Ultimate Werewolf rules: a quick reference

How do you set up Ultimate Werewolf?

1. 1

   Pick a moderator. They don't get a card and aren't on either team.

2. 2

   Build a deck with exactly one card per player: some Werewolves, a few special roles, the rest plain Villagers.

3. 3

   Add up the balance values printed on the cards and tweak the deck until the total sits near zero (see balancing below).

4. 4

   Shuffle and deal face down. Each player looks at their own card and keeps it hidden.

5. 5

   The moderator writes down who has what, then calls the first night.

The moderator

The moderator is narrator and referee. They know every role, so they have to stay neutral. Their job is a loop: put the town to sleep, wake each role in a fixed order, record the night's choices, announce the result at dawn, run the day discussion and the vote, then check whether either side has won.

Everyone, close your eyes. Werewolves, wake up and choose your victim.

Keep your voice and timing the same for every role, even ones that aren't in the deck or are already dead. Otherwise players read the pauses. Our narrator script has the full set of lines.

Night

Everyone closes their eyes. The werewolves wake together, agree on a victim by pointing and go back to sleep. Then the moderator calls each special role in turn: the Seer points at a player and gets a silent yes or no on whether they're a werewolf, the Bodyguard picks someone to protect, and so on. Nobody speaks.

Day and the vote

At dawn the moderator says who died, if anyone. That player is out and stays quiet for the rest of the game. The survivors then talk. Anyone can accuse, defend, claim a role or lie about one. When the talk runs dry, the table votes and the player with the most votes is eliminated.

Whether you flip a dead player's card face up is a table decision. Revealing helps the village and speeds things up; hiding makes the game harder. Agree before you deal.

How do you win Ultimate Werewolf?

• Village: eliminate every werewolf.
• Werewolves: reach the point where they equal the remaining villagers, since they can no longer be outvoted.
• Solo roles such as the Tanner have their own goal and win alone if they meet it.

How does Ultimate Werewolf balancing work?

Every card has a plus or minus value showing how far it tips the game. Positive cards help the village, negative ones help the wolves. Total the deck: above zero favours the villagers, below zero favours the werewolves, and close to zero is a fair game.

Werewolves carry the biggest negative numbers. Strong information roles like the Seer carry big positive ones. To fix a lopsided deck, swap a power role for a plain Villager or change the wolf count, then re-add. If one side keeps winning in your group, nudge the target away from zero.

Roles in the base game

Bézier lists the Seer, Bodyguard, Hunter and Tanner among the classics in the 34-card base box. These are the ones you'll use most.

Differences from the classic game

Night kills, day votes and hidden teams are identical. Mafia uses the same skeleton with a mob theme; see Werewolf vs Mafia. One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a different game altogether, covered in our One Night app guide.

Running it with an app

Bézier's free Ultimate Werewolf Moderator app builds decks, scans the micro QR codes on 2021 and later cards, narrates the night in order and tracks eliminations and wins. It only works with those QR-coded cards.

No cards? Werewolf Narrator runs the classic game in a phone browser for free. You pass one phone round to deal secret roles, then a recorded narrator handles the nights, announces deaths, times the day and checks for a winner. It covers eight classic roles for 5 to 18 players, not the Ultimate Werewolf card set.