If you have a kid who’s bored at home, they’ve probably asked to play Among Us with their friends online. Here’s what you need to know before you say, “Yes.”

Among Us (Rated 9+, Multi-Player Game)

Apple’s App Store description: Play online or over local WiFi with 4-10 players as you attempt to prep your spaceship for departure, but beware as one will be an impostor bent on killing everyone! Crewmates can win by completing all tasks or discovering and voting the Impostor off the ship. The Impostor can use sabotage to cause chaos, making for easier kills and better alibis.

What us Among Us, and why are kids dying to play it?

Among Us is an online multiplayer game with players working together to fix their crumbling spaceship while figuring out who the imposters are. At the start of each game, you’re randomly assigned the role of the bad guy (a.k.a Imposter) or the good guy (a.k.a. Crewmate). The Imposters know what role each player was given (i.e., they know who the other bad guys are), while the Crewmates are none the wiser. For Imposters to win, they must kill all the Crewmates without getting caught. If the Crewmates want to win, they must either discover who the Imposters are, vote them off the ship, or finish repairing the ship by doing little tasks (which present as simple mini-games) before the Imposters can kill everyone. Sounds like fun, right? It is, as long as parents set up safe parameters.

What are the risks?

Each game can have between four and ten players. If your child decides to play a public game online, they will likely be pl ...