Termination
Termination is the directive everyone fears. The CEO must permanently remove one player from the game, with no vote and no appeal. A terminated player keeps their secret role but can no longer speak up, vote, or hold office. It's Service Rat's version of the Secret Hitler power called Execution, and it can end the game on the spot.
What it does
When Termination triggers, the CEO chooses one living player and that player is out for good. They take no further actions, but their role stays hidden unless the removal itself reveals it (see below). With a player gone, the alive count drops. That can flip the small-table term-limit exception on, and it shrinks the pool every future directive can target.
The instant-win rule
If the terminated player is the Rat, the Workers win the game immediately. There are no further Shifts and no final card count; the moment the Rat is removed, it's over. This is the single most decisive button in Service Rat.
That rule is the entire tension of the directive. Every Worker wants to use Termination on the Rat; the trouble is nobody can be certain who the Rat is, since a Personnel Audit only reveals party (Worker or Saboteur), not the specific Rat. Terminate a Worker and you've just handed numbers to the bad team; terminate the Rat and you've won outright.
When it unlocks
Termination is the one directive that's identical at every table size. It fires at the 4th Sabotage blueprint in all games, 5 through 10 players. At the 5th Sabotage it fires again, and that fifth Sabotage also unlocks Veto. By the time Termination is on the table, the board is one Sabotage away from a Saboteur victory, so the pressure to use it well is immense.
Strategy
As a Worker CEO
Don't fire on a hunch unless you're desperate. Pool everything the table knows — audit results, voting patterns, who pushed bad governments — and aim at the most likely Rat. If you genuinely can't pin the Rat, terminating a confirmed Saboteur still strips the evil team of a vote and a future officeholder. A wasted Termination on a Worker, with the board at four Sabotage, often loses the game.
As a Saboteur or Rat CEO
If you're a Saboteur (not the Rat) holding this directive, you can spend it to remove the Workers' sharpest mind, the player who's been tracking suspicion most accurately, and frame it as a justified read. Never terminate the Rat. If you ARE the Rat with the directive in hand, your goal flips: you simply avoid being the one terminated, and you can fire a threatening Worker to thin their ranks. The danger for the bad team is obviousness, since a Termination that conveniently removes the loudest accuser invites scrutiny.
Where it fits in the bigger picture
Termination is one of five CEO directives — the full set and unlock grid live on the directives hub. The instant-win-on-Rat rule connects directly to how the Rat survives, and the fifth-Sabotage double-up ties into Veto.
The app enforces the instant-win check the moment the Rat is terminated. Free on Android and iOS, no account.