The festive season is also board game season as people pit their wits against their nearest and dearest when the washing up has been done. 

While classics such as Monopoly and Scrabble will be dusted off and brought out – with new games such as Herd Mentality and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza also in the mix, there’s one game that appears to have particularly caught our imaginations this year. 

Wolf – or Werewolf as it is officially known – has won fans with its requirement for both strategic thinking and impressive acting skills, and has been dubbed the ‘party game for devious people’. 

The game, rated 10+ and not unlike BBC One’s Traitors series, sets a small informed group called the ‘wolves’ against the uninformed majority known as the ‘villagers’. Each group tries to deceive the other in order to win.

Based on a game of roleplay and deduction called Mafia which was developed by Russian creator Dimitry Davidoff in 1986, it has some famous fans too. 

England footballers Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold incorporated the game’s imagery into their goal celebrations at the Euro’s earlier this year. 

Jude Bellingham marked his crucial goal against Serbia in the tournament by dropping to one knee and covering his face with one hand – while Alexander-Arnold mirrored the gesture. 

Should you have a large brood, the deck of cards enables up to 35 people to play – with characters including Villagers, Werewolves, Seers, Doctors, Witches amongst others. 

Ready for some seasonal sabotage? Werewolf, also known as Wolf, is being snapped up by families to play over the festive period – because ‘the party game for devious people’ is perfect for large broods

Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold celebrate England’s goal with a ‘Wolf’ celebration in Germany this summer: the England stars are said to be big fans of the card game

At the start, each player is secretly given a role linked to one of the teams – and the game has a series of rounds with phases of night and day for each.

In the night phase, the werewolves can covertly kill other players; while in the day phase all surviving players debate and vote to eliminate a suspect.

A chosen moderator oversees the game, which sees Werewolves raising their heads to quietly murder people. The game ends when either the werewolves or the villagers win.

Speaking to the BBC in the summer, Bellingham said of the social deduction game: ‘When we play Wolf, one of the staff loves that face when he doesn’t have a clue what is going on so that was a little group celebration for the Wolf crew.’

Alexander-Arnold was also asked about Werewolf, telling the BBC: ‘Difficult to describe it … you can’t look and you have to find out who’s telling lies, who’s not.

‘So it’s a game of how well you know each other’s little tells. I found a picture of us playing back in maybe October, November. I showed it to Jude and we said, look we’re going to have to do it.

A spin-off version of Mafia/Werewolf forms the basis of the hit BBC show The Traitors (above)

Don’t fall out now! The deck of cards enables up to 35 people to play – with characters including Villagers, Werewolves, Seers, Doctors, Witches amongst others.

Jude Bellingham marked his crucial header against Serbia last night with the goal celebration

How Werewolf is linked to a game created by a Russian student in 1986

Werewolf, also known as Wolf, is based on a game of roleplay and deduction called Mafia and has become popular with the England football team in recent years.

It dates back to a format developed by Russian psychology student Dimitry Davidoff in 1986, and a spin-off version forms the basis of TV’s The Traitors.

The idea is there is a conflict between an informed minority known as the ‘mafiosi’ or ‘werewolves’, and an uninformed majority – the ‘villagers’.

At the start, each player is secretly given a role linked to one of the teams – and the game has a series of rounds with phases of night and day for each.

In the night phase, the werewolves can covertly kill other players; while in the day phase all surviving players debate and vote to eliminate a suspect.

That player is then killed and the game continues until either the werewolves or the villagers win.

Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart later revealed that the team have been playing the game since he was in the squad, which dates it back to at least 2017.

Speaking on the BBC’s Football Daily podcast, Hart said: ‘I know the game. So you have villagers, you have… there’s all different characters. And then usually two people will be a wolf in a group, everyone’s covering their eyes, and then questions and accusations are being thrown, and it’s almost a bluff.’

He said the game came into the squad ‘a long time ago because I was there’, adding that he cannot remember who brought it in but believes it might have been players from Leicester City.

Hart continued: ‘It’s just a big blag, and it can get really spicy because you kind of have to stand your ground. 

‘In a group situation, someone new, who think someone is a wolf, if Jude Bellingham is the wolf and – I don’t know – Conor Gallagher thinks it’s him, he’s got to put himself on the line and go at him.

Other England players have previously spoken about playing Werewolf, including Harry Kane who talked about it back at the Qatar World Cup in December 2022.

Kane said at the time: ‘There are about 16 or 17 of us who play Wolf and it is a great way to kill some time. It also helps with team bonding.

‘When they put that wolf card in, you have to start lying and it is not easy, so I think I am a better villager than I am a wolf.

‘There are definitely a few who are better than me at deceiving people.’

Declan Rice added: ‘It’s about being the best liar. The villagers have got to sniff out the wolves and the wolves have got to lie and tell everyone they are not a wolf. There is a lot of teamwork, ganging up.’