayor is the Seer.

The Minion is on the werewolf team and doesn’t know the Magic Word, but is trying to make sure the village team doesn’t guess the Word correctly.

The Fortune Teller sees just the first few letters of each word in the Magic Word.

The Masons know each other, but don’t know the Magic Word.

The Thing (that goes bump in the night) bumps a player at night to let them know he is on the villager team.

The Beholder knows who the Seer is, but does not know the Magic Word.

The Doppelgänger looks at another player’s card, and then becomes that role for the game.

The new Speedwords™ mode plays like Hangman, where you have even less time to guess the Magic Word, but you’re given a few clues to help you out… by the Werewolves!