How to Play Unmask the Death Eaters: Rules, Roles, Tips

Unmask the Death Eaters is a hidden-traitor card game for 4 to 8 players from The Op, the publisher of Hogwarts Battle. Everyone at the table claims to work for the Order of the Phoenix. At least one player is lying. Together you go on missions and fight giants, Dementors and Inferi, and at the end one elected player has to name every Death Eater at the table.

Harry Potter: Unmask the Death EatersHidden roles, 4 to 8 players

4 to 8 players
About 60 min
Ages 11+

4 to 8Players

11+Age

60Minutes

1 to 3Death Eaters

One game in four parts

From the first mission to the Moment of Truth

Each failed mission or battle moves the Snake one step closer to the end.

1 The Beginning

Succeed at missions and defeat a Giant and a Dementor.

2 A Shift in Loyalties

Everyone gets a second Loyalty card. Some Order members may turn.

3 Second Wizarding War

Defeat a Dementor and the Inferi, and find the Revelio spell.

4 Moment of Truth

Elect a Final Leader, who names the Death Eaters.

The Order wins only if every Death Eater is named at the end. The Death Eaters win if even one of them slips through. There are no points: the whole game builds towards that one vote.

What is in the box

Board and SnakeThe Threat Track runs along the top, the spaces for defeated creatures and spells along the bottom.

8 wandsOne per player. The current Leader turns theirs face up.

8 Role cardsFour Locations, two cards each, with two Leader abilities on every card.

100 Wizarding World cardsItems worth 0 to 3 dice, mixed with curses.

32 Encounter cardsThe missions. Cards marked 6+ are only used with 6 or more players.

16 Loyalty cardsOrder of the Phoenix or Death Eater, split into a deck for each phase.

11 tokens, 2 spell cardsDark Creatures and spells, face down, one pile per phase. Expelliarmus! and Revelio! cards.

6 dice, 4 reference cardsStandard dice, and a turn summary for the table.

Setup

Sort the Role cards into four stacks by Location. Each player takes a Role from a stack that still has the most cards, so the Locations stay evenly spread.
Put the board in the middle and the Snake on the Start space of the Threat Track.
With 4 or 5 players, take out every Encounter card marked 6+. With 6 to 8 players, use all 32. Shuffle them face down.
Everyone takes a wand and lays it face down.
Shuffle the Wizarding World deck and deal 5 cards to each player. Never show your hand.
Shuffle the Beginning tokens and the Second Wizarding War tokens face down in two separate piles. Put the Expelliarmus! and Revelio! cards nearby.
Everyone rolls two dice. The highest roller is the first Leader and turns their wand face up.
The Leader builds both Loyalty decks from the table below, deals one Phase 1 card face down to each player and sets the Phase 2 deck aside. Look at your card in secret.

Players	Phase 1: Order	Phase 1: Death Eaters	Phase 2: Order	Phase 2: Death Eaters
4	3	1	3	1
5	4	1	4	1
6	5	1	5	1
7	6	1	5	2
8	7	1	6	2

A Leader turn, step by step

Players take turns as Leader, going clockwise. Every turn follows the same steps.

Reveal an Encounter. It names a goal, a group size and the Locations the group must include.
Gather a group. The Leader always counts as a member and has to meet the Location requirements if possible. The rest of the group is free choice.
Hand in cards. Every member, Leader included, gives the Leader one card face down. These cards form the Encounter Pool.
Shuffle and check. The Leader shuffles the pool out of sight and looks at it. Every curse must be revealed and dealt with at once.
Swap one card, if you like. The Leader may throw one pool card away face down and add the top card of the deck without looking at it.
Reveal and check the goal. Some missions count card values, some look for a named item, some turn the values into dice. You never roll more than 6 dice.
Success or failure. On a success the Leader flips a token of the current phase. On a failure the Snake moves one space.

After the mission everyone refills to 5 cards, players who stayed out may swap one card, and the wand passes to the left.

How much can you say?

Before the game, agree on one of three table-talk levels. In every level you may argue about who the Death Eaters are between missions.

The Basics

Say only whether you want to join. Nothing about your hand. Good for a first game, because nobody has to lie.

The Essentials

You may say "I can help" or "I can't help", but never name cards or values.

The Works

Say anything, true or false, down to exact cards. The most bluffing, and the most fun once everyone knows the game.

The four roles

Your Role card shows your Location and two abilities. Only the Leader uses an ability, and only one of the two per turn. Locations also matter for the group: many missions demand a player from a certain Location, so sometimes you have to take a suspect along.

Hogwarts AlumniLocation

Every group member draws a sixth card after the Encounter is revealed.

Or: flip one die over.

Ministry of Magic EmployeeLocation

When swapping a card, discard one and draw two.

Or: reroll one die.

Diagon Alley ShopkeeperLocation

When swapping a card, look at the top three, take one and put the others back in order.

Or: reroll all the dice.

Hogsmeade ResidentLocation

Let one player hand in two cards during an Encounter or Battle.

Or: add 1 to or take 1 from one die.

Items, curses and spells

Most Wizarding World cards are items worth 0 to 3 dice, for example Floo Powder (0), Crystal Ball (1), Butterbeer (1), Essence of Dittany (2) and Veritaserum (3). Mixed in are curses. When the Leader finds a curse in the pool, it has to be revealed and resolved. If nobody can meet its demand, the mission fails.

Avada Kedavra!No defence. The mission or Battle fails.

Obliviate!The Leader must discard a card worth exactly 1 die from their own hand.

Impedimenta!The Leader must discard cards worth at least 2 dice from their own hand.

Gemino!Someone in the group must discard two cards with the same name.

Two spells can be won from tokens. Expelliarmus! is discarded to skip a player's turn or to keep a player out of a group. Revelio! is saved for the end: its holder secretly looks at other players' Loyalty cards.

Battles with Dark Creatures

When a successful mission turns up a Dark Creature token, the same group fights it straight away. Everyone hands in one card, curses are resolved, the Leader may swap one card, and the total value of the cards becomes your dice, up to 6. You may keep any dice between rolls.

Giant3 rolls to get three of a kind.

Dementor2 rolls to get three of a kind.

Inferi3 rolls to get four of a kind.

Win, and the token fills its space on the board. Lose, and it goes back face down into its pile and the Snake moves. A creature whose space is already filled is simply discarded.

The Snake and the Threat Track

Every failed mission or Battle moves the Snake one space, but never more than one per turn. How far it gets decides how much the Revelio spell shows at the end.

Early spaces

Revelio lets its holder look at 2 Loyalty cards.

Middle spaces

Revelio shows only 1. One space here also stops everyone from refilling their hand for one mission.

Last space

The Moment of Truth: play stops at once and Revelio shows nothing.

A Shift in Loyalties

As soon as the second creature of The Beginning is defeated, the Leader deals every player one card from the Phase 2 Loyalty deck. Look at both cards and secretly hand one back.

You were	You are dealt	You keep
Order of the Phoenix	Order of the Phoenix	Order: nothing changes
Death Eater	anything	Death Eater: a Death Eater never turns good
Order of the Phoenix	Death Eater	Death Eater: you must switch sides

The returned cards go into the box unseen, so after the Shift nobody knows how many Death Eaters there are.

How the game ends

Play stops when the last space of the Second Wizarding War is filled or the Snake reaches the end of the track.

The Revelio holder secretly looks at 2, 1 or 0 Loyalty cards, depending on the Snake. They can tell the truth, lie or stay quiet.
The Leader of the last mission nominates another player as Final Leader. Everyone votes at once with thumbs up or down. A tie counts as no, and the next player to the left nominates someone new.
The Final Leader listens to the table and alone picks the names, never their own.
Everyone reveals their Loyalty card, one at a time.

Players	Names to submit	Perfect Order victory	Partial Order victory	Death Eaters win
4, 5 or 6	1 or 2	All Death Eaters and nobody else	The only Death Eater plus one Order member	Any Death Eater is not named
7 or 8	2 or 3	All Death Eaters and nobody else	Both Death Eaters plus one Order member	Any Death Eater is not named

Tips for both sides

Order of the Phoenix

Note who was in every failed mission and who promised what.
Keep the Snake low: early failures cost you a Revelio peek, not just time.
Use Expelliarmus to keep your top suspect out of a key mission.
Save high cards for Battles, but remember the 6-dice limit in big groups.

Death Eaters

Play loyal for as long as you can. The final vote is all that counts.
Curses are risky because they point at the group. As Leader, quietly swapping away a good card is safer.
Blame the player who promised a card that "never showed up".
After the Shift you may have a new partner, but you will not know who.

A tip from players with children: let everyone act surprised when they look at their Loyalty card, so nobody gives themselves away with a grin. Sleeve the cards, too. A bent corner on a Loyalty card can expose a Death Eater.

Rules questions

What are the wands for?

They show who is Leader. The Leader's wand is face up, everyone else's face down. At the end the Final Leader turns theirs face up too.

Can a Death Eater Leader skip dice rolls on purpose?

No. The Leader rolls for the group and has to take every roll the mission allows. They do not have to use a Role ability to help, though.

Two curses come up and we can't resolve either. Does the Snake move twice?

No. You can only fail once per turn, so the Snake moves one space.

Expelliarmus kept out the only player from a required Location. What now?

Play the mission with as many players as you can. The Leader loses the card swap that turn. You may never ignore a requirement on purpose.

Our cards add up to 7 dice. Can we roll 7?

No, never more than 6 dice. Missions that only count card values, without a roll, use the full total.

What if the swapped-in card is a curse?

It shows up when the cards are revealed and has to be resolved at once, or the mission fails.

We beat a creature whose space is already full. Does it count?

No. Discard the token.

Can a Death Eater become loyal at the Shift?

No. A Death Eater always keeps the Death Eater card. Only Order members can change sides, and they must if they are dealt a Death Eater card.

Does everyone see what Revelio shows?

No. The player looks in secret and may share the truth, lie or say nothing.

Can the Final Leader name themselves?

No. That is why the group should elect the player it trusts most.

Can you play with 2 or 3 players?

Not officially. The game is made for 4 to 8 players.

Is it worth buying?

Unmask the Death Eaters is a re-themed version of The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31, the same publisher's horror game, without that game's map. That makes it shorter and easier to teach. The theme fits the idea of hidden loyalties well, and the Location rule creates good moments when you have to take a suspect along.

Good

Simple rhythm of missions and battles, quick to teach
Location requirements force hard choices about whom to trust
Revelio and Expelliarmus add real tension
Works for families with older children

Not so good

Thin cards with square corners: sleeves recommended
Little card variety, mostly items worth 1 die
Hobby players may prefer the deeper The Thing
Like every bluffing game, it depends on the group

Get it if you have 6 to 8 Harry Potter fans who enjoy bluffing. With four players there is less to deduce. If nobody in your group likes accusing friends, pick a cooperative game such as Hogwarts Battle instead.