Rulebook

Welcome to Jonestown. Word is, there's a cult around these parts.

Townspeople are the good team. They win the moment the Cult Leader is executed. Most Townspeople start the game with no idea who anyone else is.

Cultists are the evil team. They win when the Cult Leader calls for the Kool-Aid and only one Townsperson (or fewer) is left standing outside the cult. Every Cultist except the Cult Leader themselves was, at some point, a Townsperson who got converted.

Renegades are wildcards. They begin the game aligned with the Townspeople and stay aligned with the Townspeople — unless and until the Cult Leader converts them, at which point most of them flip to evil and gain a new, cult-assigned ability. A few Renegades never flip at all; their whole ability is built around the moment of being converted, win or lose. Until converted, a Renegade counts as a Townsperson for every purpose in the game, including winning with the town.

Every game — no matter which set you're playing — has exactly one Cult Leader. There is only one.

The Townspeople win

The instant the Cult Leader is executed, the game ends and every living or dead Townsperson (and any never-converted Renegade) wins — regardless of how many people have already been converted.

The Cultists win

At any point, on their turn to act, the Cult Leader may declare: "Everyone must drink the Kool-Aid." The moment this is declared:

1. Every converted Cultist (every evil player except the Cult Leader) drops dead immediately.
2. The Moderator counts the number of living Townspeople (and never-converted Renegades) remaining.
3. If one or fewer non-evil players are left alive, the Cultists win.
4. If two or more non-evil players are left alive, the call was premature — the Cult Leader has just killed their entire following for nothing, and the game continues with only the Cult Leader left on the evil team.

The Cult Leader is never told exactly how many good players are left; they have to believe they're right, using every piece of information — real or bluffed — that's crossed the table. Calling too early is fatal. Waiting too long risks a Town execution ending the game first.

Jonestown is played in alternating Day and Night phases until one team wins.

Day Phase

During the day, everyone's eyes are open and everyone may speak freely — publicly, privately, in pairs, in groups, however they like. This is the entire game. Townspeople try to share real information and find the Cult Leader. Cultists try to blend in, deflect suspicion, and protect their Leader. If you are evil, you are expected to lie convincingly. The single best evil strategy is to pick a real Townsperson role and claim it as your own, backing it up with plausible (false) information. The Day Phase ends with Nominations.

Night Phase

During the night, everyone closes their eyes. The Moderator wakes specific players in turn, silently, using hand signals (see Part Four), so that they can use their ability or receive information. No one — living or dead — is ever shown who else was woken, unless their own ability specifically tells them so. The night ends when the Moderator has gone through the full night order and announces that it is day again.

(Read aloud and demonstrate each signal as you introduce it.)

• Two taps on your shoulder or knee — open your eyes.
• A hand held flat, palm down, lowering slowly — close your eyes.
• A thumbs-up — yes.
• A thumbs-down — no.
• An open palm, fingers spread, held still — good.
• A closed fist — evil.
• Fingers held up one at a time — a number: 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on.
• A pointed finger toward a player — this is how you, or the Moderator, select a player at night. Point clearly and wait for the Moderator's acknowledgment before lowering your hand.

The Moderator does not speak during the night except to wake and dismiss players. All information is communicated through these signals, or through silent handwritten notes where a signal alone can't carry the answer.

Everything else in this book is detail. If you remember nothing else, remember these four things.

1. You may say whatever you want, whenever you want. This is a talking game, full stop. Talk to the whole table. Pull one person aside. Lie. Tell the truth. Say nothing at all. It's your call, every time.
2. No peeking. Keep your role token, card, or note face-down and private. If the Moderator keeps a master list (a "Ledger" — see Part Six), never look at it. If you accidentally see something you shouldn't, tell the Moderator immediately and quietly — don't let it change how you play.
3. Ask the Moderator anything. Confused about your role, someone else's claimed role, or what just happened at night? Ask. The Moderator is neutral and exists to keep the game fair and fun, not to keep you guessing about the rules.
4. Play nice. This is a game built entirely on deception. Lie to your friends' faces and mean it — that's the game working as intended. But it's still your friends. Nominate with a smile, get executed with grace, and don't take any of it home with you.

Most players in a game of Jonestown will die before it ends — either executed by vote or, in some cases, killed outright by an ability. This is normal, and it does not mean you stop playing.

• A dead player still sits at the table, still talks during the day, and still closes their eyes at night.
• A dead player loses their character ability the instant they die (unless their ability explicitly says otherwise).
• A dead player may no longer nominate.
• A dead player still gets to vote — but only once more, ever, for the rest of the game. Spend it wisely.
• A dead player still wins or loses when their team wins or loses.

Converted players are not dead. A converted Townsperson is very much alive and now playing for the other team — they've simply changed sides and received a new role from the Cult Leader's pool.

The Ledger

The Moderator keeps a private master sheet — the Ledger — tracking every player's true current role and alignment, since these can change over the course of the game. The Ledger is the single source of truth.

1. Any living player may nominate any other living player for execution by saying, aloud, "I nominate ___."
2. A nomination requires a second — another living player who says "seconded" — or it fizzles with no vote taken.
3. There is no limit to how many nominations can happen in a single day.
4. For each seconded nomination, the Moderator calls for a vote: eyes closed, hands raised on three.
5. A nomination needs a true majority of all living players — strictly more than half — to succeed (4 living players needs 3 votes, not 2).
6. Only one execution happens per day — the highest vote total is carried out; ties mean no one is executed.
7. Once someone is executed, no further nominations are taken that day. Move to Night.
8. If a full day of nominations happens and none clears the threshold, no one is executed.

Executions are carried out immediately. Executed roles are kept private in this app — your table never learns an executed player's role.

Two conditions recur throughout the role list. Both can be applied to good or evil players — status effects don't care about alignment.

Tripping

• If they have an information ability, they must be given false information that night.
• If they have an action ability, that action simply fails to happen.
• Tripping lasts exactly as long as its source says, then clears automatically. Tripping that starts at night lasts through that night and the next Day, and ends when the next night begins; Tripping that starts during the Day ends when that night begins.

Mesmerized

• They cannot take any action, or share any information, that would harm whoever mesmerized them.
• Any time they speak about that person, they must speak positively.
• Being Mesmerized does not stop a player from acting or speaking about anyone else normally.

Neither status effect is announced to the table — from the inside, everything feels completely normal.

Enforcement

If the Moderator determines that a player is not being faithful to their Tripping or Mesmerized status, they can execute the player instantly.

At the start of the game, every player is dealt one good role at random from that set's Townsperson and Renegade list. Each night, the Cult Leader chooses one living, non-evil player to convert. That player:

1. Immediately changes allegiance to the Cultists.
2. Loses their old ability entirely (unless their role specifically says it lingers).
3. Is assigned a brand-new evil role, chosen by the Cult Leader from that set's remaining Cultist pool.

A Renegade who gets converted follows their own card exactly — some flip to a new evil role like everyone else, and some have a unique one-time effect instead and never receive an evil role at all.

The Cult Leader can't be targeted by the Actor, the Intelligence Officer, or the Meddler. Choosing the Cult Leader with one of those abilities (or, for the Actor, any evil player) does nothing, and a once-per-game ability is still used up.

Jonestown ships with two complete, self-contained sets — Set 1: Beers on the Beach and Set 2: Sipping on Sunshine. Each is independently balanced. Never mix roles from different sets into the same game.

1. Choose a set. Don't mix Set 1 and Set 2 roles.
2. Deal roles. Every player gets one good role, dealt at random, face-down. The Cult Leader is dealt separately.
3. Run Night Zero, if the set has one, resolving any start-of-game passive knowledge before Day 1 begins.
4. Announce Day 1.
5. Alternate Day and Night until either the Cult Leader is executed or the Kool-Aid is called and resolves in the Cultists' favor.
6. Keep the Ledger updated every single time an alignment or role changes.
7. When in doubt, favor the Townspeople's information being real.

Welcome to Jonestown. Don't drink anything you didn't pour yourself.

Every living player — regardless of role or alignment, converted or not — has this ability by default, the same way the Cult Leader always has the Kool-Aid. It works entirely during the day, independent of nominations; call one any time, regardless of what else is happening at the table that day.

1. Any living player may call Alert by choosing their left or right living seat-neighbor.
2. That neighbor is asked, in the moment: Continue or Reject. If they Continue, the next living player further in that same direction is asked the same thing.
3. A single Reject, anywhere in the chain, kills the whole attempt — nothing happens.
4. If all 3 (the caller and both chained neighbors) Continue, the chain is confirmed: all 3 say "Alert" out loud, then discuss and choose one player to execute on the spot.
5. If that chosen player is the Cult Leader, they die immediately — same as any other execution. If they are not the Cult Leader, nothing happens to them; the attempt is simply over.
6. Each player may call Alert at most once per day. A rejected attempt still counts against that cap.

Both of the following are toggled by the Moderator before the game starts, in the Roles in Play setup screen. Both default off.

Rule of Three

The first day that begins with the Cult (Cult Leader included) at 4 or more living members, the town has that one day to execute a Cult member. Fail to, and the Townspeople win instantly. (It keeps the Cult at 3 for an extra turn: once it grows to 4, it has to give one of its own up.) If the town succeeds, the game simply continues.

Cult Mania

If a Cult Member nominates the Cult Leader, a different Cult Member seconds it, and the resulting vote passes and the Cult Leader is executed, the nominating Cult Member becomes the new Cult Leader on the spot — inheriting the role and the ability to convert — instead of the game ending. If a living Hostage is in play, the Hostage shields the real Cult Leader from this exactly as it does from any other execution, and Cult Mania does not trigger.

Every Townsperson role belongs to one of three tiers, which decide when its ability starts working. Renegade and Cultist roles aren't tiered.

• Guards act from the start of the game.
• Supporters act from the beginning of Day 2.
• Slackers act from the beginning of Day 3.

A night counts as part of the Day before it (Day 2 is followed by Night 2), so a Supporter's first night ability is on Night 2 and a Slacker's on Night 3. Abilities that trigger on their own (for example the Crazy Old Man, the Veteran and the Registrar) also only work from their tier's day on. Each role card and role list shows the role's tier.