Want to get inside summer’s next big blockbuster? Do you want to feel like you’re inside the movie? Do you not trust your friends, and think that they
might secretly be Snakes? Then this is the game for you.
(this is an blatant ripoff adaptation of the classic game Werewolf, also known as Mafia. I have taken the Looney Labs‘ rules writeup and modified for Snakey goodness.)
Materials: You’ll need to print out and cut the custom Snakes on a Plane game cards. The first page is here, and the second page here. If you want to get fancy, you can print this on the back of the pages. (They’re high-res, so you’ll need to save them to your harddrive.) You can also just download this PDF (warning, 8MB) and take it to your friendly local printer and get it printed double-sided. It’s very important the cards are identical, so if you can’t get them uniform, put them in card sleeves. You’ll need two cards that say “Snake” plus one that says “Marshall” and up to twelve that say “Passenger.” You’ll also need a five minute timer: a kitchen timer works well for this.
Instructions: Assemble a plane full of 8-15 people. Most players will be ordinary passengers, but two will secretly be harboring deadly snakes. A third player is the badass Marshall, able to root out the snakes from their hiding places. Lastly, a Captain is needed.
Setup: Shuffle together both Snake cards, the Marshall card, and enough passenger cards so that there is one card for everybody. Deal a card to each player, face down. Everyone secretly looks at their card, and may not reveal it until they are killed. The Captain is in charge of keeping the game moving, but is not actually playing, and receives no card.
Snake Attack: Every round, the Snakes will bite someone, and the Marshall will learn the truth about one player. The Captain tells everyone to close their eyes. Everyone makes noise (with one hand only!) to simulate the turbulence and sounds of flying. After that, the Captain tells the Snakes to open their eyes. They must come to a consensus about which Passenger they will bite. Once they have picked someone, the Captain notes who was picked, and tells the Snakes to close their eyes. Then the Captain tells the Marshall to wake up. The Marshall points to someone that they think might be a Snake. The Captain signals a thumbs up if that player is a Snake, and thumbs down if they are an ordinary Passenger. Then the Captain tells the Marshall to close his eyes. The Captain then signals that the Passengers are free to move about the cabin, and they open their eyes. The Captain then says “I’m sorry, but the Snakes have claimed another victim…” and names the player chosen by the Snakes. That player reveals his card, and is dead. That player may say nothing for the rest of the game, nor communicate with the group in any way. The Captain sets the timer for 15 minutes, and begin to discuss.
“I want these motherf@$%ing snakes off this motherf@$%ing plane!”: Players then discuss who they think is a Snake. At any point, a player may nominate another player and say “I want this motherf@$%ing snake off this motherf@$%ing plane!” By show of hands, the players then vote. If a majority of hands is raised, that player is killed. His card is flipped over, and that player is out. Begin a new Snake Attack. If no majority is reached within 15 minutes, a new Snake Attack happens without any accusation deaths.
Game Over: Repeat the two phases until the snakes are dead, or the number of snakes and passengers are equal, in which case the snakes overrun the plane, killing all the passengers. All players still alive at the end of the game are the winners.
(Images taken from the Snakes on a Plane site, used without express permission, but listed as available promotional materials.)
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