Undercover for Beginners
If you don’t know how to play Undercover, this is the game overview you need
Undercover Game Setup
Players: 3-20
Modes:
Pass-and-Play - Players must be physically in 1 room, only 1 phone needs to have the Undercover app installed.
Private Room - Players play on their own phones. You can be physically together or play remotely with people you know.
Public Room - Play online with the community.
Undercover is a wordplay social deduction game. A small group of Impostors has appeared on a tropical island where everyone (including the Impostors) has mysteriously forgotten their identity. The only clues to remember who you are and form alliances are secret words. Your goal is to find your teammates and work together to oust the others from the island!
Roles and Goals
There are 3 groups on the island: Civilians, Undercover and Mr.White. The majority of the residents are the peace-loving Civilians. There are up to two groups of Impostors: Undercover and Mr.White. A game consists of at least 1 Undercover or 1 Mr.White.
The app automatically suggests the best number of each roles depending on the number of players. You can also adjust the number of roles or even make it random according to your preference.
Civilians
Goal: Uncover their identity and oust the Undercover & Mr.White
Undercover
Goal: Uncover their identity and survive till the end
Mr.White
Goal: Survive till the end or crack the Civilians’ secret word
Get your secret word
At the beginning of the game, everyone receives a secret word. Each game uses a pair of secret words.
Remember to keep your secret word hidden from the others.
Civilians receive the same secret word. Undercovers receive a word slightly different from the Civilians'. Mr.Whites don't receive any word. At this moment, you don’t know if you are a Civilian or an Undercover.
Gameplay
There are 3 main phases during the game. After a cycle of the 3 phases, a player is ousted from the island. Repeat as many rounds as needed until one of the groups (Civilian, Undercover or Mr.White) wins the game.
Description Phase
As soon as everyone has received their secret word, a random player is assigned to start describing their word. One by one, everyone describes their word using a word or phrase. Mr.White needs to improvise, since he/she doesn't have a word.
Use this phase to disclose enough info to find your allies but hide the specifics from Mr.White.
Discussion Phase
Once the round of description is complete, players discuss and debate about who they think are the Impostors or the Civilians.
Civilians and Undercovers should use this phase to gather more clues to discover their own identity, build alliances and identify enemies. Meanwhile, for Mr.White, it is the best time to dig deeper on the Civilians' secret word.
Remember the bottom line: don't expose yourself unnecessarily too early! Use your charm to tilt the odds in your favour.
Elimination Phase
When the discussion phase ends, all remaining players vote for one player they want to oust. Remember, players that were already ousted can't cast their votes anymore.
The player with the most votes will be ousted from the island! Unless the voted player turns out to be Mr.White! In this case, he/she still has 1 chance to guess the Civilian word. If he/she guesses the Civilian word correctly, Mr.White wins immediately!
If the victory condition of the game is not met after the elimination phase, repeat the above 3 phases until one of the groups (Civilian, Undercover or Mr.White) wins the game.
Victory
Civilians win if they eliminate all Undercovers and Mr.Whites.
The Impostors (Undercovers and/or Mr.Whites) win if they survive until only 1 Civilian is left.
Mr.White also wins if they guess the Civilians’ word correctly.
In case of victory, Civilians get 2 points each, Mr.White, 6 points and the Undercover, 10 points!
Special Roles
Everyone is different on the island. There are special spirits and personalities to add to the game and spice up the gameplay! Read more about the special roles here.