The rules of the show
How to Play an Online Social Deduction Game
Fool's CarnEvil is a free online social deduction game for 4 to 20 players. Everyone is dealt a carnival character, one of you is secretly the Ringmaster, and the rest have one goal: work out who it is before the lights find you. Play with friends over a shared link, or alone against carnival AI.
Getting a game going
- Set how many guests you want at the show — any empty chair is filled by a carnival AI player.
- Tap "Play with friends" and share the invite link, or tap "Play solo" to start immediately.
- Everyone opens the link, types a name and joins. The host starts the show.
- Lose connection? Return to the same code on the same device and you get your seat, character and everything you had learned back.
The characters
The Ringmaster
The hidden villain. Exactly one Ringmaster is dealt into every show. Each night the Ringmaster chooses one guest for the dark to take. By day the Ringmaster talks, votes and lies like everyone else.
The Fortune Teller
Each night the Fortune Teller asks the cards about one guest and learns a single yes-or-no answer: is this person the Ringmaster? Sharing that too early usually paints a target.
The Strongman
Once per game the Strongman shields one guest for the night. If the Ringmaster comes for that guest, nobody is taken.
The Flamethrower
One flame, one night, no take-backs. The Flamethrower can burn a guest outright — powerful, and disastrous if aimed at an innocent.
Audience Members
No night ability. Their power is talk: reading the room, tracking who defended whom, and steering the vote.
The phases of a round
1. Night
The lights drop. Everyone with a night ability chooses a target in private. Nobody sees anybody else's choice — the results are worked out by the carnival, not by players.
2. The carnival remembers
A short piece of narration tells the group what the night cost, without naming who did what.
3. Discussion
Everyone talks in the shared chat for the time the host chose (45, 75 or 120 seconds). Compare stories, ask for claims, notice who avoids answering.
4. Voting
Each living guest votes for one person to be sent out of the show. You can change your vote until the timer hits zero. The highest count is eliminated; a tie means nobody goes.
How a show ends
The guests win the moment the Ringmaster is voted out or burned. The Ringmaster wins when the remaining guests can no longer outvote them. Either way, the final curtain reveals every character, so you can argue about it afterwards.
Strategy that actually helps
- Say something every discussion. Silence reads as hiding, even when you are innocent.
- As the Fortune Teller, hold your reading until it changes a vote — claiming on the first morning is the fastest way to be taken that night.
- As the Strongman, shield the loudest confirmed-helpful player, not yourself.
- As the Flamethrower, wait for real evidence. A wasted flame usually loses the game.
- As the Ringmaster, vote with the crowd, agree early, and take out the people who ask the sharpest questions.
- Track claims out loud: who accused whom, and who quietly changed their story.