Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition

A few months ago, my friends bought Werewolves of Miller's Hollow: The Village, and we all got hooked on the game. I decided I wanted to get my own Werewolf game, so I began looking at what others were available, when I discovered this, Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition. I bought it and set up my first game using the Ultimate cards a few weeks ago. At the conclusion of the night, we all agreed that Ultimate Werewolf was superior to Miller's Hollow. This is because Ultimate has nearly three times as many cards, including many roles that are not present in Miller's Hollow. Also, unlike Miller's Hollow, each card has a title and short description. Many times when using Miller's Hollow's untitled cards, we would have to restart the game almost instantly because somebody didn't know what their role was, but this is not a problem with Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition. I would recommend this game to anybody.

Ultimate Werewolf is a party game for 5+ players for young to old. The basic idea of the game is you hand out a card to everyone which will secretly tell them a role (usually a good or bad role) the good guys want to get rid of the bad guys, the bad buys want to get rid of the good guys. The good guys get the chance to vote to eliminate the bad guys during the 'day' the bad guys get a chance to secretly eliminate a good guy during the 'night'. This is basic werewolf. Ultimate Werewolf can be as basic as this or much more involved...

This is a full review of Ultimate Werewolf 2010 and the results of playing with groups big and small. I find that it is useful to go through some background before running through the actual game:

This review was written after playing Ultimate Werewolf 2010 with two different large groups and one very small group consisting of different people. Each group I find has its very own personality and very different way of running the game. This is something you will have to guage when you are playing yourself. I feel it adds an extra value to the game if you know the people you play with a little at first. I find that staying in earshot of the group when organizing the game and getting everyone to sit down will let you listen to some of the conversation before the game to find out what the group is like.

Playing werewolf with a group once a month as the end of a big board game social can get stale. For the past year several games have quickly declined into slow awkward games of "he said this in the last game so clearly he is a werewolf now". Coupled with the same roles each time being handed out randomly can make the game boring a times. We had experimented with including some homebrew roles that seem to either unbalance the game or just not feel quite right.

This is where Ultimate werewolf comes in and thrives.

Not only do you get staple roles like the werewolf (must kill all the villagers) and the villager (must kill all the werewolves) but you also get vampires, zombies, frankenstien, sorcerors, masons, lovers, cupid and a whole array of fun roles and abilities that can keep you interested and entertained for many games to come.

Of course you probably won't want to throw in too many different roles to start the game (although it is extremely possible) but with the wealth of characters to choose from, for a starter it can be overwhelming. This is where the handy booklet that comes with Ultimate Werewolf comes in.

The booklet itself teaches you how to play a simple game. Giving tips for a moderator on how to run a successful game of werewolf. The rules are clearly defined and easy to read for all ages. They are structured in a way that flows extremely well adding upon the simple rules with ease.

There is a section near the back that explains each role and gives it a value. The value system helps you build a balanced game of werewolf. It shows you which cards are more powerful and which cards are just for variation. From this you can create you own custom games of Ultimate Werewolf.

They have also put some thought into what to do if you just want to play a game and don't want to have to think about mechanics. In the booklet there are several different scenarios ranging from simple 5 player games to insane 40+ games. It includes all the roles that you would need to include.

The booklet, for me was invaluable for creating amazing games of Werewolf. It was very easy to pick up, read, understand and get on with the game. It helped with choosing the right mood for the people I moderated for and even provided a handy guide for which characters need to do their roles when.

My only suggestion would be to include some examples and scenarios for players who want to really see how a character specifically works.

Other downsides can be overwhelming your players with rules at the start of the game. I played with a 40+ group with about 20 different roles and it was clear to see that by the end of the explanation (1hr or so long) people were confused and had trouble remembering what all the roles did. The good thing is that the ability of the player is written on the card so when someone picks a card up it tells them what they are supposed to be doing.

There is also included in Ultimate Werewolf a useful blank sheet that allows you to write down roles and which players have the roles. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AS A MODERATOR. You do not want to get into the middle of a game and realize you have forgotten who your special roles are. However even with this sheet. It is hard to keep track in the bigger games.

Final words: the artwork is beautiful, there is a lot of re playability and production value in this game. The creators have really thought about the way it works and if you purchase it, I guarantee you will have a good time!

I was just at a cosplay con and a fellow brought this game out. We played 3 games in about a hour and 15 minutes. We started out with about 14 players one the first game and about 25 players on the last. The game includes optional extra chars that were brought out as the number of players grew. Most of the players there had never heard of the game before and had little difficulty getting up to speed. Everyone enjoyed the game.