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Werewords

Werewords is 20 Questions with hidden roles. The mayor sequences yes/no questions to binary-search the word while werewolves inject false negatives at critical branches.

Quick winning principles

  • Mayor opens with category-narrowing questions before letter questions.
  • Seer waits until 3 questions remain before revealing—early reveal helps werewolves.
  • Werewolves say NO on the question that would halve the search space most.
  • Villagers count inconsistent answers; one lie pattern identifies the werewolf.

Ideal strategy

  1. 1

    Mayor binary tree: first question should split candidate space 50/50 (living/non-living, proper noun/common noun). Never ask 'is it an animal' when 60% of words are animals.

  2. 2

    Werewolf timing: lie on question 4-6, not question 1—early lies are obvious; late lies run out of time to recover.

  3. 3

    Seer hold: reveal only when remaining candidates are <8 and werewolf hasn't lied yet—forces werewolf to lie on high-entropy question.

  4. 4

    Villager consistency tracking: log YES/NO per player; werewolves cluster false answers on the same semantic branch.

  5. 5

    Endgame rush: at 30 seconds, mayor switches from narrowing to direct guesses—binary search fails under time pressure.