Secret Hitler, a Game That Simulates Fascism’s Rise, Becomes a Hit
Sometime in late February or early March of 2015, one of its creators, Mike Boxleiter, 32, spent
a weekend with the Steven Spielberg-produced World War II mini-series “Band of Brothers.”
Mr. Boxleiter, Mr. Temkin and a third creator, Tommy Maranges, had been obsessing over the intricacies of deception games.
But Secret Hitler benefited from another, unforeseen trend: a significant surge in interest in fascism around the 2016 election, which also saw brisk sales of dystopian literary classics and a rejuvenated discussion of the movement
that brought leaders like Hitler and Mussolini to power.
Secret Hitler also arrived amid a renaissance for tabletop games, which have found new purchase among adult consumers.
“It truly was like, what if we made a game about the past, and not about any other time in history.”
They set up a Kickstarter campaign on Nov. 23, 2015, with a goal of raising
$54,450 to print its first run of the game, with art by Mackenzie Schubert.
