Last Updated on July 16, 2026 by The Official Game Rules Team

Secret Hitler is a tense social deduction game. Players are secretly Liberals or Fascists, the latter trying to elect Hitler. Each round involves enacting a law, but hidden Fascists manipulate the process. Expect accusations and betrayals as players deduce who’s who. Can Liberals unmask Hitler, or will Fascists seize power?

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How to Play Secret Hitler

Introduction

Secret Hitler is a social deduction game for 5-10 players set in Germany during the early 1930s. Every player secretly belongs to either the Liberal or Fascist team, while one Fascist is secretly Hitler. Throughout the game, players form governments, pass policies, investigate one another, and try to determine who can be trusted.

Liberals win by passing enough Liberal policies or assassinating Hitler before it’s too late. Fascists win by passing enough Fascist policies or successfully electing Hitler as Chancellor after the Fascist movement has gained enough power. Since players are free to lie, bluff, and manipulate others, every discussion becomes just as important as the cards themselves.

Secret Hitler Components

The game includes:

17 Policy tiles (6 Liberal and 11 Fascist)
Secret Role cards
Party Membership cards
Ja! and Nein voting cards
President and Chancellor placards
Election Tracker
Liberal and Fascist policy boards
Draw and discard pile cards

Each player also receives an envelope containing their secret role, party membership, and voting cards.

Secret Hitler Setup

Before starting, choose the correct Fascist board for your player count and place it beside the Liberal policy board. Shuffle all Liberal and Fascist Policy tiles together to create a single face-down draw deck.

Prepare one envelope for every player containing:

One Secret Role card
One matching Party Membership card
One Ja! voting card
One Nein voting card

The number of Liberals, Fascists, and Hitler changes depending on how many people are playing, so use the player count guide included with the game.

Once every player has received an envelope, everyone secretly looks at their role card.

Secret Role Reveal

The opening information depends on player count.

For 5-6 players:

Everyone closes their eyes.
Hitler and the Fascists open their eyes and identify one another.
Everyone closes their eyes again before beginning.

In smaller games, Hitler knows who the Fascists are.

For 7-10 players:

Everyone closes their eyes.
Fascists (excluding Hitler) open their eyes.
Hitler keeps their eyes closed but gives a thumbs-up.
Fascists identify Hitler before everyone closes their eyes again.

In larger games, Hitler does not know who the Fascists are, making it much harder to coordinate.

Randomly choose the first President before starting the first round.

How to Win Secret Hitler

The two teams have different victory conditions.

Liberals win if:

Five Liberal Policies are enacted.
Hitler is executed.

Fascists win if:

Six Fascist Policies are enacted.
Hitler is successfully elected Chancellor after three Fascist Policies have already been passed.

Because of these alternate victory conditions, every election becomes increasingly dangerous as more Fascist policies enter play.

Game Structure

Every round follows the same three phases:

Election
Legislative Session
Executive Action (only after certain Fascist policies)

The game repeats these phases until one team wins.

Election Phase

Every round begins with an election to choose a new government. Players will nominate a President and Chancellor before voting on whether that government should take office. Since players don’t know who they can trust, every nomination and vote provides valuable information that can help reveal hidden Liberals and Fascists.

Step 1: Pass the Presidency

The President placard moves clockwise to the next player at the start of every round. That player becomes the Presidential Candidate and is responsible for selecting a Chancellor nominee.

Unlike the Chancellor position, there are no restrictions on becoming President. Every player will eventually receive a turn unless a Special Election changes the order.

Step 2: Nominate a Chancellor

The Presidential Candidate selects one eligible player to become Chancellor by giving them the Chancellor placard. Players are encouraged to discuss the nomination before a vote takes place, making arguments for or against certain candidates based on previous rounds.

Normally, the previous President and previous Chancellor cannot immediately serve as Chancellor again. This prevents the same government from remaining in power indefinitely.

When only five players remain in the game, the rules become slightly different. In this case, only the previous Chancellor is ineligible to be nominated again, while the previous President may immediately return as Chancellor.

Step 3: Vote on the Government

Once discussion is finished, every player—including the President and Chancellor nominees—casts either a Ja! or Nein vote. All votes are revealed simultaneously.

If the Government Is Approved

If a majority votes Ja!, the nominated players officially become President and Chancellor and immediately begin the Legislative Session.

However, if three or more Fascist Policies have already been enacted, players must first determine whether the newly elected Chancellor is Hitler.

If the Chancellor is Hitler, the game immediately ends in a Fascist victory.
If the Chancellor is not Hitler, play continues normally, and everyone now knows that player cannot be Hitler.

This creates enormous tension in the second half of the game, since electing the wrong Chancellor can instantly end the game.

If the Government Is Rejected

If the vote is tied or a majority votes Nein, the proposed government fails.

The Presidency simply passes clockwise to the next player, who will nominate a different Chancellor. The Election Tracker also advances one space.

The Election Tracker

The Election Tracker represents growing political instability.

Each time a proposed government fails to receive enough votes, the tracker advances by one. If three governments fail in a row, the country falls into chaos.

When this happens:

Reveal the top Policy tile from the deck.
Enact it immediately.
Ignore any Presidential Power printed on that space.
Reset the Election Tracker to zero.
Remove all Chancellor term limits for the next election.

This mechanic prevents players from endlessly rejecting governments and ensures the game always continues moving forward.

The Election Tracker also resets whenever any Policy tile is successfully enacted, whether by an elected government or through political chaos.

Choosing Governments Wisely

Every election provides clues about players’ loyalties. Liberals often analyze voting patterns to identify suspicious alliances, while Fascists may support or oppose governments to create confusion. Because discussions and voting records become increasingly important as the game progresses, paying attention to who consistently supports certain players can be just as valuable as watching which policies are enacted.

At the halfway point of the game, every Chancellor nomination becomes especially risky because electing Hitler after the third Fascist Policy immediately gives the Fascists the win. Choosing trustworthy governments becomes one of the Liberals’ most important objectives.

Legislative Session

Once a government has been successfully elected, the President and Chancellor work together to pass one new Policy. This phase is carried out entirely in secret, meaning only the President and Chancellor know which Policy tiles were available. Because of this, both players are free to tell the truth—or lie—to the rest of the table afterward.

Drawing and Passing Policy Tiles

The President begins the Legislative Session by drawing the top three Policy tiles from the Policy deck and examining them privately. The President must choose one tile to discard face down without revealing it to anyone.

The remaining two Policy tiles are then passed to the Chancellor at the same time. The Chancellor secretly chooses one tile to discard and places the other face up on the appropriate Liberal or Fascist policy track.

Once a Policy has been enacted, the Legislative Session is complete.

Communication Restrictions

During the Legislative Session, the President and Chancellor may not communicate about the Policy tiles in any way. They cannot hint, gesture, react, or otherwise signal which cards they received.

Players also may not:

Shuffle the Policy tiles before making a choice.
Randomly select which tile to discard.
Pass the tiles one at a time to gauge reactions.
Use any method intended to hide or avoid making a deliberate decision.

Both players are expected to intentionally choose which Policy to discard while keeping their decisions secret from everyone else.

Can Players Lie?

Yes. One of Secret Hitler’s defining mechanics is that players are allowed to lie about hidden information.

After a Policy is enacted, both the President and Chancellor may claim they received different cards than they actually did. Other players must decide whether to believe them.

For example, the President may claim they drew two Fascist Policies and one Liberal Policy, while the Chancellor insists they were handed two Fascist Policies. Since the discarded cards are never revealed, the rest of the table must determine who is lying—or whether the Policy deck simply produced an unfortunate draw.

The only time players are not allowed to lie is during game-ending situations involving Hitler. If Hitler is elected Chancellor after three Fascist Policies or is executed, that player must truthfully reveal their identity.

Reshuffling the Policy Deck

Whenever fewer than three Policy tiles remain in the draw pile after a Legislative Session, shuffle the remaining draw pile together with the discard pile to create a new Policy deck.

Discarded Policy tiles are never revealed during this process. Players should never know exactly which cards remain in the deck, preserving uncertainty throughout the game.

Moving to the Next Phase

After the Policy is enacted, determine whether the newly placed tile grants the President a special ability.

If a Liberal Policy is enacted, or the Fascist Policy space has no special power, the round ends immediately. Pass the President placard clockwise and begin a new Election Phase.
If the enacted Fascist Policy grants a Presidential Power, the current President must immediately perform that Executive Action before the next election can begin.

As more Fascist Policies are passed, Presidents gain increasingly powerful abilities that can dramatically change the course of the game. Investigating loyalties, forcing special elections, and executing players all become possible as Fascism gains influence.

Executive Actions

Whenever a Fascist Policy is enacted, check the Fascist policy board to see whether it unlocks a Presidential Power. If it does, the current President must use that power before the next Election Phase begins. These powers become stronger as more Fascist Policies are passed, making late-game decisions even more important.

The available powers depend on the number of players in the game, but every power is used only once when it is unlocked.

Investigate Loyalty

The President chooses one player who has not already been investigated during the game. That player privately hands over their Party Membership card, not their Secret Role card.

The President secretly learns whether the player belongs to the Liberal or Fascist party before returning the card. The President may tell the truth about what they discovered—or lie to mislead the rest of the table. Since Hitler’s Party Membership card also shows Fascist, this investigation cannot identify Hitler specifically.

Call a Special Election

The President chooses any other player to become the next Presidential Candidate, regardless of the normal clockwise order or term limits.

The chosen player immediately nominates a Chancellor, and the game proceeds with a normal election. Once that Special Election has finished, the regular presidential order resumes with the player who would normally have received the Presidency after the President who called the Special Election.

Policy Peek

The President secretly looks at the top three Policy tiles in the draw pile without changing their order. This provides valuable information about what policies are likely to appear during upcoming Legislative Sessions.

The President may share this information with the group, but since lying is allowed, other players must decide whether to believe them.

Execution

One of the most powerful abilities in Secret Hitler is the power to execute another player.

The President chooses any player at the table and formally eliminates them from the game. Executed players immediately reveal whether they were Hitler only if the game ends because of the execution. Otherwise, their political allegiance remains secret, and they may no longer speak, vote, or participate for the remainder of the game.

If the executed player is Hitler, the Liberals immediately win. If the executed player is not Hitler, the game continues normally.

Veto Power

Once the fifth Fascist Policy has been enacted, governments gain access to the Veto Power.

During future Legislative Sessions, after receiving two Policy tiles from the President, the Chancellor may propose a veto instead of choosing one to enact. If the President agrees, both remaining Policy tiles are discarded without passing either one.

Using a veto counts as a failed government and advances the Election Tracker by one space. If the President refuses the veto request, the Chancellor must choose one of the two Policy tiles to enact as normal.

The Veto Power gives both government officials one final opportunity to avoid passing an unwanted Fascist Policy, but using it too often risks triggering political chaos through the Election Tracker.

Strategy Tips

Although Secret Hitler is easy to learn, mastering it requires careful observation, logical deduction, and convincing deception.

Tips for Liberal Players

Liberals should pay close attention to voting patterns, government nominations, investigations, and policy results. Looking for consistent alliances is often more valuable than focusing on a single suspicious play. Open discussion usually benefits the Liberal team because sharing information makes it easier to identify contradictions and suspicious behavior.

Whenever a Fascist Policy is enacted, consider every possible explanation. Sometimes the President had no choice. Sometimes the Chancellor lied. Occasionally the Policy deck simply produced bad luck. Avoid making conclusions too quickly based on one round alone.

Tips for Fascist Players

Fascists succeed by blending in rather than acting openly suspicious. Voting with the majority, supporting reasonable governments, and occasionally helping pass Liberal Policies can build trust that becomes invaluable later in the game.

Hitler should be especially careful not to attract attention. Since the Fascists can instantly win if Hitler becomes Chancellor after three Fascist Policies have been enacted, appearing trustworthy is often far more important than aggressively advancing Fascist policies early in the game.

Frequently Forgotten Rules

New players commonly overlook several important rules:

Players may freely lie about hidden information, including which Policy tiles they received.
The previous elected President and Chancellor normally cannot immediately serve together again.
The Election Tracker advances every time a government fails to pass.
Three failed elections automatically enact the top Policy tile.
Hitler only wins by election after three Fascist Policies have already been enacted.
Investigations reveal Party Membership, not Secret Role.
Executed players immediately leave the game and may no longer participate.

Remembering these rules helps games run much more smoothly.

Conclusion

Secret Hitler combines hidden identities, deduction, negotiation, and bluffing into one of the most engaging social deduction games available. Every election forces players to balance trust against suspicion, while each Policy enacted changes the political landscape and unlocks powerful new abilities. Whether you’re trying to expose Hitler as a Liberal or quietly guide the Fascist agenda from the shadows, every conversation and every vote can change the outcome.

Once everyone understands the election process, legislative sessions, presidential powers, and victory conditions, Secret Hitler becomes a fast-paced game of strategy and deception that offers a different experience every time it reaches the table.