I choose the game Secret Hitler. I’ve played it since middle school with my friends. Last quarter, I played it again with my friends on a trip to Tahoe. Since it’s been a while, I got my friend group to play it again as a group of 6 recently! We played online using the website secret-hitler.online, and it was still really fun.
I often make decisions and walk at the front of the group in normal life. I often speak up, and tend to be proactive in spending time with my friends. Taking this and entering the magic circle, I am a generally fairly present player. I’ve notice that when I’m having lots of fun, I’m oftentimes very engaged and talk a lot. I like to solve mysteries and find the most optimal way to do things. As such, with hidden role games such as Secret Hitler, when I get Fascist/Hitler, I find myself having to be just as engaged and talk about planning. Funnily enough, in attempts to further prove my innocence, I would talk about the optimal strategy of who should be Chancellor, who we can “trust”, what policies to pass, and what’s optimal for the team. Oftentimes this would work. However, sometimes I ended up helping the team, which was unfortunate. A lot of this is structured by the mechanics of the game. It’s difficult to find a truly optimal strategy, and the majority of the emphasis/skill in the game is placed on social interaction/reading other people. This is much more varied, and contributes to a much less obvious and funner experience. That being said, I do believe there are still some mechanics in the game to keep the structure and magic circle, and provides fuel to an analytical mind like mine. I find the presidential powers and choice-confirming between the president and the chancellor dynamic very interesting, and there is a sense of logic to the game. This structure provides form to the game, and the elements of random chance such as card draw help to make some behavior non-deterministic. This always makes things interesting, and I find myself enjoying these logical, but still random social deduction games.
I also heavily enjoy myself when I don’t have something to hide. As for for when I’m a liberal, I can freely act and enjoy myself any restrain/reservation, and I immerse myself in the problem-solving, action-reading, and hitler-finding. It’s fun to play as a liberal in that sense, but it does get boring after a while. I find myself hoping that I get a role of interest, such as Fascist or Hitler. I find this happening a lot more when I play murder mystery online, or mafia/werewolf in person. I oftentimes find myself hoping to be the murderer/detective, or other interesting role. I tend to dislike playing as a role that does nothing, such as an innocent or a villager. However, unlike these games, Secret Hitler has a leg up. Each turn, one person is President, and one person is Chancellor. These roles have importance, and rotate around. It feels useful, and I feel like I have more agency on the game as a result. When I’m a villager or innocent, I feel like I’m there to pad the bodycount to balance the game. It’s still fun, but it’s less interesting.
