Party games
The Resistance: Avalon
For the Loyal Servants of Arthur, succeed at three quests without letting anyone work out who Merlin is; for the Minions of Mordred, make three quests fail or unmask Merlin.
- players
- 5–10
- minutes
- 30
You’ll need the game box. Marquoir sums up the rules and keeps score.
Setup
- Take the board that matches the number of players.
- How the sides are split depends on the number: 3 good and 2 evil with five, 4 and 2 with six, 4 and 3 with seven, 5 and 3 with eight, 6 and 3 with nine, 6 and 4 with ten.
- Among the good cards, one is Merlin; among the evil ones, one is the Assassin. The others are ordinary Servants and Minions.
- Everyone gets a character face down and two vote tokens. A Leader is chosen at random.
- With everyone's eyes closed, the Minions recognise each other, then raise their thumbs so that Merlin can see them in turn.
How to play
- The game has up to five quests. Each one starts with building a team.
- The Leader chooses the number of team members set by the board, including themselves or not.
- Everyone votes at the same time to approve or reject the team. With a majority, it goes; a tie counts as a rejection.
- Rejected: the Leader role passes to the player on the left, who proposes another team.
- On the quest, each member secretly plays a Success or Fail card. The good players must play Success; the evil players choose.
- The cards are shuffled then revealed: a single Fail makes the quest fail.
- Exception: with seven or more players, the fourth quest only fails with two Fails.
- After each quest, the Leader changes and play moves on to the next.
Scoring
- There are no points: count the successful and failed quests on the board.
- In Marquoir, add 1 to each player on the winning side.
End of the game
- Three failed quests: Evil wins.
- Five teams rejected in a row for the same quest: Evil wins immediately.
- Three successful quests: the evil players confer, and the Assassin names a player. If it is Merlin, Evil wins; otherwise, Good wins.
Frequently asked questions
Should Merlin help his side openly?
He should guide it, but discreetly: if he seems too sure of himself, the Assassin will spot him and turn the game around.
Is rejecting a team suspicious?
No. A rejection simply passes the proposal to the next Leader; it is mostly votes in favour of a dubious team that give players away.
The box
- Released
- 2012
- Age
- Ages 13+
- Designer
- Don Eskridge
- Mechanics
- Hidden RolesVotingTeam-BasedDeduction