Secret Hitler

Setup: for 5–10 players respectively use 3/4/4/5/5/6 Liberals and 1/1/2/2/3/3 ordinary Fascists, always adding one Hitler. Package correct role and party cards with Ja/Nein ballots, shuffle envelopes and distribute secretly. Hitler has Fascist party membership. Shuffle six Liberal and eleven Fascist policies into one deck, choose the count-specific Fascist board and randomly select the first Presidential Candidate.

Initial knowledge: at 5–6 players, the Fascist and Hitler open their eyes and identify each other. At 7–10, ordinary Fascists open their eyes while Hitler remains eyes closed with a thumb extended. Party Membership identifies team, not the special Hitler role; investigations use that card rather than the Secret Role.

Nomination: normally pass the Presidential candidacy clockwise and nominate another eligible Chancellor. The last elected President and Chancellor are normally ineligible as Chancellor, not the last rejected candidates. Term limits affect Chancellor nominations only. At the five-player scale only the last elected Chancellor is restricted; use the current player-count rule after eliminations.

Vote: everyone still in play, including both candidates, reveals ballots simultaneously. Strictly more than half must vote yes; a tie fails. A failed election advances the tracker and passes the candidacy. After a government is elected with at least three Fascist policies already enacted, check the new Chancellor immediately: Hitler wins for the Fascists, otherwise proceed to legislation. This is not a check on the President and is not retroactive when a serving Chancellor enacts the third policy.

Chaos: after three rejected governments, enact the deck’s top policy. It counts toward policy victory but grants no presidential power. Reset the tracker and clear existing term limits for the next election, while the President still nominates someone else. Any faceup enacted policy resets the tracker. Chaos is not an elected government and cannot grant an execution or special election from its covered icon.

Legislation: the President privately draws three, intentionally discards one facedown, and hands both remaining tiles together to the Chancellor. The Chancellor privately discards one and enacts the other. No verbal or nonverbal communication, random selection or staged handoff is allowed during that process. Discards remain hidden; later claims may be truthful or false, but the physical procedure must remain correct.

Deck and powers: after legislation or chaos, if fewer than three policies remain, shuffle them with the discard pile to make the new deck. Enacted policies stay on their tracks. When a normally enacted Fascist policy covers a power, the current President must use it before the next round. It is single-use, cannot be banked and follows the selected player-count board rather than one universal power schedule.

Information powers: Investigate Loyalty secretly checks Party Membership, not Secret Role, then returns it. No player can be investigated twice; the President may lie about the result. Policy Peek looks at the top three policies and replaces them without changing their order. Neither power means all hidden cards can be exposed publicly.

Special Election and Execution: appoint another player as the next Presidential Candidate, including someone term-limited as Chancellor. They still nominate an eligible Chancellor. Afterwards resume normal rotation after the President who called the Special Election, not after the temporary President. An executed player stops speaking, voting and holding office. Hitler’s execution immediately wins for Liberals; other executed players do not reveal which team was killed.

Veto: after the fifth Fascist policy, future legislative sessions may veto by mutual agreement. The President still draws three, discards one and passes two. The Chancellor requests a veto; only Presidential consent discards both. If refused, enact a policy normally. An accepted veto advances the election tracker and passes the candidacy, potentially triggering chaos. With no policy enacted, do not clear the last elected government’s term limits on your own.

Victory: Liberals win with five Liberal policies or Hitler’s execution. Fascists win with six Fascist policies or Hitler’s election as Chancellor after at least three Fascist policies are already enacted. End immediately on a fulfilled condition. Hidden-information claims may be false, but Hitler must identify truthfully when executed or when the qualifying Chancellor check ends the game.