Citizen X is a social deduction game where players are divided into Citizens and hidden Zombies (or similar threat). The Citizens must identify and eliminate the hidden enemies among them, while the Zombies try to secretly convert or eliminate Citizens without being discovered. The game combines elements of hidden roles, voting, and bluffing.
Components
Role cards (Citizen and Zombie/threat roles)
Voting tokens or mechanism
Game board or play area markers (if applicable)
Setup
Shuffle role cards and deal one face-down to each player.
Players secretly look at their role without revealing it.
Determine a starting player or moderator.
Follow any specific night/day phase setup instructions.
Turn Structure
The game alternates between phases:
Night Phase: Hidden threats perform their secret actions (converting or eliminating a citizen).
Day Phase: All players discuss, accuse, and vote to eliminate a suspect.
Actions
Night Phase (Threats)
The hidden threat players secretly choose a citizen to target.
The targeted citizen may be eliminated or converted depending on the variant.
Day Phase (All Players)
Open discussion: players share suspicions, alibis, and observations.
Accusations: any player may formally accuse another of being a threat.
Voting: players vote on whether to eliminate the accused. Majority rules.
The eliminated player reveals their role card.
Scoring / Victory Conditions
Citizens win if they identify and eliminate all hidden threats.
Threats (Zombies) win if they equal or outnumber the remaining Citizens, or if all Citizens are eliminated/converted.
Special Rules & Edge Cases
Eliminated players may not communicate with remaining players.
Some variants include special citizen roles with investigation or protection abilities.
The zombie/threat theme differentiates this from standard Werewolf/Mafia-style games.
The game scales to large groups (4-12 players), with more hidden threats added at higher player counts.
A moderator may be required for some variants to manage the night phase.