Impostor Among Us: newly popularized viral game takes over East

I spend countless hours on my phone each day going through social media, watching “Friends” or scrolling through TikTok. This week while I was on TikTok’s ‘For You’ Page, a video about the newly popularized game called “Among Us” caught my eye. Since first seeing the game pop up on my feed, it has been a social sensation — not only online, but also among my friends.

The game starts with 10  players online, and it randomly chooses one player to be the impostor. The object of the game is to either catch the impostor if you’re a crewmate or defeat everyone as the impostor.

Once the game starts, the crewmates run around the spaceship — which is essentially the arena of the game — while keeping an eye out for a faux crewmate. The easiest way to do this is by looking for dead bodies or seeing a player “vent”. 

“Venting” can only be done by the impostor, who uses it to escape from a part of the arena where they’ve just killed a player. This is the clearest sign that someone is the imposter and players try to watch out for this. 

If a player thinks they know who the impostor is or is “sussed out” — a term used by players of the game to indicate suspicion — by another player, they can call an emergency meeting. Once a meeting is called, the crewmates discuss who they think the impostor is, then vote someone out. This is the part of the game that provides the most entertainment. 

It’s fascinatingly hilarious to see people aggressively fighting on the internet over something as stupid as being the “impostor.” I’ve played many rounds where people will cuss out one another when they’ve been voted against — some people even threaten to unfriend their real life friends if they vote them out.

Playing with your friends adds even more comedy, fighting over who the imposter is more wild because you know each other and aren’t afraid to let loose. All you do is create your own session in the game and text your friends a code to join. To be honest, this past school week, “Among Us” has held my attention more than any of my teachers.

It’s usually hard for something to catch my attention and keep me coming back to play for hours on end, but this game does it perfectly. I can’t see myself getting bored of playing anytime soon, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a fun distraction or even fuel to end friendships — believe it or not, being a part of a virtual mafia is kind of fun.