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I guess this is possibly up to house rules/who is playing.

On one hand, revealing who were the spies also reveals people's play styles, which might make it a bit less fun for future games. It would something akin to revealing one's hole cards after a successful bluff in poker.

On the other hand, it can be quite an intense game, so it's nice to 'clear the air', and not have lingering doubts (especially if someone who wasn't a spy had been accused of being one).

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  • 7
    If you don't reveal the spies, how do you know who won? May 28, 2014 at 15:27
  • 3
    I'm not very concerned with play styles, as my style is to be 100% convinced of my innocence, regardless of what loyalty card I am dealt! May 28, 2014 at 17:57
  • @user7129 - You know whether the Spies or the Resistance won.
    – dwjohnston
    May 28, 2014 at 21:36
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    This question is baffling! How does this even work? Do you stipulate at the start "after the game is over, whatever you do don't celebrate!" Why would you not celebrate? When the game ends does everyone just stand up and walk away? /confused
    – Daniel Lim
    Jun 5, 2014 at 8:39
  • 2
    Well the comparison to poker doesn't hold up, because you know specifically which player won the pot! Either way, this is very strange. I'd have a distinct feeling of 'lack of closure' if I lost and didn't find out who'd been lying to me. Similarly, if I'd just spent the last 30-45 minutes lying to people's faces and stressing out about not getting caught - you're bloody right I'm going to celebrate if I successfully trick them!
    – Daniel Lim
    Jun 5, 2014 at 9:25

2 Answers 2

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I've never seen a single player (spy or not) being able to avoid cheering, asking "why you did that" or commenting a recently won/lost The Resistance match. This is an important moment of relief, discussion, curiosity satisfaction and laughter. It's like sharing an adventurous or humorous story with those at the table, maybe strengthening or creating friendship bonds between people.

It is true though, if you play this game a lot with the same group, they might find it easier to know if you're telling the truth or lying... but they will never be sure! And if you think they are, you can try to change your behaviour. One way to achieve that is to know what people expect you to do in certain circumstances, and to get to know that, you can talk about a recently played match. You can also try to copy or remix with your own approach another player's strategy, something that he also might tell you when the game ends. Bottom line: reinventing your play style and avoiding being obvious is also viable through conversation and experience exchange.

Keeping things secret allows you to keep your strategy to yourself and not being able to know what others know. Although mystery is also fun (The Resistance is all about mystery), I find it hard to understand how this way of being mysterious could be better then sharing the experiences in typical The Resistance play sessions. I must also add that some players might even end up frustrated, thanks to not being able to talk about what he and others were thinking.

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  • The whole point (if you play with people multiple times) is to trick them! Of course you should change your behaviour to make yourself unpredictable/more convincing.
    – Daniel Lim
    Jun 5, 2014 at 8:41
3

I definitely recommend revealing who the spies were at the end. Not revealing them would just lead to additional frustration, and among friends it could cause unnecessary tension. You could potentially wait until after a string of 3 or 4 games are completed before revealing who the spies were in each round, but at that point you may not remember with confidence which rounds you were or were not a spy.

One of the things that I would also recommend to those that play against each other a lot is to change your play style as the rounds progress. It makes it a little more difficult for a fellow resistance member to recognize you, but it will help you for a round when you do become a spy. A lot of the time it boils down to learning how your fellow spies will act and playing to their strengths such as drawing attention to yourself as a spy and causing confusion to help protect another spy who always ends up real chatty when they are a spy.

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  • I don't understand. You seem to recommend revealing who the spies were at the end. You seem to then immediately say doing so would lead to additional frustration and cause unnecessary tension. Do you mean to say "Not doing so would just lead to..."? Jul 9, 2014 at 1:20
  • That would be correct, not revealing would lend to additional frutration/unnecessary tension. Besides, most people that just played and won WANT to reveal who they were to celebrate the victory or talk about how they couldn't believe how one particular aspect of the game went down. When playing casually with friends, it adds to the enjoyment of the game when we get to talk about it immediately afterwards.
    – stpitner
    Jul 9, 2014 at 19:56
  • I've edited your answer to make that clearer. It seemed to suggest that revealing them would lend to additional frustration etc. Jul 10, 2014 at 0:44

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