Hooded figures stand in dark green cloaks against a bright orange background as a man and a woman look suspicious and bemused in the foreground

Missing The Traitors? Here’s how you can play (and win) at home

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By Alastair Reid, Gerry Fletcher, and the Visual Journalism team 7 November 2026 News

Celebrity Traitors may be over, but if you’re still craving a little light lying, the same drama, bluffs and betrayal can be recreated at home.

The game has existed in living rooms and pubs around the world for decades and you don’t need a cast of stars or a spooky Scottish castle to get started - just a few household props and some willing participants.

For the uninitiated, formats like The Traitors (and its party-game ancestors: Mafia, Werewolf, and Wink Murder) are high-stakes tests of social deduction, nerve, and shameless manipulation.

Whether you're playing with a handful of friends or a bigger group, here’s how to channel your inner Claudia Winkleman and host the ultimate game night.

An illustration shows a black baseball cap with folded pieces of white paper inside, and two yellow pieces on the brim. A hand reaches towards the hat to take a piece of paper

An illustration shows a group of nine people standing around a round table with candles on top, with sofas and chairs in the background. A blonde woman in a smart black jacket stands at the top. She is the host. One of the people on either side is dressed in a black hoody. They are the traitors. Everyone else is a white silhouette, except one, who is bright red.

An illustration shows the same scene as before, except now everyone except the host is wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. They are the players. Those previously in hoodies are traitors and everyone else are faithful. The person who was bright red has vanished, with an exclamation mark where they stood. The host points to the empty space at the table while everyone else looks confused.

In the same illustration, all the players are pointing at each other. The person who is being pointed at by the most people is highlighted in bright orange

The illustrations shows the two traitors in their hoodies again, with the rest of the players white silhouettes. The eliminated players are missing.

Set the roles

A host assigns roles – by choice or at random.

They can choose their own traitors, à la Claudia, or randomise it: different colour playing cards, different flavour cola or sweets, folded notes or text messages.

Most players are faithful, a secret few are traitors.

Night falls

On the host's command, everyone closes their eyes for what is often called the night phase.

The traitors then open their eyes and silently agree on a victim to eliminate.

Day breaks

Everyone opens their eyes again.

The host reveals the victim, who is immediately removed from the game.

The debate and vote

Everyone debates who they think are traitors, picking up on any clues or strategies they can identify (more on that later) then vote to eliminate another player.

The player with the most votes is eliminated and reveals their real role in the game.

Night falls again

The process is repeated until one team is eliminated.

Fans of the TV show will recognise the tension and thrill that comes from operating in secret or rooting out the deceivers in a group.

"It’s a similar sort of psychology to watching a horror film," says Mark Kirschstein, creator of an online community for social deduction games and a veteran of hundreds of play-throughs. "You’re eliciting an emotional, stressful response in a very safe way.”

The discussion becomes exasperating for some in social deduction board game Feed The Kraken

With a few games under the belt, many players may want to add a bit of variety.

Roles, missions and sabotage

The internet is awash with different varieties of the game – some for free and some for sale – to shake things up for more seasoned players.

Additional roles are a classic – someone with the power to find out who is a traitor while other players are "asleep", or a traitor who operates without the other traitors' knowledge, or who can convert faithful to their side.

Group missions (for traitors to sabotage) can also add variety, either for prizes or for a chance to bring back those who have been murdered or banished.

Ian Forrester/Flickr

Home made role cards help add a bit of spice to one of the games in Mark Kirschstein's community

And for those eliminated, the game doesn't have to end with their untimely demise.

Some bigger groups have a "ghost council" who might vote to introduce new rules for the living such as silent voting, time limits or cryptic clues.

And giving the game a theme or setting – a medieval village or gangland war, say – can help hosts come up with extra missions or rules rather than starting from scratch, Kirschstein adds.

Playing is one thing, but winning is another. And the unpredictable nature of the game is one of the things that makes it so devilishly difficult.

We spoke to experts and experienced game players to get their tips.

A player grapples with the tension of the game

A player grapples with the tension in a game of Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

How to win (and have fun)

Be a good host

The reason Claudia Winkleman and Traitors US host Alan Cumming make such good hosts is because they "enable a playfulness in everybody else", says Esther MacCallum-Stewart, a professor of games studies at the University of Staffordshire.

"They're very genuine in their sort of ridiculousness,” she says. "And that gives people a real freedom when they're playing.”

Kim Roberts, a teacher from Leicester, plays regularly with family at Christmas and recently introduced the game at work, donning a black wig and extra eyeliner to make sure she and her players were fully immersed.

"I get just as much pleasure from watching the psychology unfold as I do from playing the game itself," she says.

Kim Roberts dressed up as Claudia Winkleman when she hosted her game

And her murderous traitors wielded a poisoned spoon

And her traitors wielded a poisoned spoon to murder in plain sight

Don’t trust your gut instinct

Sarah Wiseman, a user research expert and self-professed "games nerd", published research in 2019 looking at how players make decisions in social deduction games.

Rather than making decisions based on what they knew to be true, or information they had collected across the game, players were going with how they felt in the moment.

"People are willing to overlook facts if an emotional appeal is made to them that overrides it," Wiseman says, citing more research looking directly at players of Werewolf from 2010.

Richard E Grant brought this to life in the recent series of The Celebrity Traitors when he persuaded some players to defend him simply by connecting with them emotionally – even after telling everyone he was a traitor.

"People are really willing to let their emotions cloud looking at the data that's in front of them," Wiseman says. "And, crucially, that's why these games work."

Stay quiet early, but don't be too quiet

A 2010 research paper from the University of Florida applied the scientific method to rooting out the liars in a game of Werewolf.

One conclusion was that traitors were more likely to stay quiet compared to those seeking them out.

"That's quite often a tell,” Kirschstein says of his experience playing hundreds of games. "Newer players especially. If they're a werewolf, they just won't speak."

"If you have something to hide you are more likely to stay quiet,” agrees Wiseman.

Get stuck in

"I think the people who don't succeed are the people who don't let go as much as everybody else," says MacCallum-Stewart.

"Just being able to relax and acknowledge the fact that it is a game and that games are fun and that when we play games, we play. We're doing something that isn't the real world."

The debate gets heated for some players in this game of Mafia played in a cafe in southern Tehran

Look for clues in voices, words and body language

Researchers found that increases in the pitch and volume people speak at can be a strong indicator that they aren’t telling the truth.

The opposite is true of visual clues, such as eye blinks or body movements, which decrease when someone is being deceptive.

And Kirschstein says there is a running joke among his group of local players, where a tell-tale phrase can land people in trouble. "We call it the 'C word'," he says.

"And that is when somebody says they're feeling 'confused'. I would say, nine times out of 10, that's an 'evil' player."

Whether or not you end up feeling genuinely discombobulated or not, looking out for other people claiming to not understand what is going on could be a sign they are trying to cover their true motives.

But the experts added a more serious word of caution for those looking to accuse, deceive, manipulate, or otherwise outfox their fellow players.

"These can be stressful games," says Kirschstein. "Particularly if you feel like the room is ganging up on you."

Playing with kindness, as well as a strong sense of cynicism, will make sure the fun is preserved for everyone.

It's only a game, after all.