Roles
Every player holds a hidden role card dealt at the start. Roles stay private unless a player chooses to reveal them, or the table forces them out through jail.
Role Summary
| Role | Team | Count (13p) | Night Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good Politician | Good | 2 | Auto Jail (optional, costs half the Public Spending target) |
| Corrupt Politician | Bad | 3 | Nakaw, Suhol, Tokhang (all optional) |
| Lawyer | Good | 1 | Protect a player from jailing and from Tokhang for the Year |
| Ombudsperson | Good | 1 | Investigate a player; share findings during Discussion |
| COA | Good | 1 | Receive the audit report |
| Citizen | Good (passive) | 5 | None |
Good Politician
Team: Good
May be elected President. May serve on project committees. Votes in jail votes (2 votes if President). The Good Politician goal is to join projects and reach the Public Spending threshold.
Auto Jail (Hidden Phase, costs half the Public Spending target)
A Good Politician may spend half of the Public Spending target (12 at 13 players) from the Public Spending tracker to directly jail any active player. No table vote is held — the strike is applied immediately. Lawyer Protect on the target blocks it. This is the Good answer to Tokhang and costs the team's own race, so it is usually saved for a strong lead.
Strategic note
Good Politicians are the main framing target for the Corrupt. A Good Politician on a first strike is one vote away from removal, so the Lawyer should keep an eye on them.
Corrupt Politician
Team: Bad
May be elected President. May serve on project committees, just like a Good Politician.
Mutual Recognition
At setup, before Year 1, all Corrupt Politicians open their eyes to identify each other. This is their only guaranteed coordination window.
Nakaw, the Midnight Transaction (Hidden Phase, optional, every Year)
During the Hidden Phase, every free (not jailed) Corrupt Politician must agree on whether to steal. The vote is unanimous. A single No cancels the steal that Year. Stealing is not required and may be skipped to dodge suspicion.
Steal amount = number of free Corrupt Politicians.
| Free Corrupt Politicians | Steal Amount (if all agree) |
|---|---|
| 3 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 1 | 1 |
The stolen amount is added to the Corruption Fund tracker and pulled out of the Kaban ng Bayan privately. The public treasury drop next Year will roll the steal in with project costs.
Project Kickback (Governance Phase, automatic)
When a Corrupt Politician sits on a successful project committee (regardless of vote), the kickback printed on the project card is added to the Corruption Fund tracker automatically. Kickback amounts:
| Project type | Kickback on card |
|---|---|
| Small project | 1 to 2 |
| Large project | 3 to 5 |
Suhol, Silence COA (Hidden Phase, costs 3 from the Corruption Fund)
During the Hidden Phase, Corrupt Politicians may pay 3 from the Corruption Fund to silence the COA for the next Public Phase. The COA still receives the real audit (kickback Yes/No for last Year's project) but cannot speak during Discussion that Year.
Cost: 3 from the Corruption Fund. The fund must already hold at least 3 to use this.
Suhol also rolls back the Year's steal
If Nakaw happened this Year, Suhol reduces the steal by up to 3 and refunds that amount back to the Kaban ng Bayan. A Year that stole 3 and then paid Suhol nets zero added to the Corruption Fund and leaves no public drop from the theft. The team paid 3 from the fund to undo their own steal and silence the COA.
- Use case: silence the COA on the Year their audit would hurt the most.
- The COA app shows a mute banner so the COA player knows they have been silenced.
- Suhol does not fake the audit. The COA still has the data. They just cannot share it that Year.
Tokhang, the Hitman (Hidden Phase, costs half the Corruption Fund target)
Corrupt Politicians may pay half of the Corruption Fund target (10 at 13 players) to remove any active player from the game. Lawyer Protect on the target for that Year blocks Tokhang.
This step shows up in the full flow in Moderator Reference.
Strike system
A Corrupt Politician jailed for the first time serves a 3 year suspension. Jailed a second time, they are removed for good. If both Corrupt Politicians are out, Good wins right away. (At 13 players, there are 3 Corrupt, so all 3 must be removed for the Corrupt Purge win.)
Lawyer
Team: Good
The Lawyer has one ability: Protect, used every Year.
Protect (Hidden Phase, every Year, free)
Each Year, choose one active player to protect. If that player gets a majority jail vote this Year, the jailing is blocked and no strike is added. Protect also blocks Tokhang against the same target this Year.
See the strike and removal rules in Jail System.
- Protect is secret until it triggers.
- The Lawyer may Protect themselves.
- Protect does not roll over to the next Year.
Announcement when Protect blocks a jail:
"The attempted jailing of [Name] has failed due to legal protection."
Priority targets
Use Protect on Good Politicians who are on a first strike. A second jail removes them. Covering an exposed Ombudsperson can also save the game.
Ombudsperson
Team: Good
Investigation (Hidden Phase)
Each Year, pick one active player. The moderator privately reveals the alignment: Good aligned or Bad aligned.
- The result is for the Ombudsperson only.
- The result expires at the end of the Year.
- The Ombudsperson decides whether to share during Discussion.
Sharing Findings (Public Phase, anytime)
The Ombudsperson may speak up during Discussion just like any other player. There is no special button. They can share what they learned, hint at it, or stay quiet for the Year.
- Sharing is natural talk. The table can take it or leave it.
- Naming a player as Bad aligned out loud often paints the Ombudsperson as a target. Bad will push to jail or Tokhang them next.
- The investigation result expires at the end of the Year, so timing matters.
How to share
The Ombudsperson can drop hints ("I would not vote for that player on a committee") or go full reveal ("I investigated D and they are Bad aligned"). The choice is theirs. The jail vote that follows is the normal jail vote, no extra runoff.
COA (Commission on Audit)
Team: Good
Audit Report (Hidden Phase, Year 2 onward)
At the start of each Hidden Phase, the COA receives last Year's audit from the moderator:
Project: [Name]
Kickback occurred: Yes / NoThe audit confirms whether a Corrupt Politician was on last Year's successful committee. It does not name who or break down committee votes. The COA combines this signal with the public treasury drop to reason about who is corrupt.
Year 1: the COA receives "No project last year."
The COA may share the kickback flag during Discussion. Sharing is optional.
Strategic use
A Kickback: Yes flag combined with the public treasury drop is a strong signal. The COA can name the project, point at the committee the President picked, and call out the suspicious members.
Suhol is silence, not faking
Corrupt cannot fake the audit. They can pay 3 from the Corruption Fund to silence the COA for one Year of Discussion. The COA still sees the real audit and knows they were silenced. The rest of the table just does not hear it. Timing matters. The Corrupt will usually use Suhol on Years where the audit would hurt the most.
Citizen
Team: Good (passive)
No special abilities. Votes in jail votes and joins Discussion. Citizens are the bulk of the committee pool. They are the cover that lets Corrupt Politicians hide in larger committees.