How to Play Saboteur the Card Game

A card game for 3 to 10 players ages 8 and up

For a while my kids (and husband) were very into Among Us. When I saw the card game Saboteur, I thought it would be a great fit. Well, it turns out Saboteur isn’t anything like Among Us. Who knew? Not me the only person in the house not bitten by the Among Us fever.

It’s no secret that we love mystery games– Clue Jr, Mastermind, Word Hunter–and Saboteur fits right in. It’s a clever game of who is it with hidden moves and obvious ones too. Keep reading to see if this is right for your next family game night.

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The Premise

In Saboteur, dwarves (players) are digging in the mountain mine searching for gold. The dwarves work together to build a path to the gold but race each other to be the first to finish the path. On the other hand, there are the Saboteurs who only will if time runs out on the dwarves before they reach the gold.

The Object

The object of Saboteur is to the player with the most gold nuggets pieces at the end of three rounds.

The Saboteur Cards

First, there are many different card types. There are path cards used to lay a path from the beginning space to the three cards at the end.

Next are the action cards. These allow you to block someone or remove a block or take a peek at the end cards.

There is one start card that is placed at the start of the path.

Next are the goal cards. These three cards are placed at the end of the playing area. One of them holds the gold.

The gold nugget cards all have one, two or three gold pieces on them.

Last, are the miners and saboteurs cards. See dictate whether you are a miner or the saboteur.

Set Up

The Saboteur game set up has several steps but all are quick and easy.

First, you pull out the correct number of miner and saboteur cards. This depends on how many players you have. There is always one card more than the number of players you have. For example, if you have 3 players you will have 4 cards. If you have 6 players you will have 7 cards.
The number of saboteurs depends are as follows:
3 to 4 players = 1 saboteur
5 to 6 players = 2 saboteurs
7 to 9 players = 3 saboteurs
10 players = all 4 saboteurs  and all miner cards

When you have all the cards you need, they are shuffled and then dealt out. These cared tell players if they are a miner or a saboteur. They are to be kept secret. There will be one extra card that is kept face down off to the side.

Next, you need to prepare the game play area. For this you need to place the start card at one end. Next, shuffle the three goal cards and place them at the other end. The distance between the start and goal cards is seven card widths. This is easily measured by the chart that is printed on the Saboteur rule sheet.

Once the play area is ready, the action and path cards are shuffled together and then dealt. How many also depends on how many players are playing.

3 to 5 players = 6 cards each
6 to 7 players = 5 cards each
8 to 10 players = 4 cards each.

The rest of the action and goal cards are placed on the side as the draw pile.

Last, the gold cards are shuffled and set face down on the side.

Playing Saboteur

On a players turn, he must play a card to start. He has choices as to what card to play. He can add to the path. Or he could play an action card. If he can’t, or doesn’t want to, play then he can place a card face down on the discard pile.

When adding to the path, cards must line up with the path that is already down.

There are 4 actions that can be played.
First, there are the broken tool cards. When a broken tool is placed in front of a player, it blocks them from being able to play path cards.

Next, are the fix tools. These cards take away the broken tool card and allowing the player to play again. A player can play a fix tool on any player.

The rockfall card allows the player to remove any path card that is on the table. This is helpful if the saboteur has placed a road block or if you are the saboteur to remove a piece of the maze.

Last, is the map card. This card allows the player to peek at one of the goal cards.

Ending the Round

The round is over when one of two things happens.
First, the draw pile has run out and no player can play. If the miners have not made it to the gold then the saboteurs win.

Second, if the miners have reached the goal cards and have found the gold the miners win.

The Gold

If the miners have found the gold, then the first player to have reached the gold takes the top gold cards off the pile. She will take one card for every miner. Next, she chooses which gold card to keep. After choosing, she then passes the rest of the cards counter-clockwise where that player then chooses a card. This continues until all miners have a gold card. The gold cards are kept secret.

On the other hand, if the saboteur has won, and there is only one, he gets enough gold cards to make 4 nuggets worth. When there are 2 or 3 saboteurs then each get 3 nuggets worth of gold. And if there are 4 saboteurs then they each get 2 nuggets worth.

The Second Round

Once the gold cards are handed out then a new round begins. The action cards are shuffled and dealt as are the miners and saboteurs. The goal cards are also shuffled and replaced. The round is played the same as the first.

Winning Saboteur

At the end of three rounds, the player with the most gold nuggets wins the game.

What We Like

First, the quality of the game is really good. The box size is good and it will take a lot of play time for the cards to show any wear and tear.

Next, we like that the strategy changes depending on what role you are playing. We also like the co-operative parts to the game; there’s nothing worse than when you get stuck in a game and can’t get the right card to fix it. Having a co-player help is nice.

What We Don’t Like

First, needing the instructions to lay out the playing field is a little annoying. Plus even after you do this the cards shift around as you play, making it necessary to stop and fix them and recount.

Next, do you know how hard it is to shuffle just three cards? Very hard. It is a skill that takes some work. We find it’s best to just keep taking the top and putting it on the bottom over and over until you forget which card is which. It might not seem like a big deal, however to is time consuming.

When playing with only one possible saboteur, it becomes very obvious who is who. This takes the mystery out of the game but I don’t see how to avoid this.

Next, getting to choose your gold card seems underhanded. I understand that it is a reward for being the first to the gold, however it just sends mixed signals. Is this a co-cooperative game when really you’re out just for yourself? It just seems strange is all.

Is Saboteur Worth It?

Saboteur is an interesting game. I will admit that when we first played it seemed complicated and not all that involving. But now that we’ve had it for a while and played it more, I have to say that it is growing on me. Some in the family like the strategy and some think that it just feels like the same thing over and over. There can be up to 10 players but we’ve only been able to play with the four of us. It would be interesting to see what it’s like to play with more players. I suspect that it would be more fun with more people.

Overall, Saboteur is an easy to play game, once you get over the initial learning curve. I would say that if you have strategy-loving members then you should add Saboteur to your Family Game Shelf.

To get your copy of Saboteur here. Canadians can their Saboteur here. There is also a two player version called Saboteur the Duel. There is also an expansion pack called Saboteur 2 that comes with both the original and the expansion.

For more fun check out our game reviews, cards games and dice games. And check out our Family Game Self shop for tons of fun with seasonal and original games, including our line of escape rooms for kids!

Rating:

Pros: easy to play, quality, up to 10 players,
Cons: complicated to learn, set up,
Mom: critical thinking, team work, strategy,