Kickstarter impressions: Growl

Kickstarter Impressions: Growl

Information:

Mechanics: Bluffing,Social Deduction, Party Game

Player Age: 10+

Player Count: 4 to 7 Players 

Time to Play: 10 - 15 Minutes

Game Designer: Joy Vigour

Game Artist: Angelina Chernyak, Rob Joseph

Publisher:  Vigour, Inc

The Game:

Disclaimer time, what I played and have pictures for are only at a prototype stage, it was a print and play version where I printed and cut the cards myself, so the final copy will look leagues above what mine looks like and the gameplay and art still may change completely.

With the disclaimer now done I can tell you how much I love social deduction games! I own 13 of them and am constantly looking to add games to this part of my collection, they are so good that I just had a whole day devoted to social deduction games. Growl got plenty of plays on this day, both at 4 and 6 player counts. So before I begin shouting praises lets first wrap your head around how to play the game.

Card Anatomy:

There are five types of cards:
- gold (victory points if your team wins)
- bites (one at the beginning of the game or three active bites in total throughout the game makes you a werewolf)
- charms (negates a bite)
- wounds (three of these and you die, you still participate in day but you don't join in on the night phase)
- salve (negates a wound)(image is not yet final)

There is another card type and these are the night and the final night cards (two night cards in 1/3rd of the deck ans 2/3rds of the deck and one final night placed at the bottom of the deck), these are what activate the night phases.

How to Play:

First off depending on the player count there is a number of starting wolf players, 4-5 players start with one starter wolf and 6+ players start with 2. After that players will become infected by lycanthrophy throughout the game. The way this happens is if you have 3 bites at any point in your hand that aren't cancelled out by a charm, you now become a werewolf. There are two golden rules to this game that people tend forget and trust me they will:
Golden Rule #1 - once you are a werewolf you NEVER go back, you are now a werewolf and there is no cure, charms will not help you.
Golden Rule #2 - during the night phase if you are human, you can not pass on those pesky bites, I know as a human you don't want them, but you can not get rid of them unless you are a werewolf SORRY!

"What is this night phase?" Well I'm glad you ask interwebs because now I shall explain: There are two phases to the game, the day phase and the night phase. The day phase is when you have the deck with the cards face up for everyone to see, then the active player has to give the card to any player excluding themselves.

 Night Phase:

To activate the night card you first do what the action on the card says. Then each player who is alive passes one card face down to their next alive person on their left and right (so you will end up with 2 cards in front of you), then these cards are shuffled before you look at them to make sure you don't know who passed you what.
During the night phase is when a werewolf can pass on bites cards to infect other players and as a human you can get rid of the wounds or help your allies (if you trust anyone) with charms and salves. The game then ends after the final night with the initial werewolf/s growling followed by the rest of the infected then growling, and if there are any humans left alive the humans win, however if there are no humans left alive the werewolves win.

Final Thoughts:

First off I am definitely backing this game, this is a game that in an already crowded genre feels fresh and exciting. One way it does this is by keeping the opposition a secret. Normally in team social deduction games, the bad guys know who their teammates are which gives them an advantage. In this game you never know who to trust, who you should help, and you will never know who is a human trying to blend or who is a werewolf trying not to die. 'Growl' has received a Kickstarter Seal of Excellence.

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Kickstarter link
Growl BGG
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