How to play Heist — a free online hidden-traitor game like The Resistance
Five jobs, one crew, a few Moles. Vote on who goes in.
- Players
- 5–8
- Length
- ~20 min
- Type
- Deduce
- Price
- Free
Heist is a game about trust. A crew of five to eight people takes on five jobs: a bank vault, a museum gala, a night train. Two or three of them are secretly Moles. The Moles know who each other are. Everyone else only knows that they themselves are honest.
Each job, one player leads and picks who goes in. The whole table votes on that crew, and the crew then plays a card in secret: Clean or Sabotage. You only ever learn how many sabotage cards were played, never who played them. So the real game is the arguing in between. If you've played The Resistance or Avalon, you already know how it works. Heist runs in the browser, so nobody installs anything.
The arguing between jobs is the game, so a call helps. A group chat works too. Your role is on your screen alone.
Free, no app and no sign-up to join — players hop in with a 4-letter code on their own phone.
How to play Heist
Get five to eight people in a room
Heist needs at least five seats. Blips, the site's bot players, can fill empty ones. With five or six players there are two Moles; with seven or eight there are three.
Check your role
Your phone tells you whether you're Crew or a Mole. A Mole also sees who the other Moles are. Keep your screen to yourself.
The leader picks a crew
Each job needs a set number of people, from two up to five depending on the job and how many are playing. The leader taps who goes. Leadership moves to the next player after every vote.
Everyone votes on the crew
All votes are cast at the same time, then shown with names. A crew needs more Approves than Rejects. If five crews in a row are rejected, the Moles win, so the table can't stall forever.
The crew plays a card in secret
Everyone on the job picks Clean or Sabotage. The Crew can only play Clean. One sabotage card fails the job, except job 4 with seven or more players, which needs two.
See the count, argue, repeat
The result shows only how many sabotage cards were played. The vote log keeps every proposal and every vote, so you can look back at who backed which crew.
What Heist looks like
How scoring works
The Crew win as soon as three jobs come off clean.
The Moles win as soon as three jobs are sabotaged, or when five proposed crews in a row are voted down.
There are no individual points to chase. Everyone on the winning side wins together, and the game-over screen shows the two sides with every role revealed.
With the Inside man rule on, one Crew member is the Mastermind and is shown the Moles. If the Crew win three jobs, the Moles get one guess at who the Mastermind is. Get it right and they steal the win.
Tips for winning Heist
- Watch the votes, not just the jobs. A player who keeps approving crews that fail is telling you something.
- As a Mole you don't have to sabotage every time. Playing Clean on an early job can buy you trust for a later one.
- Small crews tell you the most. If a crew of two fails, one of those two is a Mole.
- On the fifth proposal, the Crew should approve. A rejection there hands the Moles the game.
- If you're the Mastermind, don't be right too often. The Moles are watching for whoever always seems to know.
Frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Heist?
Five to eight. Blips can fill seats, so three people plus two Blips is enough to start.
Is Heist the same as The Resistance?
It plays the same way: secret traitors, a leader proposing a team, a public vote and secret mission cards. The crew sizes follow the usual table. Inside man is our take on the Merlin and Assassin roles from Avalon.
What happens if someone doesn't vote or play in time?
A vote that isn't cast counts as Approve. A crew member who doesn't play counts as Clean. If the leader runs out of time, a crew is picked for them, always including the leader.
Do we need to be on a call?
It's much better with voice, because the discussion between jobs is where the game happens. A group chat works too.
How long does a game take?
Usually 15 to 25 minutes. It can end after three jobs, and rejected crews add extra rounds of voting.
Is it free?
Yes. It's free to play and free to host, and you don't need an account to join a room.
Free, no app and no sign-up to join — players hop in with a 4-letter code on their own phone.