Mayday!Mayday!

About this board game

Mayday!Mayday! is a 5–8-player deduction game that plays in about 25 minutes, placing every player aboard flight LK-886 after the pilot suddenly dies. The copilot must take charge, but distrust spreads as the crew suspects infiltrators are hiding among them.

Each crewmember receives three secret identity cards containing honest crew and infiltrator identities. The identity shown twice determines that player’s allegiance. Infiltrators know one another, while the honest crew must piece together the truth from limited information and uncertain testimony.

Players place their cards face down and look at one card belonging to each neighbor. A knowledge tile shows what they claim to have seen—but that claim may be a lie. Since no player sees more than one of another player’s three cards, every deduction depends on combining personal knowledge with the statements made by others.

• Secret identities: determine whether each player belongs to the honest crew or the infiltrators.
• Limited information: see only selected cards held by neighboring players.
• Bluffing and deduction: evaluate claims while infiltrators pretend to investigate the threat.
• Changing trust: players may receive Benefit of the Doubt, become Reliable, and eventually compete to become Captain.

During each skirmish, a player gains knowledge of one identity card held by another player and shares that information, truthfully or otherwise. As the game progresses, theories grow more detailed, but so does the possibility of deception.

One of two reliable crewmembers becomes the new Captain and must form a final crew that keeps the infiltrators away from the cockpit. In Mayday!Mayday!, every accusation, alliance, and carefully chosen claim can determine whether the crew makes it safely back to the ground.