Service Rat · How to Play

How to Play Service Rat

Service Rat is a free social deduction game for 5–10 players where Workers try to Modernize a failing enterprise while Saboteurs quietly bankrupt it. A typical match runs 20–45 minutes. This is the complete guide: setup, the five phases of a Shift, the CEO Directives, win conditions, and quick strategy notes for each role.

Coming from the card game? Read the rules of the original Secret Hitler, explained — Service Rat uses the same election-and-policy core under a corporate-dystopia coat of paint, so everything below will feel familiar.

Setup

At the start of every game, each player gets a secret role:

• Workers — the majority. They do not know who is who.
• Saboteurs — a hidden minority. They know each other and know who The Rat is.
• The Rat — one player, allied with the Saboteurs. The Rat does not know who the Saboteurs are.

Role distribution scales with player count (how player count changes the game →):

• 5 players: 3 Workers, 1 Saboteur, 1 Rat
• 6: 4 Workers, 1 Saboteur, 1 Rat
• 7: 4 Workers, 2 Saboteurs, 1 Rat
• 8: 5 Workers, 2 Saboteurs, 1 Rat
• 9: 5 Workers, 3 Saboteurs, 1 Rat
• 10: 6 Workers, 3 Saboteurs, 1 Rat

The blueprint deck is 17 cards total: 6 Modernization and 11 Sabotage. The deck is intentionally biased — Workers cannot just sit back and hope. Bots can fill any empty seat in any mode (Pass & Play, LAN, or Online).

The five phases of a Shift

Each round is called a Shift. A Shift cycles through five phases:

Term limits ("Staff quarantine")

This is the most disputed rule at any table, so here it is in one quotable sentence: the previous CEO and the previous Chief Engineer cannot be nominated as Chief Engineer. One exception: when 5 or fewer players are alive, only the previous Chief Engineer is term-limited — the previous CEO becomes eligible again. Term limits only restrict the Chief Engineer nomination; nobody is ever blocked from becoming CEO, since that seat rotates automatically (or is assigned by an Extraordinary Shift).

CEO Directives

Directives unlock as Sabotage blueprints accumulate, and the thresholds depend on player count. In a 5–6 player game the first directive is Blueprint Preview at the third Sabotage; in a 9–10 player game, Personnel Audit fires at the very first. Every table reaches Termination at the fourth Sabotage. Each directive, in depth →

• Personnel Audit — the CEO secretly checks a player's file (Worker or Saboteur). Each player can only be audited once. The CEO can lie about the result.
• Blueprint Preview — the CEO secretly views the top 3 blueprints in the archive. They can lie about what they saw.
• Extraordinary Shift — the CEO personally chooses the next CEO. After that special Shift, normal rotation resumes.
• Termination — the CEO must terminate one player permanently. If the Rat is terminated, Workers win the game.

Directives by player count

This is the exact directive table the app uses — the row is the Sabotage blueprint that was just enacted, the column is the number of players the game started with:

Veto Power and Chaos on the Floor

Veto Power unlocks after 5 Sabotage blueprints have been enacted. Once unlocked, the Chief Engineer may request a veto before enacting a blueprint. The CEO can approve (both blueprints discarded, downtime tracker advances by one) or deny (Chief Engineer must enact as normal).

Chaos on the Floor is triggered by three consecutive failed votes. The top blueprint is auto-enacted with no CEO/Chief Engineer involvement and the downtime tracker resets. Saboteurs deliberately block votes to trigger Chaos when the draw pile is stacked in their favor.

Four ways to win

1. Workers win by enacting 5 Modernization blueprints.
2. Workers win by Terminating The Rat via a CEO Directive.
3. Saboteurs win by enacting 6 Sabotage blueprints.
4. Saboteurs win if The Rat is appointed Chief Engineer when 3+ Sabotage blueprints are already on the board.

Quick strategy by role

Each role has its own full guide: Worker strategy, Saboteur strategy, and how to play The Rat — or start from the role guides hub. Here is the one-paragraph version for each role:

• Worker: Pattern recognition wins. Who votes No on every nomination? Who hands you two Sabotage blueprints after a clean draw pile? Take notes mentally and reference enacted blueprints when discussing.
• Saboteur: Stay reasonable in the first two Shifts. Drop the hammer mid-game when the deck favors you. Always have a credible lie ready about what you discarded as CEO.
• The Rat: Until the Sabotage track crosses 3, play exactly like a Worker. After that, get yourself appointed Chief Engineer — but never name yourself as the Rat, and avoid suspicion at any cost.

Three ways to play

The same rules apply to every mode. You choose how the game is hosted:

• Pass & Play — one phone is passed around the table. Best for in-person groups with one device.
• LAN Multiplayer — all players on the same Wi-Fi, each on their own device. Best for offices or game nights with everyone present.
• Online Multiplayer — share a room code, play from anywhere. Best for remote groups, with no account required. See how to set up an online room step by step.

All three modes support AI bot players to fill any empty seats — a 4-player human group can play a 5-player game with one bot, for example.

Still arguing about an edge case? The FAQ covers common rules questions — Chaos on the Floor, Veto Power, who knows whom, and more.