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Hey, remember when party games all wanted you to use an app? Well, this game basically REQUIRES you to use an app, which is great when you aren't in a place where the Internet is steam-powered. The game itself is actually quite fun, which is almost unfortunate because of how annoying it is to keep up with the app.I wanted to like this social deduction card collecting game so much more than I did. Especially since it can accommodate up to 10 players, which is rare.Gameplay was quite fun -- at least at first. Cardboard rectangles with drawings of the various Werebeasts + one Werechow rectangle are shuffled and one is placed between each of up to 10 players. Some of the cards are then dealt out each turn another is placed face-up on the table. Players then bid on the cards, using their own cards or "werechow" tokens to pay for them. The goal is to collect as many cards as possible that match one of the rectangles to either side of the player, without getting eliminated.Players can challenge other players and guess which card they have (but they can't guess the card in their hand or the rectangles on either side of them). Correctly guessing eliminates the other player and allows the guesser to take either the eliminated player's cards or his/her werechow. If the guesser is wrong, though, the other person gets either the guesser's cards or his/her werechow.The problem is that unless there are a lot of players, the value in random guessing is just too high. Plus eliminated players can no longer play for that round. If the rounds were super quick that wouldn't be a problem. But while they go quickly, it is still just too slow to have people sitting around..As with all Bezier games, the components are top notch. The artwork is really fun, too.But I guess with social deduction games I just prefer ones in which players are dinged for being wrong instead of being eliminated (for instance, Operation Faust).BEST FOR: Groups of 6-10 people including kids and/or non-gamers.We are fans of many Bezier Games games, but honestly, when we saw another "werewolf" game we were not sure about this one.GAMEPLAYVery easy to teach in like 5-minutes or less.I will say that those with more experience in bluffing and deduction games will normally do better.Our second hesitation came when we discovered there is a ton of player elimination in this game. From the very first "action" by the first player, you either guess correctly what another player has in their hand and eliminate them or you guess wrong and you are eliminated. Hmmm.Now the eliminated player has nothing to do the entire time he/she waits for the remaining active players to eliminate each other. Not fun!The one saving grace is you can choose to make this a fast game so players are not sitting around waiting "that long" (time is relative after all) for the game to end so a new game can begin and they can join the "fun" again.COMPONENTS:The artwork and card names are fun and silly.Nice thick tiles, but if they get marked in any way, then it is too obvious to learn what that tile is. Thus you may want to consider sleeving your tiles.LUCK/STRATEGY:Lots of luck in literally guessing early game what other players are.Some strategy. But the main strategy is the same for every game...simply bid on every bid item so you don't give away what cards you are. That's it.OVERALL:Not a game for us.Player elimination and sitting around waiting is no fun.Lots of guesswork with no evidence, unless the other players are really poor at hiding what cards they want to collect.Our few games were always about emptying the deck and HOPE (it was all luck) you had more points than the other remaining players.A much better game from Beizer and with the werewolf theme is, We're not big on social deduction games but my family's always willing to try everything, so we thought we'd give Werebeasts a shot. It's not for us.Basically, a goal card is placed between every two players (the game really thrives on more players, as becomes clear later), so each pair of players shares a goal. Each player also receives an auction card (face up) and eight cans of werechow. Players view their goal cards (secretly) and are motivated to reach their goal by getting 1 point for each werebeast they collect that matches one of the goals (which is basically one or more of a specific type of werebeast). Players then take turns revealing the top auction card, and the other players can bid cans of werechow or their own auction cards to try to claim the werebeast.Where things get tricky is that since goals are shared, each player knows the goal of the person on either side of them. As a result, they have to make a decision between accepting the highest bid and accepting a bid from someone who might just be able to win the game by achieving their goal.The problem is that the game pivots on accusations. Once you notice a pattern of who is collecting a certain type of card, you can accuse that player. If you're right, that player is eliminated and you get their werebeasts or werechow. If you're wrong, you're eliminated.According to the Kickstarter web site, "games last under 15 minutes, so players who are eliminated only have a few minutes to ruminate about what they did wrong that got them bounced from the game."You know what I love to do when getting together with friends? Being accused by someone and then sitting out the rest of the game while they play. If you watch the video of gameplay, there's a hilariously sped-up moment where you can see the player who (incorrectly) accuses someone, and is thus eliminated from the game...just sits there. It's like Flux, only with more people fiddling with their phones instead of watching the game.At a party where people get up and wander around, this might work. But for family game night, this isn't for us.
