Donner Dinner Party might just be the Rodney Dangerfield of party social deduction games...it doesn’t get the respect that it deserves.
First off...we play a lot of social deduction games. We have a big family and groups of friends of varying ages and depth of hardcore gaminess...or hardcore-ness. Most of us are introverts that somehow love the interaction and role playing of these games.
For several of our groups...Donner Dinner Party is the favorite game.
Donner Dinner Party has quick setup and simple rules.
Everyone gets a secret role card: Pioneer or cannibal.
Everyone gets a secret equipment card that can be very useful in certain circumstances.
That’s it. Then play starts:
That turn’s Camp Leader draws a Hunting card and places it face down.
All other players are dealt 3 Hunting cards. Each selects one Hunting card and places it face down in front of them.
The Camp Leader may privately inspect one other player’s Hunting card but can’t show it to anyone but the Camp Leader can discuss it.
The Camp Leader collects all of the contributed Hunting cards including their own and shuffle them. Then they turn the Hunting cards face up and see if there is enough to eat. Squirrels, Fish, Poison, Medicine and Nothing are valid Hunting cards. If there is enough food for each living player to eat (and not be poisoned) then the round is over.
If there is a lack of food then the Players discuss and vote to see who will be dinner.
The Pioneers win if all of the Cannibals have been eaten.
Cannibals win if at the end of any round the number of Cannibals equals or is bigger than the number of Pioneers.
Several really cool things about Donner Dinner Party:
Some rounds you don’t have to vote because there is enough food.
The game is really well balanced.
Simpler to play than many party games such as Werewolf.
Artwork and card quality is high.
Whoever thought that Cannibals could be this much fun!
Don’t be put off by the Cannibal theme...this is not a gross game.
The Good: The play mat is a camp with tokens of the remaining living players sitting around the campfire...and the round marker is a frying pan!
The Bad: Plays best with seven or more people.
The Dastardly: I put in a squirrel.