The game Werewolves is a popular social deduction game in which players assume different roles and try to figure out who the werewolves are before they gain the majority. It provides an excellent opportunity to train skills focusing on critical thinking, problem-solving, cooperation and communication.

Skill focus

Primary Skill Focus

• Critical thinking

Complementary/Secondary Skill Focus

• Resilience
• Problem-solving
• Empathy
• Emotional awareness, regulation and communication 

Age group	Student number	Duration
8 + years old	Whole class: minimum 3 students -maximum 28 students	10-45 minutes

How to play – brief game rules

1. In a cursed village, nothing is what it seems… or rather, no one is what they seem! Are you a master of lies and deceit? No one can fool you. Then Werewolves is definitely a game for your class. Slip into one of twelve different roles and be on your guard: who is the treacherous werewolf? And who is the innocent villager? Unmask them quickly, because before you know it, your chance will be over!
2. At the start of the game, a narrator is chosen, the game leader. The Game Leader does not play and is responsible for keeping the game on track. This can be either the teacher or a student.
3. The game leader puts together a game based on the number of players and their experience with werewolves. To start the game, the leader hands each player a card. Each player then looks at their character card. This character card is secret, and you don’t show it to anyone!
4. The card shows your role. Are you a Civilian? Then try to unmask all the werewolves. Are you a Werewolf? Then try to eat all the civilians.
5. There are several scenarios you can play, good for hours of fun. It is an interactive game with a lot of suspense because: how much can you trust your friends.

Indoor: Can be played in the everyday setting of the classroom. Set up a desk of cards of a minimum with 3 different roleplaying cards. Ensure the (class-)room is quiet enough to allow focus and thoughtful discussion and explanations during gameplay. 

Outdoor: If played outside, choose a quiet corner of the playground where students can stay focused and avoid interference. A natural setting can encourage focus on the game and deeper individual reflection-based choices.

The game Werewolves is an excellent way to stimulate critical thinking. In this role-playing game, players must listen carefully, observe, reason and communicate strategically to find out who the werewolves are – or to hide their own role. The game challenges children to analyse information, form hypotheses and make decisions based on limited or unreliable data.

During the game, children learn to evaluate others’ statements: Does what that player is saying make sense? Does it match their behaviour? They also have to determine their own strategy: Do I tell the truth or mislead others? This promotes the ability to critically reflect on information and intentions. In addition, they learn to deal with uncertainty and assess risks, which is essential for critical thinking.

Important areas for development in critical thinking:

• Analysing information: children learn to assess the statements and behaviour of others. 
• Reasoning and hypothesising: who could be a werewolf and why? 
• Strategic communication: consciously considering what to say and what not to say. 
• Dealing with uncertainty: making decisions without complete information 
• Reflection and evaluation: after the game, thinking about what worked and what didn’t. 

By guiding the game with specific reflection questions such as ‘Why did you think that player was a werewolf?’ or ‘What could you have done differently?’, you help children further develop their critical thinking skills in a playful and social way.

• Develop critical and problem-solving thinking, empathy and decision-making skills.
• Learn to cooperate with others in various situations.
• Dealing with uncertainty and making strategic choices.
• Developing strategy to overcome challenges.
• Gaining insight into social dynamics and group interactions. 

Werewolves develops critical thinking skills as follows: 

• Communication

Clear and convincing communication is essential in Werewolves. Players must both listen to others and speak convincingly themselves to defend their own point of view or cast doubt on others. During the game, accusations are often made, and you need to be able to properly support your own arguments to convince others that you are right. This reinforces skills in debate, argumentation and public speaking.

• Critical and strategic thinking

Players must constantly analyse who might be a werewolf and why. They must think logically and evaluate suspicious behaviour or statements, while also seeing through deceptions and bluffs. This requires the ability to recognize patterns, test   assumptions and make strategic choices based on limited information. This encourages critical thinking and the ability to make decisions under pressure.

• Problem-solving ability

Werewolves offer a constantly changing scenario, in which players must constantly try to gather new information and solve problems, such as identifying the werewolves without eliminating too many innocent villagers. This helps players think solution-oriented and find creative ways to tackle complex problems.

• Decision-making

Making decisions is crucial in Werewolves. Whether it’s voting someone out of the game or choosing who you trust, every choice has consequences. It is important to decide quickly based on incomplete information, which promotes decision-making skills. In addition, players must defend their choices, which helps them develop assertiveness.

The game can be played as a short snack between lessons or as a full-fledged game out-door. Playing as a snack ensures that all children understand the game well when you eventually play it outside. 

1. Start in a short game as a snack with a limitation to different roles. So gradually expand the game after repeated play to all roles
2. Choose simple roles:

Limit the number of special roles. Novice players quickly get confused if there are too many roles. Start with:

• Werewolves
• Citizens
• Seer
• Witch (optional)
• Hunter (optional)

3. Use pictograms or cards with pictures to make the roles visually clear.
4. Narrator plays neutral role:

The narrator is like a ‘game leader’ or ‘storyteller’ and should speak calmly and clearly, with plenty of pauses. You (or a student) can take on that role.

5. Use a calm voice and possibly music or sounds to enhance the atmosphere.
6. Shorter rounds:

Limit the number of nights/days. Young children often have a shorter tension arc. Max. 15 minutes per game is ideal.

7. Dropouts stay involved:

Don’t let children who “drop out” stay in their seats in silence. Examples:

• They can form an audience and be ‘the judges’.
• Let them guess who they think the werewolves are.
• Or let them vote as a ghost (without affecting the game).

Practical example:

Simple basic game in group 1&2

Roles:

• 2 werewolves
• 1 seer
• all other students: civilians

Game flow:

• Narrator tells a short story: ‘Wakkerdam is a quiet village… until werewolves show up!’
• Night 1: Everyone closes their eyes. The werewolves choose a victim. Seer may appoint one person.
• Morning: Seer reveals who died, children deliberate and vote.
• Repeat until werewolves or civilians win.

Duration: approx. 10-15 minutes

Additional tips for school

• Use chairs in a circle – that way everyone has an overview.
• Work with hand gestures instead of talking during the night – less noise.
• Provide time for evaluation ‘What did you like?’ ‘What was exciting?’ ‘What would you do differently next time?’
• Use cards or bracelets – to keep roles secret but easy to remember?

The game is available in several versions (easy to difficult) from different manufacturers. Depending on the version and difficulty level, you will need the following materials:

• 3 to 16 role cards
• from the narrator (game leader) to the werewolf, to act as the seer or ‘the squeaky girl’

You can also find the game rules online for free at various sites with all the supplies (role cards, role tokens, etc.).

Questions are role- and phase-specific. Especially the game leader can steer the game towards the central skill critical thinking.

For example:

Night phase (Provide a mysterious, calm tone)

1. Seer

• Seer, wake up.’
• Who do you want to investigate this night?’
• (Answer yes/no to whether that person is a werewolf.)
• ‘Seer, close your eyes.’

2. Witch (if in the game)

• ‘Witch, wake up.’
• “The victim of the werewolves is…. Do you want to save him/her?”
• “Do you want to use your poison? On whom?”
• ‘Witch, close your eyes.’

3. Cupid (if in the game)

• ‘Cupid, open your eyes.’
• ‘Who do you bind with the arrow of love?’
• “Thank you, Cupid. Close your eyes.”

Day phase (Tone gets livelier)

1. Morning begins

• “The sun is rising over Wakkerdam…. Everyone wakes up.”
• ‘Unfortunately, [name] was attacked last night and died.’
• (If someone is out of the game: ‘Last words?’)

2. Discussion and voting

• ‘What do you guys think, who is suspicious?’
• ‘Who wants to say something?’
• ‘Have you noticed any suspicious behaviour?’
• ‘Who do you guys think is a werewolf?’
• “Time to vote. Who do you guys want to vote for?”

3. After voting

• By majority vote, [name] is banished from the village.’
• ‘Last words, [name]?’
• “Was he/she a werewolf…? We’ll find out in a moment…”

General critical thinking guiding questions to steer the game

• ‘Who was remarkably quiet or, on the contrary, loud?’
• ‘Who tries to divert attention from themselves?’
• ‘Who always votes with the majority?’
• ‘What if the werewolves are among your best friends?

Tips for all players

• Listen carefully to each other!

This is one of the most important aspects of the game, but also something most quickly underestimated/forgotten. All too often, players – unconsciously – give away information they can only know when they have a special role.

• Pay close attention during the night (phase)

Listen if you hear players suddenly fall silent when a role is called. Resp. see if you notice someone moving more when a role is called.

• Make the final observation.

Just before the day phase ends, make a good comment. For example, I think we should hang X… or I don’t think we should look for suspicion in this or that one…. Chances are that players will (unconsciously) take this into account when casting their votes and follow you in your ‘suggestion’. But beware: if the group (re)knows this trick, it soon works against you again 🙂

• Watch each other closely during the day phase.

Also pay close attention to how players behave during the day. Does a player suddenly play differently (quieter, or more present) than in previous rounds? Then that player might just have a different/special role!

• From those killed at night the most can be learned.

A lot can be learned from who is killed at night. After all, who gets hanged during the day can still be fairly random, but those killed at night are usually with clear intentions and reasons. Take advantage of that!

• Voting says more than you think.

When casting (daytime) votes, pay close attention to who is voting for whom. For example, Werewolves will usually not vote for each other.

And if, for example, a player A has already nominated player B twice in a row, and player A is killed at night, this could well indicate an action by the Werewolves (resp. player B) to keep someone quiet who was on the right track! 

Tips for (novice) Werewolves

• Take One For The Team

As Werewolves, you always win the game as a group, regardless of whether or not you (as wolf) are dead at the end. So, it can (sometimes) be attractive to sacrifice yourself as a wolf, thus making other wolves less suspicious. The civilians often only have so many chances to guess correctly before they lose: if, with your sacrifice, you can take 1 or more off that, the Werewolf group wins in the end!

• Take One From The Team.

As a wolf, also dare to take votes against a fellow wolf. That is: if you can’t reasonably divert any more attention towards someone else, of course. Always sparing your fellow wolves is incredibly conspicuous. And riding along increases the trust others have in you, because after all, you did vote along. Sometimes you have to sacrifice 1 wolf in order for the group to survive (see previous tip).

• Divide and conquer.

If two citizens accuse each other of being Werewolves during the day, you can choose to kill one of them at night. Chances are this will cause the other to be seen as a wolf, and get the game worked out!

• Don’t be too eager.

As Werewolves, when the daytime votes go in the wrong direction for civilians, don’t jump on top of them a masse. As nice as it is to see this happen as a wolf: it quickly gets noticed! And if you are later unmasked as a wolf, it becomes a lot easier for the citizens to figure out who else is werewolf then.

Beginners (6-7 years old): At the beginner level, critical thinking focuses on evaluating basic information and making simple inferences. Players use the simplest roles (civilian, werewolf, seer) so they can easily track who says what and how they behave. The teacher or a more experienced player can guide attention with questions such as, “Why do you think that player is a werewolf?” or “What did you notice about their behaviour?” This helps children practice making basic observations, comparing information, and drawing simple conclusions.

Advanced learners (8-9 years old): At the advanced level, critical thinking appears in more complex situations and faster decision-making. Players encounter additional roles (e.g., witch, hunter) and more complex dynamics, requiring analysis of multiple pieces of information and logical reasoning. They must consciously decide when to tell the truth and when to mislead others, while continuously evaluating the statements and behaviour of their peers.

Experts (9–10 years old): At the expert level, critical thinking emerges as complex strategic planning and flexible, real-time evaluation. Players use combinations of advanced roles (e.g., jester, custom house rules), think several steps ahead, and adjust their strategies continuously based on the unfolding game. They independently analyse situations, draw conclusions, and plan their communication deliberately, while managing uncertainty and unexpected twists.

• Analysis of choices: What arguments did you and others use to determine who the werewolves might be? Were these convincing? Why or why not?
• Reflection on assumptions: Did you make assumptions about others during the game? Which ones were they, and did they turn out to be correct or incorrect?
• Evaluation of information: How did you deal with conflicting information or deception? How did you determine what was true?
• Learning from mistakes: Which moments in the game would you have wanted to handle differently afterwards? What would you do differently next time?
• Logical reasoning: How logical did you find the reasoning of others? How did this influence your own thinking?