Board Game Arena

If other players are chatting, can't you join in?

Player1: "I am not a saboteur"
Player2: "I am not a saboteur"
Saboteur3: "I am not a saboteur"

Then Sab 3 can break at the key moment. Or try to guide the team to sub-optimal results. Or accuse others of trying to do this....

There are other semi-cooperative games where this sort of discussion in a key feature (most of the werewolf-style games hinge on the bad guys influencing the game without revealing their natures).

Mind you, I'm not sure Saboteur is a very fun game if everyone wants to discuss every move collectively. It's listed with a 30-minute playing time, after all.

I will say that discussion/deception is a huge part of Sabatuer for me, without it it would just be a Dwarven Hanabi or something. But yeah if others where taking 10 minutes meticulously planning and listing all their cards then that would be annoying and not fun, but I would think that situation is the exception and not the rule. And there's always that red thumb to not play in the future with people who do that... Cheers.