Should you buy Don’t Get Stabbed?

Don’t Get Stabbed* is a fast-paced, card drawing party game about not getting stabbed by your friend in the 80s.

In this article we’re going to help you decide whether it’s worth buying the game, and share some quick links to buy it. Full disclosure: If you do buy the game using our links, we will get a small fee from our partners to help keep the site running, but it won’t cost you anything!

In Don’t Get Stabbed*, a group of plucky survivors star in an 80s-style slasher movie, trying to escape another player, who is doing their best to stab them. This asymmetrical approach to the game is similar in style to video games like Dead By Daylight or Damned, where the survivors are working cooperatively against one player who has more power than they do.

Cards are drawn from the deck on each player’s turn, with the survivors trying to find pairs of cards to find car cards, which allow them to win by escaping (presumably the killer’s tiny scooter is not fast enough to catch up until the sequel).

Players draw one of three types of card from a shared deck:

• Combo cards, which allow them to build their pairs
• Action cards, which allow them to gain an advantage against the killer or survive a good stabbing
• Stab cards, which… stab you. You don’t want to get stabbed. Hence the title.

The killer draws from the same deck as the players, and has a slightly different goal. For one thing, the killer is also looking for combo cards, but needs 3 cards instead of 2. Instead of building a car part, completing a combo means the killer can remove one, setting back the progress of the team. The killer’s action cards have different effects (neatly represented by double-ended cards), and crucially, when the killer draws a Stab, they get to secretly place it in the deck, so that they can try to target the survivors that seem the weakest.

Don’t Get Stabbed* is extremely easy to learn, as there’s sadly not the most amount of decision-making involved – you’re mostly just drawing cards from the top of the deck and hoping not to get stabbed (or hoping to find a stab if you’re the killer). I would normally say that this would make it great for kids, as this kind of high-variance, low-control gameplay makes it easy for them to play with adults, but the game is 18+.

That being said, I’m not sure why it’s 18+. There’s only two factors I can think of that have caused this:

1. There’s a combo card named “Have Sex”, which has no explicit imagery on it, but is obviously not the most appropriate.
2. The whole stabbing thing, but society seems to believe it’s fine for kids to witness violent stabbings, so long as there isn’t any nudity involved.

So whether it’s appropriate for your family is really your call. Personally, I wouldn’t think there’d be too much issue playing this with kids aged 12-14+ unless they’re extremely sheltered.

The simplicity and theme of the game also mean that it’s an ideal party game for playing while drunk, and would make a pretty great drinking game (our rules: Drink if you get stabbed, killer drinks if the stab is blocked, everyone drinks whenever anyone completes a combo). At the very least, it’s a game that is playable even by people who don’t enjoy deep strategic thinking or are fans of traditional games where you simply roll and obey the dice.

Don’t Get Stabbed is an extremely cheap game to pick up, at just $25 before discounts over on Amazon* (as much as we’re not usually a fan of Amazon, we’re still looking for a US distributor to partner with, and this game isn’t the easiest to find). It’s a small box with cute artwork, nice production value, and a catchy theme that provides some low-effort entertainment for small groups of friends on a Saturday night.

• Murder of Crows* is a more complex game with a similar theme, featuring a shared deck and gruesome tales of murder and treachery.
• If you like the idea of a cooperative card game, but want to avoid all the stabbing, then The Crew: Mission Deep Sea* might be up your alley.
• If you want a quick, fun party game that supports more than 5 players for Halloween, check out One Night Ultimate Werewolf*

Looking for more Halloweeny games? Why not check out our spooooooky 13 board games for Halloween parties?

Overall, while I wouldn’t say that Don’t Get Stabbed* is a favourite, it definitely seemed like the sort of low-effort, low-stakes game that could be fun for small groups of tipsy friends who enjoy horror movies or want a party game for Halloween, but don’t like having to learn complicated rules. I personally would’ve enjoyed a little more interaction and agency than simply “draw cards and hope for the best”, but that’s more my preference than anything.

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