CAN YOU FIND AND STOP THE...
The year is 1932. The place is pre-WWII Germany.
In Secret Hitler, players are German politicians
attempting to hold a fragile Liberal government
together and stem the rising tide of Fascism.
Watch out though—there are secret Fascists among
you, and one player is Secret Hitler.
OVERVIEW
At the beginning of the game, each player
is secretly assigned to one of three roles:
Liberal, Fascist, or Hitler. The Liberals have
a majority, but they don’t know for sure who
anyone is; Fascists must resort to secrecy and
sabotage to accomplish their goals. Hitler plays
for the Fascist team, and the Fascists know
Hitler’s identity from the outset, but Hitler
doesn’t know the Fascists and must work to
figure them out.
The Liberals win by enacting five Liberal
Policies or killing Hitler. The Fascists win by
enacting six Fascist Policies, or if Hitler is
elected Chancellor after three Fascist Policies
have been enacted.
Whenever a Fascist Policy is enacted, the
government becomes more powerful, and the
President is granted a single-use power which
must be used before the next round can begin. It
doesn’t matter what team the President is on; in
fact, even Liberal players might be tempted to
enact a Fascist Policy to gain new powers.
OBJECT
Every player has a secret identity as a member
of either the Liberal team or the Fascist team.
Players on the Liberal team win if either:
• Five Liberal Policies are enacted.
OR
• Hitler is assassinated.
Players on the Fascist team win if either:
• Six Fascist Policies are enacted.
OR
• Hitler is elected Chancellor any time after
the third Fascist Policy has been enacted.
GAME CONTENTS
17 .......... Policy tiles
(6 Liberal, 11 Fascist)
10 .......... Secret Role cards
10 .......... Party Membership cards
10 .......... card envelopes
10 .......... Ja! Ballot cards
10 .......... Nein Ballot cards
1 .......... Election Tracker marker
1 .......... Draw pile card
1 .......... Discard pile card
3 .......... Liberal/Fascist boards
1 .......... President placard
1 .......... Chancellor placard
SET UP
Select the Fascist track that corresponds to
the number of players and place it next to any
Liberal track. Shuffle the 11 Fascist Policy
tiles and the 6 Liberal Policy tiles into a
single Policy deck and place that deck face down
on the Draw pile card.
You’ll need an envelope for each player, and
each envelope should contain a Secret Role card,
a corresponding Party Membership card, one Ja!
Ballot card, and one Nein Ballot card.
Use the table below to determine the correct
distribution of roles.
Liberal Secret Role cards must always be packed
together with a Liberal Party Membership card,
and Fascist and Hitler Secret Role cards must
always be packed together with a Fascist Party
Membership card.
Make sure you have the correct number of
ordinary Fascists in addition to Hitler!
Once the envelopes have been filled, be sure to
shuffle them so each player’s role is a secret!
Each player should get one envelope selected
at random.
WHY ARE THERE SECRET ROLE AND PARTY
MEMBERSHIP CARDS?
Secret Hitler features an investigation
mechanic that allows some players to
find out what team other players are
on, and this mechanic only works if
Hitler’s special role is not revealed.
To prevent that from happening, every
player has both a Secret Role card
and a Party Membership card. Hitler’s
Party Membership card shows a Fascist
party loyalty, but gives no hint about
a special role. Liberals who uncover
Fascists must work out for themselves
whether they’ve found an ordinary
Fascist or their leader.
Once each player has been dealt an envelope,
all players should examine their Secret Role
cards in secret. Randomly select the first
Presidential Candidate and pass that player both
the President and Chancellor placards.
GET THE APP: Go to secrethitler.com/app
to get a companion app that can narrate
these directions for you.
For games of 5-6 players, give the following
directions to all players:
• Everybody close your eyes.
• Fascist and Hitler, open your eyes and
acknowledge each other.
[Take a long pause]
• Everyone close your eyes.
• Everyone can open your eyes. If anyone is
confused or something went wrong, please tell
the group now.
For games of 7-10 players, give the following
directions to all players:
• Everybody close your eyes and extend your hand
into a fist in front of you.
• All Fascists who are NOT Hitler should open
their eyes and acknowledge each other.
• Hitler - keep your eyes closed but put your
thumb out into a thumbs-up gesture.
• Fascists, take note of who has an extended
thumb - that player is Hitler.
[Take a long pause]
• Everyone close your eyes and put your
hands down.
• Everyone can open your eyes. If anyone is
confused or something went wrong, please tell
the group now.
GAMEPLAY
Secret Hitler is played in rounds. Each round
has an Election to form a government, a
Legislative Session to enact a new Policy, and an
Executive Action to exercise governmental power.
ELECTION
1. Pass the Presidential Candidacy
At the beginning of a new round, the President
placard moves clockwise to the next player, who
is the new Presidential Candidate.
2. Nominate a Chancellor
The Presidential Candidate chooses a Chancellor
Candidate by passing the Chancellor placard to
any other eligible player. The Presidential
Candidate is free to discuss Chancellor options
with the table to build consensus and make it
more likely the Government gets elected.
Eligibility:
The last elected President and Chancellor are
“term-limited,” and ineligible to be nominated
as Chancellor Candidate.
ON ELIGIBILITY:
• Term limits apply to the President and
Chancellor who were last elected, not to the
last pair nominated.
• Term limits only affect nominations to the
Chancellorship; anyone can be President, even
someone who was just Chancellor.
• If there are only five players left in the
game, only the last elected Chancellor is
ineligible to be Chancellor Candidate; the
last President may be nominated.
• There are some other rules that affect
eligibility in specific ways: the Veto Power
and the Election Tracker. You don’t need to
worry about those yet, and we’ll talk about
each one in its relevant section.
3. Vote on the government
Once the Presidential Candidate has chosen an
eligible Chancellor Candidate, players may
discuss the proposed government until everyone
is ready to vote. Every player, including the
Candidates, votes on the proposed government.
Once everyone is ready to vote, reveal your
Ballot cards simultaneously so that everyone’s
vote is public.
If the vote is a tie, or if a majority of
players votes no:
The vote fails. The Presidential Candidate
misses this chance to be elected, and the
President placard moves clockwise to the next
player. The Election Tracker is advanced by
one Election.
Election Tracker: If the group rejects three
governments in a row, the country is thrown into
chaos. Immediately reveal the Policy on top of
the Policy deck and enact it. Any power granted
by this Policy is ignored, but the Election
Tracker resets, and existing term-limits are
forgotten. All players become eligible to hold
the office of Chancellor for the next Election.
If there are fewer than three tiles remaining in
the Policy deck at this point, shuffle them with
the Discard pile to create a new Policy deck.
Any time a new Policy tile is played face-up,
the Election Tracker is reset, whether it was
enacted by an elected government or enacted by
the frustrated populace.
If a majority of players votes yes:
The Presidential Candidate and Chancellor
Candidate become the new President and
Chancellor, respectively.
If three or more Fascist Policies have been
enacted already:
Ask if the new Chancellor is Hitler. If
so, the game is over and the Fascists win.
Otherwise, other players know for sure the
Chancellor is not Hitler.
Proceed as usual to the Legislative Session.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
During the Legislative Session, the President
and Chancellor work together to enact a new
Policy in secret. The President draws the top
three tiles from the Policy deck, looks at them
in secret, and discards one tile face down into
the Discard pile. The remaining two tiles go to
the Chancellor, who looks in secret, discards
one Policy tile face down, and enacts the
remaining Policy by placing the tile face up on
the corresponding track.
Verbal and nonverbal communication between the
President and Chancellor is forbidden. The
President and Chancellor MAY NOT pick Policies
to play at random, shuffle the tiles before
discarding one, or do anything else clever to
avoid secretly and intentionally selecting a
Policy. Additionally, the President should hand
both Policies over at the same time, rather
than one at a time to gauge the Chancellor’s
reaction. Attempting to telegraph the contents
of your hand using randomness or any other
unusual selection procedure violates the spirit
of the game. Don’t do it.
Discarded Policy tiles should never be revealed
to the group. Players must rely on the word of
the President and Chancellor, who are free to
lie.
ABOUT LYING: Often, some players learn
things that the rest of the players
don’t know, like when the President and
Chancellor get to see Policy tiles, or
when a President uses the Investigate
power to see someone’s Party Membership
card. You can always lie about hidden
knowledge in Secret Hitler. The only time
players MUST tell the truth is in gameending, Hitler-related scenarios: a player
who is Hitler must say so if assassinated
or if elected Chancellor after three
Fascist Policies have been enacted.
If there are fewer than three tiles remaining
in the Policy deck at the end of a Legislative
Session, shuffle them with the Discard pile to
create a new Policy deck. Unused Policy tiles
should never be revealed, and they should not be
simply placed on top of the new Policy deck.
If the government enacted a Fascist Policy that
covered up a Presidential Power, the sitting
President gets to use that power. Proceed to the
Executive Action.
If the government enacted a Liberal Policy or
a Fascist Policy that grants no Presidential
Power, begin a new round with a new Election.
EXECUTIVE ACTION
If the newly-enacted Fascist Policy grants a
Presidential Power, the President must use it
before the next round can begin. Before using
a power, the President is free to discuss the
issue with other players, but ultimately the
President gets to decide how and when the power
is used. Gameplay cannot continue until the
President uses the power. Presidential Powers
are used only once; they don’t stack or roll
over to future turns.
PRESIDENTIAL POWERS
Investigate Loyalty
The President chooses a player to
investigate. Investigated players
should hand their Party Membership
card (not Secret Role card!) to the
President, who checks the player’s
loyalty in secret and then returns
the card to the player. The President
may share (or lie about!) the
results of their investigation at
their discretion. No player may be
investigated twice in the same game.
Call Special Election
The President chooses any other
player at the table to be the next
Presidential Candidate by passing
that player the President placard.
Any player can become President—even
players that are term-limited. The
new President nominates an eligible
player as Chancellor Candidate and
the Election proceeds as usual.
A Special Election does not skip any
players. After a Special Election,
the President placard returns to the
left of the President who enacted the
Special Election.
If the President passes the
presidency to the next player in the
rotation, that player would get to
run for President twice in a row:
once for the Special Election and
once for their normal shift in the
Presidential rotation.
Policy Peek
The President secretly looks at the
top three tiles in the Policy deck and
then returns them to the top of the
deck without changing the order.
Execution
The President executes one player
at the table by saying “I formally
execute [player name].” If that
player is Hitler, the game ends in
a Liberal victory. If the executed
player is not Hitler, the table
should not learn whether a Fascist or
a Liberal has been killed; players
must try to work out for themselves
the new table balance. Executed
players are removed from the game and
may not speak, vote, or run
for office.
VETO POWER
The Veto Power is a special rule that comes into
effect after five Fascist Policies have been
enacted. For all Legislative Sessions after the
fifth Fascist Policy is enacted, the Executive
branch gains a permanent new ability to discard
all three Policy tiles if both the Chancellor
and President agree.
The President draws three Policy tiles,
discards one, and passes the remaining two to
the Chancellor as usual. Then Chancellor may,
instead of enacting either Policy, say “I wish
to veto this agenda.” If the President consents
by saying, “I agree to the veto,” both Policies
are discarded and the President placard passes
to the left as usual. If the President does not
consent, the Chancellor must enact a Policy
as normal.
Each use of the Veto Power represents an
inactive government and advances the Election
Tracker by one.
STRATEGY NOTES
• Everyone should claim to be a Liberal. Since
the Liberal team has a voting majority, it can
easily shut out any player claiming to be a
Fascist. As a Fascist, there is no advantage to
outing yourself to the majority. Additionally,
Liberals should usually tell the truth. Liberals
are trying to figure out the game like a puzzle,
so lying can put their team at a
significant disadvantage.
• If this is your first time playing Hitler,
just remember: be as Liberal as possible. Enact
Liberal Policies. Vote for Liberal governments.
Kiss babies. Trust your fellow Fascists to
create opportunities for you to enact Liberal
Policies and to advance Fascism on their turns.
The Fascists win by subtly manipulating the
table and waiting for the right cover to enact
Fascist Policies, not by overtly playing
as evil.
• Liberals frequently benefit from slowing play
down and discussing the available information.
Fascists frequently benefit from rushing votes
and creating confusion.
• Fascists most often win by electing Hitler,
not by enacting six Policies! Electing Hitler
isn’t an optional or secondary win condition,
it’s the core of a successful Fascist strategy.
Hitler should always play as a Liberal, and
should generally avoid lying or getting into
fights and disagreements with other players.
When the time comes, Hitler needs the Liberals’
trust to get elected. Even if Hitler isn’t
ultimately elected, the distrust sown among
Liberals is key to getting Fascists elected late
in the game.
• Ask other players to explain why they took
an action. This is especially important with
Presidential Powers—in fact, ask ahead of time
whom a candidate is thinking of investigating/
appointing/assassinating.
• If a Fascist Policy comes up, there are only
three possible culprits: The President, the
Chancellor, or the Policy Deck. Try to figure
out who (or what!) put you in this position.
THANK YOU
Mike, Tommy, and Mac would like to thank:
Shari Spiro, Dan Shapiro, Elan Lee, Mike
Selinker, Luke Crane and everyone else at
Kickstarter, everyone who contributed a quote
to the Kickstarter, The Cards Against Humanity
staff.
Thanks to our early playtesters: Karlee, Tom,
Maria, Trin, Andy, Cory, Katie, Veronica, Sandy,
Greg, Andrew, and everyone else who helped us
refine the earliest versions of the game.
Most especially, thank you to our 34,565 backers
who helped us make this game a reality.
Secret Hitler was funded with Kickstarter.
CREDITS & LICENSE
Secret Hitler was created by Mike Boxleiter,
Tommy Maranges, and Mac Schubert.
Secret Hitler is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License.
YOU ARE FREE TO:
• Share — copy and redistribute the game in
any medium or format
• Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the
game
UNDER THE FOLLOWING TERMS:
• Attribution — If you make something using
our game, you need to give us credit and
link back to us, and you need to explain
what you changed.
• Non-Commercial — You can’t use our game to
make money.
• Share Alike — If you remix, transform, or
build upon our game, you have to release your
work under the same Creative Commons license
that we use (BY-NC-SA 4.0).
• No additional restrictions — You can’t apply
legal terms or technological measures to
your work that legally restrict others from
doing anything our license allows. That
means you can’t submit anything using our
game to any app store without our approval.
You can learn more about Creative Commons at
CreativeCommons.org. (Our license is available
at CreativeCommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
legalcode).
