AMIGO's Saboteur (German box shown)Photo: AMIGO
Lay path cards towards the hidden goldPhoto: Achim Raschka, CC BY-SA 4.0
The 20th-anniversary edition (2024) puts Saboteur and Saboteur 2 in one boxPhoto: AMIGO
Video

Card game

Saboteur

Dwarves dig for gold while hidden saboteurs try to block the tunnel

3–10players · best with 5-8
30–45 minplaying time
8+recommended age
Learning curve
Easy2 / 5
EasyDemanding
Luck & skill
More luck than skill
LuckSkill
Interaction
High
Set-up
About 3 min
Reading
Little

The quick verdict

Full verdict ↓

Great for Big groups of 5 to 10, such as cousins at a Diwali get-together or a school-holiday sleepover

Think twice if You usually play with 3 or 4; with so few saboteurs, some rounds can feel flat

How we rate it

Learning curve. The card rules are simple, but new players need a round to understand hidden roles and when to sabotage.

Luck & skill. Which path and action cards you draw matters a lot; reading other players and timing your sabotage are the skill.

Interaction. Players break each other's tools, block the tunnel and argue about who the saboteurs are.

Set-up. Sort the role cards for the player count, lay out the start and goal cards, deal hands.

Reading. Cards are mostly pictures and symbols; the rulebook is the only real reading.

Learning curve: 1 = UNO or Connect 4; 3 = Catan; 5 = a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.

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Is Saboteur right for you?

Great if

  • Big groups of 5 to 10, such as cousins at a Diwali get-together or a school-holiday sleepover
  • Families with children from about 8 who enjoy a bit of suspicion and pointing fingers
  • Groups who like Mafia-style games but want something with cards on the table instead of a narrator
  • A small box that is easy to carry to a friend's house or on holiday

Skip it if

  • You usually play with 3 or 4; with so few saboteurs, some rounds can feel flat
  • Your group dislikes being targeted with broken tools or not knowing whom to trust
  • You want a strategy game where the luck of the draw matters little

How Saboteur plays

Set-up: take the dwarf (role) cards for your player count, for example 2 saboteurs and 4 gold miners for 5 players, shuffle them and deal one secretly to each player; one card is always left out unseen. Lay the start card on the table and the three goal cards face down a set distance away, as shown in the rules. Only one goal card hides the gold. Then deal a hand of path and action cards: 6 each with 3 to 5 players, 5 with 6 or 7, and 4 with 8 to 10.

  • Time to teach: about 10 minutes.
  • Reading and language: The path and action cards use pictures and symbols, and the role cards only need to be recognised, not read. The rulebook is in English; there is no Hindi edition, but once one person knows the rules the game is easy to explain in any language.

How To Play Saboteur Card Game in 4 Minutes · Tabletop Duo

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A turn, step by step

  1. 1
    Build

    Lay a path card that connects back to the start card, or play an action card on another player.

  2. 2
    Sabotage

    Break a player's lantern, cart or pickaxe, repair your own, drop a rockfall on the tunnel, or peek at a goal card with a map.

  3. 3
    Draw

    Draw a card to refill your hand; if you can't help, discard one face down instead.

  4. 4
    Win

    Miners win a round by reaching the gold, saboteurs by stopping them; after three rounds, the most gold nuggets wins.

Read the official rules (PDF)Saboteur - rules (English) · English
The full explanation: how a game of Saboteur goes

A turn: do one thing, then draw a card. Play a path card to extend the tunnel from the start card (every path has to line up with its neighbours); play an action card; or pass by discarding a card face down. Action cards break another player's lantern, mine cart or pickaxe so they cannot lay path cards until it is repaired, repair a broken tool, cause a rockfall that removes a piece of tunnel, or let you secretly peek at one goal card with a map.

End of a round: if the tunnel reaches the gold, the gold miners win and share out gold cards, starting with the player who reached it. If the cards run out first, the saboteurs win and each takes gold nuggets: 4 for a lone saboteur, 3 each for 2 or 3 saboteurs, 2 each for 4. Then everyone reveals their role, the roles are reshuffled, and a new round begins.

How you win: after three rounds, the player with the most gold nuggets wins. Gold cards stay secret until the end, so nobody is sure who is ahead.

Tip: a clever saboteur plays helpful cards early and only blocks when it matters, so watch who lays dead ends, who keeps peeking with maps, and who never breaks anyone's tools. AMIGO also publishes extra variants on its website, and the Saboteur 2 expansion adds teams and new roles.

What's in the box

Lay path cards towards the hidden gold · Photo: Achim Raschka, CC BY-SA 4.0
  • 44Path cards
    including 1 start card and 3 goal cards, one of which shows the gold
  • 27Action cards
    broken tools, repairs, rockfalls and treasure maps
  • 28Gold cards
    worth 1, 2 or 3 nuggets
  • 11Dwarf (role) cards
    7 gold miners and 4 saboteurs
  • 1Rulebook

AMIGO's product page lists 110 cards (44 path, 28 gold, 27 action and 11 dwarf cards) and a rulebook; its English rules give the same counts and the 7 miners and 4 saboteurs. The split of gold cards (16 one-nugget, 8 two-nugget, 4 three-nugget) comes from Wikipedia and was not checked against a box. The English editions of 2015 described by ICv2 list the same contents.

Where to buy

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How to make sure you get a genuine copyEditions and the details worth checking.

About the editions

There is no Indian edition of Saboteur: copies sold in India are imported English editions of AMIGO's card game. Indian store listings also carry AMIGO's board-game spin-offs, Saboteur: The Lost Mines and Saboteur: The Dark Cave, which are different games. Our Amazon.in button goes to the AMIGO base card game in English, which is the one to start with.

Before you choose

  • The box should carry the AMIGO logo and credit Frederic Moyersoen as the designer.
  • Count the cards: 44 path cards (including the start card and three goal cards), 27 action cards, 28 gold cards and 11 dwarf cards (7 gold miners and 4 saboteurs), 110 in all.
  • All dwarf cards must look identical from the back, and so must the three goal cards; only one goal card shows gold on its face.
  • The rules should be AMIGO's illustrated rulebook in English; a photocopied sheet or a box with no publisher name is a warning sign.
  • Check you are not buying Saboteur 2 by mistake: it is an expansion and cannot be played on its own.

What reviewers and players say

Saboteur has been in print since 2004, and reviewers like it because it is quick to teach and works with up to ten people. They enjoy the suspicion and accusations of the hidden roles, the chaos of tools being broken, and how well it suits non-gamers and big groups. The usual complaints are that saboteurs find it hard to win, that it feels flat with only three or four players, and that a player who is blocked for a long time can only discard. Most reviewers see it as a light, social game rather than a strategy game.

What people love

  • Teaches in minutes and works with up to ten players
  • The suspicion and finger-pointing of hidden roles
  • Small box with sturdy cards that is easy to carry
  • Non-gamers and families pick it up quickly

Common complaints

  • Saboteurs can find it hard to win
  • Feels flat with only three or four players
  • Blocked players can be stuck discarding for several turns
Based on 5 reviews and discussions

Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.

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Questions people ask about Saboteur

Can 2 people play Saboteur?

Not the base game, which is for 3 to 10 players. AMIGO makes a separate two-player version, Saboteur: The Duel, and the Saboteur 2 expansion stretches play to 2 to 12, but it needs the base game.

How many saboteurs are there in Saboteur?

The role cards include 1 saboteur with 3 or 4 players, 2 with 5 or 6, 3 with 7 to 9 and 4 with 10, and one role card is always left out unseen. That means a round with 3 or 4 players can have no saboteur at all, which keeps everyone guessing.

What is the difference between Saboteur and Saboteur 2?

Saboteur 2 is an expansion, not a separate game: you need the base cards to play it. It adds new path cards such as doors, bridges and ladders, new actions like theft and swapping hands, and new roles, with the miners split into blue and green teams.

Is Saboteur good for kids?

AMIGO says 8 and up. The rules are short and the cards are mostly pictures, so children pick it up quickly; younger ones may need help keeping their role secret and may find having their tools broken frustrating.

Is Saboteur available in Hindi?

No Hindi edition exists, and the boxes sold in India are in English. Because the path and action cards use symbols, the game is easy to explain in Hindi or any other language once one person has read the rules.

Game facts

Designed by
Frederic Moyersoen
Publisher
AMIGO (AMIGO Spiel + Freizeit GmbH, Dietzenbach, Germany)
First published
2004
Players
3–10
Language
Little reading – The path and action cards use pictures and symbols, and the role cards only need to be recognised, not read. The rulebook is in English; there is no Hindi edition, but once one person knows the rules the game is easy to explain in any language.
Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.

Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.