Insider Review

Insider by Oink Games is a brilliant, social deduction, party game for 4-8 players. Imagine, if you will, the gaming love child of The Chameleon and 20 Questions and you've got an idea of where Insider falls on the gaming spectrum.

Playing Insider

Beautifully simple, quick to learn and play, and so much fun. Players are dealt a hidden role card and one is placed face-down in the centre of the table. There are three key roles you can be given:

• One player will be the master. They will know what the word is that everyone must guess.
• One player could be the insider. They're able to look at the word in secret.
• The remaining player will be commoners who will not know the hidden word. They must work out what the word is by asking yes/no questions to the master.

So, in any one game, players will play one of the roles. However, the insider could be the card that is face-down on the table.

Play starts with the master telling all players to close their eyes. They turn over the top card revealing a list of six words. The card now on the top of the pile has a number on the back. This corresponds to the number of the word the commoners will be guessing.

The master closes their eyes and asks the insider to open their eyes. Then, they'll ask the insider to close their eyes, and return the card. The master then asks everyone to open their eyes. At this point, the hourglass is turned, and questioning starts.

• Is it larger than a house?
• Living?
• Fun?

The team must work together to guess the word. Making sure they only ask yes or no questions.

So, what's the job of the insider? They must help the team get to the word but remain undetected. After a successful round, where the team have managed to guess the word within the time limit, players then have the same time allowance to discuss their thoughts on who is playing the inside. They dissect the questions and work out who carefully and quietly, leading the team to the answer.

The insider must be super crafty. They need to point the finger of blame carefully elsewhere. Alternatively, they must convince the team there is no insider in this game and that the card is on the table.

Once the team are happy, they vote. If the team unmask the insider, the master and commoners win. Should the insider remain hidden, they win. If the team were not able to guess the word, you all lose.

Final Thoughts on Insider

Insider is a simple, portable, quick, and fun game. It's guaranteed to get a group talking, laughing and create trust issues all over the place! If you enjoy social deduction games or love party style games, Insider is a no brainer! This suits gaming groups that are good at bluffing and enjoy the wind up and finger pointing associated with this type of game.