Card game
Saboteur
Dwarves dig for gold while hidden saboteurs try to block the tunnel
Hidden rolesBluffingRoute buildingTake thatTeam games
- 3–10best with 5-8
- 30–45 minper game
- About 3 minto set up
- 8+years
- Easy
- Littlereading
The official edition, on Amazon.in
There's no Indian edition, so this is the official imported game. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.
Paid link. We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
The game in a nutshell
Saboteur is a hidden-role card game for 3 to 10 players: everyone is a dwarf laying tunnel cards towards a hidden pot of gold, but some players are secretly saboteurs trying to make the tunnel fail. A game is three short rounds and takes about half an hour, which makes it a good pick for big family get-togethers and groups of cousins aged 8 and up. Our link goes to AMIGO's English edition of the card game, which is imported into India.
Is Saboteur right for you?
Great if
- Big groups of 5 to 10, such as cousins at a Diwali get-together or a school-holiday sleepover
- Families with children from about 8 who enjoy a bit of suspicion and pointing fingers
- Groups who like Mafia-style games but want something with cards on the table instead of a narrator
- A small box that is easy to carry to a friend's house or on holiday
Skip it if
- You usually play with 3 or 4; with so few saboteurs, some rounds can feel flat
- Your group dislikes being targeted with broken tools or not knowing whom to trust
- You want a strategy game where the luck of the draw matters little
How Saboteur plays
Set-up: take the dwarf (role) cards for your player count, for example 2 saboteurs and 4 gold miners for 5 players, shuffle them and deal one secretly to each player; one card is always left out unseen. Lay the start card on the table and the three goal cards face down a set distance away, as shown in the rules. Only one goal card hides the gold. Then deal a hand of path and action cards: 6 each with 3 to 5 players, 5 with 6 or 7, and 4 with 8 to 10.
- Time to teach: about 10 minutes.
- Reading and language: The path and action cards use pictures and symbols, and the role cards only need to be recognised, not read. The rulebook is in English; there is no Hindi edition, but once one person knows the rules the game is easy to explain in any language.
How To Play Saboteur Card Game in 4 Minutes · Tabletop Duo
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Your turn, step by step
- 1Build
Lay a path card that connects back to the start card, or play an action card on another player.
- 2Sabotage
Break a player's lantern, cart or pickaxe, repair your own, drop a rockfall on the tunnel, or peek at a goal card with a map.
- 3Draw
Draw a card to refill your hand; if you can't help, discard one face down instead.
- 4Win
Miners win a round by reaching the gold, saboteurs by stopping them; after three rounds, the most gold nuggets wins.
The full explanation: how a game of Saboteur goes
A turn: do one thing, then draw a card. Play a path card to extend the tunnel from the start card (every path has to line up with its neighbours); play an action card; or pass by discarding a card face down. Action cards break another player's lantern, mine cart or pickaxe so they cannot lay path cards until it is repaired, repair a broken tool, cause a rockfall that removes a piece of tunnel, or let you secretly peek at one goal card with a map.
End of a round: if the tunnel reaches the gold, the gold miners win and share out gold cards, starting with the player who reached it. If the cards run out first, the saboteurs win and each takes gold nuggets: 4 for a lone saboteur, 3 each for 2 or 3 saboteurs, 2 each for 4. Then everyone reveals their role, the roles are reshuffled, and a new round begins.
How you win: after three rounds, the player with the most gold nuggets wins. Gold cards stay secret until the end, so nobody is sure who is ahead.
Tip: a clever saboteur plays helpful cards early and only blocks when it matters, so watch who lays dead ends, who keeps peeking with maps, and who never breaks anyone's tools. AMIGO also publishes extra variants on its website, and the Saboteur 2 expansion adds teams and new roles.
What's in the box
- 44Path cards
including 1 start card and 3 goal cards, one of which shows the gold - 27Action cards
broken tools, repairs, rockfalls and treasure maps - 28Gold cards
worth 1, 2 or 3 nuggets - 11Dwarf (role) cards
7 gold miners and 4 saboteurs - 1Rulebook
AMIGO's product page lists 110 cards (44 path, 28 gold, 27 action and 11 dwarf cards) and a rulebook; its English rules give the same counts and the 7 miners and 4 saboteurs. The split of gold cards (16 one-nugget, 8 two-nugget, 4 three-nugget) comes from Wikipedia and was not checked against a box. The English editions of 2015 described by ICv2 list the same contents.
Where to buy
The official edition, on Amazon.in
There's no Indian edition, so this is the official imported game. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.
Opens Amazon.in in a new tab.
There is no Indian edition of Saboteur: copies sold in India are imported English editions of AMIGO's card game. Indian store listings also carry AMIGO's board-game spin-offs, Saboteur: The Lost Mines and Saboteur: The Dark Cave, which are different games. Our Amazon.in button goes to the AMIGO base card game in English, which is the one to start with.
How to make sure you get a genuine copyA little care before you click.
- The box should carry the AMIGO logo and credit Frederic Moyersoen as the designer.
- Count the cards: 44 path cards (including the start card and three goal cards), 27 action cards, 28 gold cards and 11 dwarf cards (7 gold miners and 4 saboteurs), 110 in all.
- All dwarf cards must look identical from the back, and so must the three goal cards; only one goal card shows gold on its face.
- The rules should be AMIGO's illustrated rulebook in English; a photocopied sheet or a box with no publisher name is a warning sign.
- Check you are not buying Saboteur 2 by mistake: it is an expansion and cannot be played on its own.
We link to one Amazon.in listing that we've checked against the maker's own information. We don't show prices: Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery. Paid link. We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
What reviewers and players say
Saboteur has been in print since 2004, and reviewers like it because it is quick to teach and works with up to ten people. They enjoy the suspicion and accusations of the hidden roles, the chaos of tools being broken, and how well it suits non-gamers and big groups. The usual complaints are that saboteurs find it hard to win, that it feels flat with only three or four players, and that a player who is blocked for a long time can only discard. Most reviewers see it as a light, social game rather than a strategy game.
What people love
- Teaches in minutes and works with up to ten players
- The suspicion and finger-pointing of hidden roles
- Small box with sturdy cards that is easy to carry
- Non-gamers and families pick it up quickly
Common complaints
- Saboteurs can find it hard to win
- Feels flat with only three or four players
- Blocked players can be stuck discarding for several turns
Based on 5 reviews and discussions
- Review #23 - Saboteur (What's Eric Playing?, November 2015) · What's Eric Playing?
- Review [Review] Saboteur (Tom Vasel, July 2005) · Board Game Designers Forum
- Players La regle de Saboteur en anglais (forum thread, December 2005) · Tric Trac forum
- Reference Saboteur (publisher's page with press quotes) · AMIGO
- Reference Saboteur (card game) · Wikipedia
Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.
More like Saboteur
Our picks if Saboteur isn't quite right
| Feature |
Saboteur |
Skull |
Coup |
Love Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | 3–10 | 3–6 | 2–6 | 2–6 |
| Best with | 5-8 | 5-6 | 4-6 | 3-5 |
| Play time | 30–45 min | 15–45 min | 15 min | 15–30 min |
| Age | 8+ | 10+ | 14+ | 10+ |
| Rules | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy |
| Indian edition | Import | Import | Import | Import |
| Why look at it | This page | A pocket-sized bluffing game where reading your friends is everything | Another quick game of hidden roles and bluffing | A small card game of deduction and guessing who holds what |
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Questions people ask about Saboteur
Can 2 people play Saboteur?
Not the base game, which is for 3 to 10 players. AMIGO makes a separate two-player version, Saboteur: The Duel, and the Saboteur 2 expansion stretches play to 2 to 12, but it needs the base game.
How many saboteurs are there in Saboteur?
The role cards include 1 saboteur with 3 or 4 players, 2 with 5 or 6, 3 with 7 to 9 and 4 with 10, and one role card is always left out unseen. That means a round with 3 or 4 players can have no saboteur at all, which keeps everyone guessing.
What is the difference between Saboteur and Saboteur 2?
Saboteur 2 is an expansion, not a separate game: you need the base cards to play it. It adds new path cards such as doors, bridges and ladders, new actions like theft and swapping hands, and new roles, with the miners split into blue and green teams.
Is Saboteur good for kids?
AMIGO says 8 and up. The rules are short and the cards are mostly pictures, so children pick it up quickly; younger ones may need help keeping their role secret and may find having their tools broken frustrating.
Is Saboteur available in Hindi?
No Hindi edition exists, and the boxes sold in India are in English. Because the path and action cards use symbols, the game is easy to explain in Hindi or any other language once one person has read the rules.
Game facts
- Designed by
- Frederic Moyersoen
- Publisher
- AMIGO (AMIGO Spiel + Freizeit GmbH, Dietzenbach, Germany)
- First published
- 2004
- Players
- 3–10
- Language
- Little reading – The path and action cards use pictures and symbols, and the role cards only need to be recognised, not read. The rulebook is in English; there is no Hindi edition, but once one person knows the rules the game is easy to explain in any language.
Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.
Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.
- AMIGO - Saboteur (publisher's product page)
- AMIGO - Saboteur rules, English (PDF, version 4.0)
- AMIGO - Saboteur 2 rules, English (PDF)
- ICv2 - Mayfair to publish Saboteur, 6 Nimmt!, Saboteur 2 and No Thanks! in English (July 2015)
- Wikipedia - Saboteur (card game)
- Gameistry - Saboteur (publisher AMIGO)
- #23 - Saboteur (What's Eric Playing?, November 2015)