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Hoax box art
1981 Ranked #12,704

Hoax

Hidden-identity deduction game has players bluff as characters, use apparent powers, gather goods, and buy clues about rivals. A majority accusation can win the game or eliminate the accusers, making every claim dangerous.

Party Games Bluffing Fantasy Deduction Hidden Roles

Players

3-12

Play time

Not listed

Age

10+

Complexity

1.35/5

Rating

5.94

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.4/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

The basic idea in Hoax is to pretend to be somebody you are not while working towards the goal of figuring out who other people are.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

The basic idea in Hoax is to pretend to be somebody you are not while working towards the goal of figuring out who other people are. Each player is assigned one of six different characters -- each with its own unique abilities -- but can pretend to be any character and use its corresponding powers. Abilities are used to acquire 3 different types of goods, which can be spent to get clues to opponents' identities. If the majority of the other players think you're pretending to be a character that you're not, you must either admit that you are not that character (and permanently lose the use of its power), or reveal that you are and win the game. Re-implemented as: Die Erben von Hoax

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Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
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Player resources

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
3–12
Best with
4–8
Play time
45 min
Age
10+
Complexity
1.4/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

4
Bill Eberle Edward Horn, Jr. Jack Kittredge Peter Olotka

Artists

1
Linda Bound

Publishers

2
Eon Hexagames (I)