The Saboteurs see you. In big games, you see no one.
The Rat
Get elected Chief Engineer when it counts.
The Rat is the most asymmetric role in Service Rat. You are on the Saboteur team in spirit and on the win screen, but how much you know depends on the table size. In a 5–6 player game you learn your single Saboteur ally at role reveal - the same rule the original board game uses. In a 7–10 player game you see exactly one piece of information: your own role. The Saboteurs always see each other and they see you - they know they have to protect you, and they will, but in bigger games you will never quite know which Yes votes were friends and which were Workers being polite. Play it solo, and stay boring until the right moment.
Goal
The Rat wins whenever the Saboteur faction wins, but there is one win condition that belongs to the Rat directly: get yourself elected Chief Engineer once three or more Sabotage blueprints are already on the board. You lose if the Workers enact five Modernizations, or if the CEO terminates you with an executive directive.
How to play this role
In Nomination and Voting, your job is to look exactly like a Worker. Vote on evidence, not on vibes - Saboteurs are reading your votes too and will follow you when they can. Do not protest too loudly when accused; calm denials read Worker, defensive monologues read Rat. Accept being out of the CEO seat for long stretches: the goal is not to lead, the goal is to be the obvious compromise pick once the board is heavy with Sabotages.
When you handle blueprints, play the deck math honestly until you must lie. There are eleven Sabotages and six Modernizations - drawing two Sabotages and a Modernization as CEO is the most common hand in the game, and any Worker with a calculator knows it. Your reads on the deck will be picked apart in discussion, so keep your claims plausible and brief. Remember the Saboteurs are watching you discard; they will calibrate their lies to yours.
End-game is yours. Once three Sabotages are on the board, every Chief Engineer nomination is a potential winning move - the Saboteurs know this, so they will push your name. Do not push it yourself. Let a Saboteur (or even a confused Worker) nominate you. Remember term limits: if you served as CEO on the previous shift you cannot take the chair, so you may need to spend a shift in the background before the Saboteurs can set the table for you again.
Quick tips
- In 7–10 player games you do not know the Saboteurs. Do not guess; observe. In 5–6 player games you know your one ally - never let your eyes drift to them.
- Never nominate yourself for Chief Engineer - let someone else do it.
- Vote consistently with the room's reads, not with hunches; a Rat who breaks pattern is a Rat who gets terminated.
- Watch the Sabotage count; from three onward, every Chief Engineer vote is potentially the final one.
- Dodge Audits. An Audit reveals party affiliation, and your file reads Saboteur - one audit plus one Termination directive ends your game.
- Stay quiet in heated arguments; survivors talk less.
Common mistakes
- Acting like you have a team in a 7–10 player game. You do not - the Saboteurs have a team that includes you, but you know no one. Any wink or knowing nod is a tell.
- Pushing for the Chief Engineer chair too early. Before three Sabotages are on the board, taking the chair only burns your cover.
- Voting suspiciously in lockstep with one player. The Saboteurs may follow your lead, but the table will see the pair and shoot the wrong one - or worse, the right one.
- Forgetting your term limit. If you served as CEO last shift, you cannot be nominated this shift, so do not let the Saboteurs waste a setup on an illegal nomination.
Think you can hold your nerve as the Rat? Download Service Rat free and host a table for five to ten players.