Donner Dinner Party

About this board game

Donner Dinner Party is a 2017 social deduction game for 4–10 players that takes about 60 minutes to play. Set in the winter of 1846, it places players among the ill-fated Donner Party wagon train, stranded atop a mountain with no food.

Each player secretly belongs to one of two sides: pioneer or cannibal. Cannibals are hiding among the group, and everyone must work out who can be trusted while trying to avoid becoming the next meal. The tension comes from balancing survival efforts with suspicion and deception.

Players also have equipment, which may help them survive. Pioneers can use what they have to support the struggle for survival, while cannibals may prefer to conceal or downplay the value of their equipment. What players reveal—or choose not to reveal—can influence how the group views them.

The party regularly goes hunting in an effort to find food and endure another week. The cannibals, however, try to thwart these efforts because they prefer the taste of human flesh. This creates a fast-moving contest between cooperation, doubt, and the cannibals’ appetite.

• Pioneers: Survive seven weeks without allowing the cannibals to gain the advantage.
• Cannibals: Thwart the hunting efforts and outlast the pioneers.
• Everyone: Judge suspicious behavior and decide who may be hiding a deadly secret.

In Donner Dinner Party, the cannibals win when their number equals the number of pioneers. If the pioneers survive seven weeks without that happening, they win instead. With its frontier setting and concealed loyalties, the game turns a desperate expedition into a dangerous social deduction struggle.