The 14 Best Board Games Like Saboteur Card Game
You’re always having a blast playing Saboteur?
And now you’re looking for other games similar to Saboteur to keep things interesting?
Well, I’ve selected for you the 14 best board games like Saboteur that you’ll absolutely love!
Table of contents
- Best Board Games Similar to Saboteur – Comparison Table
- What Board Games Are Like Saboteur?
- What Makes a Game Similar to Saboteur?
- Saboteur: The Duel
- Saboteur: The Lost Mines
- The Resistance: Avalon
- Room 25
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf
- Good Cop Bad Cop
- Leaders of Euphoria: Choose a Better Oppressor
- Secret Hitler
- Panic Station
- A Fake Artist Goes to New York
- Even More Games Like Saboteur
- Spyfall
- Mascarade
- Deception Murders in Hong Kong
- Bang! The Dice Game
Best Board Games Similar to Saboteur – Comparison Table
Not sure The Resistance: Avalon is the perfect pick after Saboteur?
Then have a look at the 3 suggestions below.
What Board Games Are Like Saboteur?
Looking for the full list of the very best board games like Saboteur Card Game?
Then please find below the full selection of 14 games similar to Saboteur.
👥 For 2 players: Saboteur: The Duel
📈 Step up: Saboteur: The Lost Mines
🥇 Best overall: The Resistance: Avalon
🎭 Best immersion: Room 25
⚡️ Fastest: One Night Ultimate Werewolf
5️⃣ For 5 players: Good Cop Bad Cop
🧠 For strategy: Leaders of Euphoria: Choose a Better Oppressor
💬 For most discussions: Secret Hitler
⚙️ Most complex: Panic Station
🎨 For creatives: A Fake Artist Goes to New York
🎬 For stories: Spyfall
😎 For bluffing: Mascarade
🔎 For investigation: Deception Murders in Hong Kong
🎲 For dice lovers: Bang! The Dice Game
You can’t go wrong with any of these if you like Saboteur; now which one you’ll end up choosing will depend on your personal preferences.
What Makes a Game Similar to Saboteur?
So, how did I make this list? How did I select the games that are the most similar to Saboteur, so you can have the same experience when playing them?
Ultimately, I identified 4 main elements that were key to the gameplay of Saboteur:
- hidden traitor: that’s the main gameplay element of Saboteur, the hidden traitor mechanic. There’s a traitor in the group, but no one except the traitor knows who it is, and you have to find out to win the game
- supports many players: just like Saboteur can be played by 10 players, I looked for games that can be played by a good amount of gamers
- fast-paced: a game of Saboteur takes around 30 minutes, so I selected games in that same duration range
- easy to learn: Saboteur is so easy to learn, and easy to play, which is the last element I looked for
So there you have them, the 4 key elements that make a game similar to Saboteur! If you love Saboteur for these reasons, then you’ll definitely love the games below.
Saboteur: The Duel
The first game on this list is very, very similar to Saboteur. In fact, it’s the 2 players version of the Saboteur board game.
To be honest, it doesn’t meet 2 of the 4 factors listed above:
- it doesn’t support many players, as it’s purely a 2 players game
- there’s no hidden traitor: you’re only 2 players, fighting each other
However it is so inherently similar to Saboteur that I just had to include it in this list.
If you love the gameplay of building a tunnel to find gold while sabotaging other players, and want to play it 1 vs 1, then Saboteur: The Duel is a great follow-up for you!
Saboteur: The Lost Mines
We continue this list with another spin off of the original Saboteur game, Saboteur: The Lost Mines.
Unlike the original, which is played only with cards, this version is played on a physical board. Players are split in 2 teams, but each team contains 3 roles: loyal dwarves, selfish dwarves, and a saboteur. And of course the roles are hidden 😉
It takes a bit longer to play than the original, and it’s also a bit more complex. This version introduces a physical board, moving your own Saboteur on the board, trolls and even a dragon!
It’s a good step up to the original game, and similar enough to keep the same fun.
The Resistance: Avalon
Ok now we finally start looking at board games out of the Saboteur series!
The Resistance: Avalon is the first on this list, and it’s a classic among the classics, listed in the best 200 board games of all time, and ranked #12 as a party game.
Just like Saboteur, it’s fast-paced and very easy to play. Servants of the King Arthur will try to complete missions but the Minions of Mordred, the hidden traitors who all know who the other traitors are, will attempt to cause mission failure.
The game is played over 5 quests, and Arthur’s servants will win if they can manage to complete 3 out of 5 quests.
6 special character cards will spice up your game for repeat plays, as you deduct, lie and accuse to win the game.
Due to the amount of fast-paced fun, accessible to everyone, the only reason to pass on The Resistance: Avalon would be if your gaming group is too small.
Room 25
I discovered this game in a Parisian board game café and ended up playing it with 4 friends all afternoon long.
In Room 25, you are all trapped in a futuristic prison made of multiple rooms and you’re trying to find the Room 25, the exit. But hidden among you are traitors, prison guards in disguise, that will wait for the right moment to strike!
The game is played by exploring a board to reveal rooms that are initially face down, and moving your character along the rooms. But you have to program your moves at the start of the turn, and watch them unfold.
There’s something very satisfying in watching someone moving in the same room as you, feeling safe, only for you to push them in the next room full of lava!
It has 5 different playing modes, including a solo mode, but the suspicion mode with hidden traitor is 100% the best one. If you can get your hands on a copy, go for it!
Room 25 is the original game, and I recommend grabbing the Room 25: Season 2 expansion for the best experience. The Room 25 Ultimate includes the expansion.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
I bet you’ve already heard of the game Werewolf, or even played it in some version with friends.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf is the new, streamlined version released in 2014, and it’s hands down the best way to play Werewolf for me.
Priced under $20, this party game packs a huge fun to cost ratio. If your friends & family loved Saboteur, you can’t really go wrong with this one.
Good Cop Bad Cop
Good Cop Bad Cop is pretty much as the name explains, a game where 2 teams are facing each other, made of law enforcement officers upholding the laws, and the crooked ones.
And of course, you don’t know who’s on your team! You have to investigate to figure out who is who, then grab one of the guns from the table and shoot them down. First team to eliminate the opposing leader wins the game.
Equipment cards come to bring chaos and randomness in the game, which makes it more luck-dependent than other games on this list. But it also makes it so that everyone will impact the game, unlike other games where 2 or 3 vocal players will dominate.
Overall, Good Cop Bad Cop is a nice hidden role game that plays very fast (15mn), takes at most 3mn to understand the rules and start playing, and is very accessible.
It plays best at 5, so if that’s the size of your usual gaming group, you won’t regret getting it, especially given the cheap price.
Leaders of Euphoria: Choose a Better Oppressor
Our next game is literally a 2nd version of Good Cop Bad Cop.
Released 3 years after the first title, Leaders of Euphoria: Choose a Better Oppressor takes the same original gameplay, set in a different theme, and adds game elements to enrich the game.
The main differences are:
- no more direct elimination: when you’re shot down, you become part of a new 3rd team, with a new victory condition
- more strategic weapons: using weapons means you have to reveal one of your cards, which makes for more strategic gameplay
If Good Cop Bad Cop sounded like a good game but maybe too light, then you’ll love this one. It also plays much more nicely at high player counts than its first version.
Secret Hitler
It’s the 1930s in Germany, just before World War II. Fascists are working to pass fascists laws and install Hitler as a chancellor, while liberals try to prevent this from happening.
If playing as fascists or even as Hitler would offend you, skip this game. However it this sounds interesting, read on.
Roles are set at the start of the game, then everyone closes their eyes. Fascists open theirs, and Hitler keeps his eyes closed but put a thumbs up. Effectively, fascists know who they are and who Hitler is, while Hitler and Liberals have no idea and need to figure it out.
Each turn, players elect a President and a Chancellor, that will choose which law to pass from a random deck. The liberals win if they pass 5 liberal laws or assassinate Hitler, while the fascists win if they pass 5 fascist laws, or elect Hitler chancellor after 3 fascist laws have been passed.
The game is tons of fun, the theme is really immersive, and production value is top-notch.
That being said, Secret Hitler feels very similar to The Resistance: Avalon.
If you want a faster game, based 100% on deducation, go with The Resistance. If you don’t mind playing a bit longer, and like to spice things up with randomness, get Secret Hitler.
Panic Station
Panic Station is a cooperative game set in outer space. You’re part of the Extermination Corps, and you’ve been sent on a mission to find the Parasite Hive hidden aboard the station and destroy it with fire.
But here’s the twist: one of you has been infected by the alien, and tries to contaminates as many players to become traitors too, to stop the humans from destroying the Hive.
Panic Station is tons of fun and really immersive. Paranoia really creeps in as the game goes on, with more and more infected players, and you begin to doubt absolutely everyone.
A longer & more complex game than the other on this list, but absolutely worth it for the immersive experience it creates.
A Fake Artist Goes to New York
And finally the last pick of these 10 best board games like Saboteur.
I had a hard time choosing which game to put on this spot, but I just had to select A Fake Artist Goes to New York because it is so unique.
Each turn there’s a new Question Master that sets a category out loud, then write a selected word on cards. Everyone gets cards with words, except one player that gets a card with a “X”: the fake artist.
One after the other, players will draw the word on the shared board with one continued line. Once every player has drawn twice, they vote for who is the fake artist. If they don’t find out, the Question Master and the Fake Artist earn points. If they do, the real artists earn points.
Honestly, I have yet to have a single bad experience with this game.
Every time I bring it to the table, people get so interested, maybe a bit intimidated because of their “bad” drawing skills, but it always end up being an absolute blast and back-to-back game sessions.
Even More Games Like Saboteur
These were the 10 best games similar to Saboteur!
Still didn’t find the right one for you and your gaming group in the list above?
Ok, I have a few other ones that, even if they didn’t make the cut, might be interesting for you. Let’s see the list.
Spyfall
Mascarade
Deception Murders in Hong Kong
Bang! The Dice Game
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