Among Us, the multiplayer video game, has taken America by storm in the last couple months, and it’s popularity has spread beyond home boundaries. 

While Among Us was released in 2018, it just recently became very popular around America. It is an online social deduction game where up to ten players are in a spaceship. At least one player is an imposter, who is trying to kill all of the crewmates and sabotage the ship. The rest of the players are crewmates. They have to finish their tasks in order to save the ship, or they can vote out all of the imposters. When crewmates find the dead bodies of other players, they can report the body, or call an emergency meeting when someone is suspicious. This takes the crew into a team meeting, where one player can be voted out of the game. The game ends when the crewmates finish their tasks or discover all of the imposters, or when the imposter(s) kill all of the crewmates. 

Teens have been obsessed with this new game, and have been playing it constantly. When playing online, adolescents can play with strangers, and communicate through a typing chat.

Sofia Belisario, a sophomore at NPHS, plays Among Us a lot and said, “Playing with strangers on Among Us is a great experience. It’s really fun because you can meet and communicate with new people. The chat is really helpful for the crew to agree on which player to vote out in meetings.”

As well as playing with strangers, some teens host private games and play with just their friends. Anna Oliva is a sophomore at NPHS, and she loves playing Among Us with friends.

“My friends and I play Among Us almost every day over FaceTime. It’s really fun being able to talk to people as you’re playing instead of just using the chat. I think I like playing with my friends more than with strangers because of this,” Anna said. 

Among Us has become so mainstream through videos being broadcasted of people playing the game. Videos of Youtubers and TikTokers playing Among Us has added to its popularity. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, a New York Congresswoman, even live streamed herself playing the game. 

Also, the fun of Among Us goes beyond the home, and into the classroom. Some teachers have found ways to incorporate Among Us into the classroom. 

Ms. Berrios, an English teacher at NPHS, was able to incorporate Among Us into one of her lessons for her sophomore students. She saw a teacher post a video to Tiktok in which they made a math lesson with elements of Among Us, and was inspired by this. 

“I thought it would be a good way for us to review Acts 1 and 2 of The Crucible because it gave it a new, fun spin on it. Incorporating a game that they’re all familiar with kind of gets them to be a little more interested in the lesson,” Ms. Berrios said. 

To review for The Crucible, Ms. Berrios had students compete over a mock game of Among Us in the classroom. The students were reportedly more engaged in class because of it, and it was very successful. 

When asked if it would be a good idea for other teachers to use Among Us in their lessons, Ms. Berrios said, “I would say that as long as it’s school appropriate and not promoting anything violent or negative, I don’t see why it should be an issue to have teachers incorporate some aspects of video games into their lessons.”

Overall, the popularity of Among Us can be explained through how enjoyable and versatile the design of the game is. Personally, I play Among Us often, and would definitely recommend it!