Kasai Bakra
It's no secret that the popular TV show The Traitors is essentially a reworking of the now classic party game Werewolf. Indeed there have been murmurs from the publishers of one Werewolf game that The Traitors plagiarises their (2001) game and so they ought to be able to sue for breach of copyright. We doubt that that's a runner because Werewolf is itself a reworking of an even older social deduction game, Mafia, that was developed in the 1980s by a psychology student at Moscow State University. Regardless, the success of The Traitors has spawned renewed interest in social deduction games so we're sure to see more appearing.
Kasai Bakra, from Owls in Cowls, divides its 6-27 players into Kasai (wolves) and Bakra (goats) but tho' the game closely mirrors the now standard Werewolf game, Ali Athar's design does a tad more than merely substituting goats for the traditional villagers. One player takes on the role of The Mystic and is essentially the Games Master (GM). The other players' roles are randomly assigned but the Bakra should outnumber the Kasai by up to 5:1. Players vote on who to eliminate and then 'sleep' (close their eyes) while the Kasai decide who they will kill. The Bakra goats win if all the Kasai (wolves) are eliminated; the Kasai win if they equal or outnumber the Bakra.
You can play a basic game with just vanilla Kasai and Bakra but, as in many of the recent Werewolf games, including the extensive range from Bézier, you can play Kasai Bakra so that some of the players have an individual power or ability that complements their Kasai or Bakra role. For example, the Doctor can protect another Bakra from being killed by the Kasai, and the Evil Queen can poison another player, with a dice roll determining whether or not they die.
The game comes with a small deck of cue cards to aid the Mystic, primarily to help the Mystic boost thematic immersion, but it's the deck of 'Masala' event cards that distinguish Kasai Batra from most other Werewolf variants. At the start of each night phase, the Mystic draws a Masala card, reads it out to the players and applies its effect. The various Masala effects help shake up the game. Tho' they generally mirror characteristics found in other social deduction games (for example, linking two players so that if either one dies the other dies too) the fun here comes from the fact the effects are random rather than pre-assigned.
Kasai Bakra certainly doesn't reinvent Werewolf but it's a fun version of the game and one that's accessible to players of all ages. Having a GM guiding and supervising the game means other players don't have any complicated rules to learn, and play can be up and running in minutes even with those coming completely new to the game. For us, the game is at its best at around 8–10 players, in which case you can play it through in under 20 minutes.
Owls in Cowls are bringing Kasai Batra to Kickstarter early in 2027. Click here for more details.
