At pivotal moments throughout the game — like when a dead body is found, or someone calls an emergency meetings — all living players will be convened to argue and vote. Should someone be kicked out of the party? And if so, who? To survive, crewmates need to spread reliable information — and quickly — about who’s acting suspicious to save themselves. Impostors need to sow confusion and discord, and lie like their lives depend on it. They often do.

Though the premise of the game is simple, there are tons of settings and features that are in the hands of the players. How fast can the little avatars move? What’s the length of time that an impostor should be barred from killing again after committing one murder? How long do players have to deliberate before a vote? Over time, players developed what’s now widely understood as the basic ruleset for “Among Us” that dictates when players are allowed to talk, what happens when they die, and other simple rules that keep the murder mystery both fair and tense.