I tried playing "SALEM" which made a card game "Salem Witch trial" of witch hunting that really existed

It occurred in Salem village in Massachusetts state of AmericaSalem Witch trialIt is a painful case that nearly 200 villagers were accused as witches and 19 people were executed, and may be taken up as an example of collective psychic runaway even in 2015. I made that Salem Witch trial a card game "SALEM"Appeared in the Kickstarter of the cloud funding site and achieved the target funded amount, and the real thing arrived at the editorial department and tried playing immediately.

Facade Games | Creators of Salem
http://facadegames.com/product/salem/

This is the SALEM that I got to the editorial department.


The box of SALEM is a design of an old book.


I pulled the vinyl off.


SALEM has 4 to 12 players, and the time required for one game is about 20 to 40 minutes. The target age is from 13 years old to some 93 years old.


Open the box with the feeling of opening the book.


Inside was "paper with rules written" "cards (111 pictures)" "rule book" "tokens" "hourglass (30 seconds)" was included.


There are 12 tokens on the front and back where nothing is written, one containing KILL · SAVE.


The table is surrounded by red, green and blue frames is a card of a sacred card.


"Trial card" is written as "NOT A WITCH" "WITCH", and the black one is "CONSPIRACY (conspiracy) card" and "NIGHT (night) card". It is "villager card" that the figure is drawn.


I confirmed the contents and I will play it immediately. In simple terms, SALEM is divided into "not a witch" and "witch", the purpose is to "kill the witch" player to search for witches and "witch" to kill all the "not a witch" players. Who is a witch is a rule that we can not know except himself. In short, it is only whether to search for a witch or to be killed by a witch, but they read a psychology of each other and observe the play carefully and it is quite a strategic game.

That is why we distribute trial cards to players at the beginning, but the number of people to distribute will vary depending on the number of participants.


Since we will play with 4 people this time, we have 20 images in total of 18 "NOT A WITCH (Witch)", 1 "WITCH (Witch)" and 1 "CONSTABLE (Police Officer)" Have prepared ...


Shuffle and line up for each player in front of each player.


The player checks the distributed trial card ... ....


I will restore it. In addition, this time I was a witch.


Next, we will deal one villagers card.


The villagers' cards are face up and should be placed near themselves OK. The villagers have different abilities of each one, and the cards that I got this time had the ability to "draw a card from a deck card if someone opens a trial card".


Next take out the cards of the sacred cards and pull out the night cards and black cat cards.


Shuffle the rest of the cards and set them face down on the battlefield.


At the bottom of the deck, put in the night cards you left out.


After setting the number of tokens and the SAVE · KILL token next to the deck, the setting of the game is complete.


SALEM is finished only if either "Did you know who has the witch card" or "All the players other than the witch died?" When a player dies, it is either "All trial cards are opened", "Witch cards are opened", "It is killed at the night event".

Before the game starts, the event "first night" will be held. In "First Night", everyone closes their eyes first, only players with witch cards open their eyes and place KILL tokens in front of other players so that they can not be present. It is better to put it quietly so as not to make a noise. If you make a loud noise, other players burst out laughing and will open your eyes.


This time I put it in front of the player next to the right. In addition, this action needs to be done during 20 seconds when sand of hourglass falls. Close your eyes when putting a KILL token, and everyone will open their eyes with a signal. It is no problem for a witch player to put a KILL card in front of him, so it is recommended when you want to disturb other players.


Players with KILL tokens leave black cat cards at hand.


You are now ready to start the game. SALEM is a turn system, there are only two actions, "draw two cards" or "use the card on hand with you" when you turn your turn. At the beginning of the game you have only to draw two cards ... ...


A little explanation as to what cards are in the deck. The card in the green frame is an item card-like item such as "take away another player's card and transfer it to a different player" in the image below. Use only once, discard after use.


The card in the blue frame is a card whose effect will be demonstrated when something goes wrong. For example, the following "MATCHMAKER (matchmaker)" is a horrible card that nobody wants to own, "When two players who own MATCHMAKER become two, one player dies as another player dies" . Moreover, the blue card can not be moved from its place until "the used player dies", "the card moves", "the other card becomes ineffective".


The card in the red frame says "Accusation card" and accumulates in front of the used player and accumulates up to the seventh card, the player using the seventh card tries the trial of the used player You can select a card and turn it face up. By using it against a suspect player as a witch, you can reveal its identity. However, there are things that are equivalent to multiple accusation cards, such as "EVIDENCE (evidence)" of images corresponds to three accusation cards.


The card at night is the card at the bottom of the deck of the deck as described above, and when this comes up, the event of the evening exciting the game occurs. I will check details of the night event while playing.


So I will draw two cards from the right player with a black cat card. Although I could use black cat cards for other players, I decided to pull cards obediently for the first time.


Okay put the cards face up and line up next to the trial cards OK.


I got a powerful "EVIDENCE (evidence)" card for three accusation cards and my "Asylum (psychiatry ward)" card in my turn. Psychic ward card is a card that will not die at night event, can not be used for myself, but it can be used for others. In other words, you can trust others by helping others with psychiatry cards and you can appeal "I am not a witch". If you get a psychi ward card when you are not a witch, you can use it as a seemingly unseemed player like you, from the witch. This is a game that requires pretty psychological bargaining.


When I draw the cards in order, the opponent player got the green frame card.


The "STOCKS" card in the green frame drawn by the opposing player is that if you use it for someone that player's next turn will be closed once.


3 The order is over and my card looks something like this. Even though I use evidence cards for other players, I used up accusation cards from other players thanks to not using too much thought and accumulated a total of 5 cards. When two more cards are accumulated, it is a dangerous situation that one trial card must be opened, but since it's your turn, I will use the accusation card for other players.


It was the player who was on the right side who decided to receive the accusation card. Since I was paying six bills of accusation including the evidence card I used earlier, adding the accusation cards used resulted in a total of seven sheets.


If more than seven accusation cards are accumulated, that player must open a trial card that the person using the accusation card has chosen. When I turned the card in the middle, it was "a card not a witch." One of the players should have a "policeman card" to be the enemy of the witch, and the card becomes invalid when turned face up, so it was a place I wanted to keep the policeman card face up as soon as it could be a witch.


When the trial card is put on the table, discard accident cards and evidence cards that they had, restarted from the state where the red frame card is zero.


On the 6th round, the cards on hand are like this, I've played so as not to save accusation cards ...


The player who was on the left side uses the "ROBBERY" card. A robbery card is a card that can "give all the cards of other players to different players". The player on the left side gave me the card of a player using two or more accusation cards. In other words ... ...


That is why I used a robbery card completely for my own purpose. In this way the total number of accusation cards accumulated as many as 8 sheets can be opened ......


After a few more passes, the situation that the deck is the last two. At this time, it was a situation that one person opened a trial card one by one, but obviously another player seems to believe that he is a witch.


The fact that two deck cards are left ... ...


Naturally "night" cards are included and the beginning of the evening event.


In the event of the evening, collect the SAVE · KILL token in the middle, put black tokens on the front and back in front of each player and close all their eyes.


When everyone closes their eyes, only the witch player (myself) opens his eyes and flips the KILL token and replaces it with a token secretly placed in front of another player. If it is a witch, it will be a pretty exciting event, paying the latest attention so as not to make a voice or sound. The opponent who placed the KII token gets high probability of death, so choosing who to put is also important.


When the witch's turn is over, the police officer's player opened his eyes and a "SAVE" token ......


Put it in front of other players. The SAVE token has the role of helping other players to be killed with KILL tokens, so we have to think carefully as to whom the witches want to kill. Otherwise I will lose valuable friends. That is why the witch has to choose a person to put the KILL token. It is an interesting place where the bargain of these psychology changes depending on the situation of play.


Everyone can open their eyes when a policeman places SAVE. At this time, the player who thought that the token placed beforehand may be a KILL token can do "Confess (white)". The white state is to invalidate the token in front of the eyes instead of opening one trial card. There is quite a high risk, so no one did "white" this time.


When "Whiteness" is over, each player tabulates his previous token. The player on the left was a KILL token.


Players who pull KILL token dropped out of the game.


When dropping out, it is necessary to tabulate all trial cards. If the player on the left is a witch, here is the end of the game.


When the night event ends, shuffle the deck cards back and return the token again.


You do not have to return your card to the card, you can continue as it is.


It is SALEM to play until the witch is someone else, and so on, and all the players other than the witches die. SALEM is a game that predicts witches from the conversation with other players, the atmosphere of players, how to use cards, etc., and hides things that are witches, so the more people, the more enjoyable it is. Also, there are plenty of elements that will make the game excitement, such as "CONSPIRACY (conspiracy)" where witches move besides appearing in articles. It is going to be quite exciting as witches to play with large numbers are also made in the year-end and new year gathering with relatives and at gathering party with friends.


In addition, SALEMOfficial siteIt is on sale for 22.99 dollars (about 2800 yen) and shipping to Japan is a separate shipping fee of $ 17 (about 2000 yen) is required.