☢️ The Shelter

The world is ending and the shelter has room for half of you. Argue why you are useful, then vote someone out.

A disaster has struck and the world outside is a mess. There is one shelter, and it has room for only half of you. Everyone wants in, so everyone argues why they are the most useful person to keep.

Your secret card

• Each player gets a hidden character: profession, health, age, hobby, phobia, baggage and a special fact. Plus 1–2 action cards (one card for groups of 9+).

• Nobody sees your traits until you reveal them or the table forces you to.

A round

• Reveal: everyone secretly chooses one of their hidden traits to open. In round 1 it is always the profession. Traits appear for everyone at once.

• Discussion: talk it out. Say why you are useful and why somebody else is not. You can press “I am ready to vote” to move on sooner.

• Voting: everyone secretly votes for one person to leave the shelter. Not for yourself. Then the votes are shown, and the eliminated player’s whole card is revealed.

• A tie leads to a revote between the tied players. A second tie means nobody leaves this round (after two such rounds, fate decides).

• With 12 or more players the first rounds may remove two people at a time.

Action cards

• Each card has its own moment (reveal, discussion or voting). You can play at most one card per round, and everybody sees which card was played, but not who holds what.

• Swap traits, force someone to reveal a trait, peek at a secret, gain immunity, double your vote, and more.

The ending

• When the shelter is full, the game builds an epilogue from the disaster, the shelter and the survivors’ traits, with a survival score. Did they make it?

• Everyone inside the shelter wins. The outcome may be funny or tragic. It is always a story.