How a Selfish Game Actually Plays

The basic shape is the same across editions. You and your fellow players are trying to escape a deadly situation - drifting in space, surviving a zombie apocalypse, escaping a sinking ship, finding your way out of a dungeon. There's a finite amount of safety to reach. Only one of you makes it.

The fun isn't really in winning. It's in the schemes you run to make sure other people lose. Sabotage cards let you steal supplies, force someone to fall back, dump them into the danger ahead. Most games end with one survivor and three or four people who genuinely shouldn't be allowed near the survivor for an hour.

Best played with people you actually like, because by the end of a round you'll temporarily hate them.

Selfish: Space Edition and Zombie Edition

The two flagship editions. Space puts you adrift, low on oxygen, racing back to the ship - and the things you can do to your fellow astronauts' oxygen supplies make the game what it is. Zombie puts you in the wasteland heading for the rescue chopper, with the constant threat that getting bitten flips you from survivor to active threat to everyone else.

Both run 30-60 minutes per game and play 3-6. They're the most-played editions and the safest starting point if someone's never played a Selfish before.

Selfish: Shipwrecked, Dungeon, and Cereal Spiller

Shipwrecked is the same survival-and-sabotage format on the open ocean. Dungeon Edition shifts it to a fading-torch-flame dungeon crawl. Cereal Spiller is the same Selfish mechanic in a much sillier frame - racing to fill a bowl of cereal while sabotaging everyone else's breakfast.

If you've played one Selfish and want another flavour, these three are the best second purchases. The base mechanic is familiar, the theme keeps things fresh.

Disney Villains, Star Wars, and Marvel Editions for Fans

The franchise editions reframe Selfish through specific source material. Disney Villains pits Maleficent, Cruella, Jafar, and the rest against each other to claim the title of Evilest of Them All. Star Wars puts you on the Dark Side hunting the Millennium Falcon. Marvel sends Villains scouring the galaxy for Infinity Stones.

For franchise fans, these are sharper gifts than the base editions because the theme rewards knowing the source. They pair well with other items in the same franchise - the wider Brands catalogue has the matching card games and jigsaws. Specifically, Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel each have their own franchise pages.

A Little Selfish for Travel

A Little Selfish: Space Edition and A Little Selfish: Zombie Edition are the compact versions - same scheming gameplay, smaller boxes, faster rounds (20-30 minutes instead of 30-60). They sacrifice some of the deeper strategy for portability, which makes them the right pick for holidays, weekends away, or anyone short on shelf space. The full travel-format range is in Travel-Friendly Games.

When Selfish Is the Wrong Choice

Selfish is built for a group that can handle a bit of in-game treachery without the friendship taking actual damage. With players who get genuinely upset at being sabotaged, the game stops being fun fast. For groups that prefer collaboration or lighter competition, the Escape Room Games range is the opposite end of the same shelf - you're all working together rather than against each other.

For groups that want something faster and lower-stakes, the Party Games collection has 15-minute drawing and snap games where no one ends the round with a grudge.