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Among Us 101

What is Among Us?

Among Us is an online multiplayer game that’s kind of like Mafia. You can have it on PC, Mac (iMac and MacBook) or mobile (iOS and Android). It is currently the most popular game for mobile devices. Created by InnerSloth in 2018 this game went viral during quarantine. Why is that? Well, because of social distancing and quarantining, people couldn’t (and still can’t) gather to do things together. People were using online games to hang out with friends, classmates, teachers and even family. Among Us went viral probably because the game could have multiple people in it at once. Minecraft can only have up to 6 people in it unless you’re playing in an online server or in a Minecraft Realm, but Among Us can have up to 10 people in it. That means larger amounts of people can play together. Another reason might be because of the accessibility and cost. Among Us is free on mobile devices and is only about $5 on PCs. If you play Among Us on a PC and your friend plays Among Us on his/her/their phone or tablet you can still play together. This is different from other games like Minecraft where people on PCs can only play with people on mobile if they have a special version of the game known as Minecraft Bedrock Edition. There is only one version of Among Us.


How do you play Among Us?

Once you have the people you will be playing with, you are divided into two teams. Based on the number of players there will be a certain number of imposters and crewmates, which you will learn more about later. If you have 4-6 players there will be 1 imposter and 3-5 crewmates. If you have 7-8 players there will be 2 imposters and 5-6 crewmates. If you have 9-10 players there will be 3 imposters and 6-7 crewmates. You won’t tell anyone whether you’re an imposter or a crewmate.

In Among Us there are 2 different goals. The imposters are trying to kill everyone, and the crewmates are trying to figure out who the imposters are OR complete all their tasks before the imposters kill everyone.

When you find a body, report it by going near it and clicking report. You can also click the emergency meeting button if you think you know who the imposter is.

Imposters

If you are an imposter, you are trying to kill everyone. You are also going to fake tasks, so crewmates don’t think you are suspicious (sus). You can also sabotage certain places on the map. When you sabotage, crewmates have 30 seconds to fix it or else you win. You can also fix things you sabotage so as not to look sus. Another cool thing imposters can do is shut doors. You might want to do this so you can kill someone alone and not worry about someone coming by and seeing you kill, or you might do this to make other people sus of other people and maybe take the focus off you or another imposter. You might try to kill people only when they’re alone, you can double kill, or, you can do what’s known as stack killing.

What is stack killing? Stack killing is when a bunch of people are all standing on top of each other, maybe to shut off a reactor meltdown or fix O2. You can join the crowd and pretend to be fixing whatever needs to be fixed. Secretly though, you’ll be reaching to hit the kill button. Because everyone will be right on top of each other your kill most likely won’t be noticed. It will also probably be reported very quickly, but it’s very likely that no one will think it’s you (unless of course you’re already sus).

What is double killing? Double killing is when you and another imposter trap two crewmates in a room. You each go up to one of them and hit the kill button. Then, you might want to vent away before someone notices and says something.

What is venting? Venting is something only imposters can do. There are holes in the map and if you go up to it (and are the imposter) you can click vent. If you do, you go into the vent and you can go to any other vent connected to that vent system. Keep in mind that you do not want to vent in front of crewmates. If a crewmate sees you vent they know you’re an imposter because only imposters have the ability to vent.


Crewmates

Crewmates are trying to figure out who the imposter is before the imposter kills all the rest of the crewmates AND/OR complete all their tasks before the imposter kills everyone.

You will have a set list of tasks you must complete, and you will also be trying to avoid getting killed by imposters. You will be trying to avoid anyone you think is the imposter.

Crewmates can have only normal tasks OR they can have normal tasks and visual tasks. Imposters only fake normal tasks. They CANNOT fake visual tasks.

Normal tasks. Most tasks (wires, engine refueling, aligning engine, etc.) anyone can do/fake. Just by looking at you, someone looking at you without looking at your screen can’t tell whether you’re an imposter or a crewmate. This is why imposters can fake tasks.

Visual tasks. Visual tasks are tasks only crewmates can complete. These have a visual element to them, and you can’t fake a visual task. Anyone looking at you while you’re doing a visual task can tell that you are a crewmate, not an imposter. Examples of visual tasks: medbay scan, garbage chute, shields, etc.


Among Us Hacks

Tired of taking forever to do admin card swipe? If you drag the card through the slot and then, without lifting your finger or mouse drag the card back to the beginning and swipe it will always accept it first try.

Sick and tired of being caught killing people? If you check the security camera and the light is red, that means someone is watching from security. If it’s gray, no one is watching.


How else can you make Among Us more interesting?

JUST TO BE CLEAR: THESE ARE ALL MADE UP AND YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE DEFAULT GAME SETTINGS FOR THESE TO WORK

You can play in what’s called hide and seek mode. When the host creates the game, give crewmates very few tasks and set the imposter view to low. Make sure everyone knows you’re playing hide and seek mode because crewmates DO NOT do their tasks. Instead, they go around hiding from the imposter. No one reports bodies or calls emergency meetings either. The imposter goes around trying to find players. When the imposter catches you they just kill you. If the crewmates can survive for 5 minutes, they win. Otherwise, the imposter wins.

You can play in catch me if you can mode. Catch me if you can is where imposters have low visibility, but crewmates have lots of tasks. I think you get the idea from there.

You can play in “tag” mode. Tag mode is where you give the imposter a very short kill cooldown and the speed is set as high as possible. The crewmates have a few tasks, but if they complete them all they win. If the imposter catches everyone though.....

You can play in confusing mode which is where everyone picks a name that’s one of the Among Us colors and when they pick their skin color in the game, the skin color and name cannot be the same! You can also do it where you have different pronouns (ex. They, her, him, me, I, she, he, etc.). Playing either of these confuses the heck out of players so I think you should try this.

How else can you jazz up Among Us? Well, if you’re playing with just a few people, you can play where the imposter has an incredibly long kill cooldown and the crewmates have maybe 3 or 4 tasks.


Playing with a ton of people and the imposters keep winning? Increase the amount of imposters. If there are already 3 imposters play where you have a few crewmates stand around like dummies. The imposters can still kill them, but it makes people more sus of other people.


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