It’s hard to resist The Resistance

Do you like social deduction games where you’re trying to figure out who people are and what their allegiances are?

If so, then we think you’ll like The Resistance.

The Resistance is like a number of other social deduction games but has some great elements that makes it unique – and that bring up a lot more interaction and guessing.

Can the whole family enjoy The Resistance?

The Resistance was published by Indie Boards and Cards which is the same company that published Flash Point: Fire Rescue last year that we recently reviewed and is a great family board game. While Flash Point is a cooperative board game, The Resistance is anything but cooperative.

The Resistance isn’t a game for youngsters. The recommended ages for The Resistance are 13+ and we agree that’s pretty accurate. Since it’s a social game of bluffing and accusations, it’s much better suited for older players.

However, even with that said the younger kids in our family, Caleb (9) and Brooke (11), enjoy playing The Resistance. We were curious to see how they’d do when we first got the game – worrying that they might not like the questions doubting their allegiances. So we were pleasantly surprised in our first game when Caleb was on the winning team for the spies and had fooled us all.

And of course, after that we had to play again and again.

But since it’s a game of doubting, accusing and finger pointing, you may run into hurt feelings. So the caveat we’ll add is that you’ll need to take into account who you’re going to be playing with.

 

Great for group gatherings

As a family of 6, we really like games that allow all of us to play at the same time. And The Resistance is a great game for 5-10 players. Which also makes it a great party game when you’ve got a group together. That good buddy of yours that you’ve trusted for years will suddenly call your loyalty into question when a mission that you’re on fails. And it’s all a blast.

 

Doubled-layered doubting

The part that we like of The Resistance that makes it unique from other social deduction games is the two layers of voting/doubting. The first step on each mission/round is to pick which players are going to go on the mission itself. This step is great because the votes aren’t a secret.

You see right away which people don’t agree with the designated team. This is also where most of the accusations and promises of loyalty to the cause get tossed around.

The second vote is for the people selected for the mission when they vote on whether the mission succeeds or fails. And once those secret votes are revealed, the finger pointing begins anew. So by the time you’re making selections of a team for the third mission it’s much harder to get consensus. And inevitably you’ll have to make some compromises. Which makes it fantastic when those next mission succeed/fail votes are revealed.

Since once of the best reasons for playing board games and card games is the social interaction, The Resistance is fantastic. That’s what it’s all about.

 

How does The Resistance score on the “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

The Resistance scores high on our “let’s play again game meter” because it’s hard to play only once. As of this writing we’ve had the game for a few months and every time we play The Resistance, we’ve played multiple times in a row.

When the game ends, there’s tons of chatter about the game and who did what at different stages of the games. Everyone’s so anxious to tell their side of the story of what they were thinking along the way. And with all that social interaction, it’s hard not to pass out the cards and go at it “one more time.”

Thanks Indie Boards & Cards for another great game that our family enjoys playing together!

The Board Game Family Game Ratings
	Caleb
	Brooke
	Jaden
	Trevor
	Mom
	Dad
	Average

Interested in what others think of The Resistance?
Check out these other opinions:
* Board Game Reviews by Josh The Resistance review