The app Among Us, a murder mystery set in space, is quickly becoming popular worldwide and at Miramonte High School. 

In July the game reached 2.4 million downloads worldwide. In August that number grew to 18.4 million, and in September the game reached 41.9 million downloads internationally. 

“I first downloaded the game two or three weeks ago because all my friends started to play it and kept talking about how fun it was,” Miramonte freshman Henry Engs said. Among Us is continuing to grow in popularity, especially among the Miramonte community. Out of 66 students asked at Miramonte, 40 of them said they have played the game, and that number will likely increase over time. 

You can play the game with four to ten people, and up to three are the imposters. The game takes place in a spacecraft, and the goal of the innocent players is to complete their tasks presented to them on the map to prepare their spacecraft for take off. The imposters’ goal is to sabotage the ship and eliminate the other players before they complete their tasks. Players can report dead bodies they find or call an emergency meeting, and all the players, including the imposters, will vote on who they think is an imposter and discuss in a chat box.

The person who gets the most votes against them is kicked out of the game and takes the form of a ghost until someone wins. When signing into the game, you can choose if you want to play publicly, meaning anyone internationally can join the game, or private if you prefer to play with just your friends. 

InnerSloth, the three-person company composed of one programmer and two animators, created the game and released it in 2018d. However, it didn’t become wildly popular until recently. Although COVID-19 and the quarantine have negatively affected many people, InnserSloth has coronavirus to thank for their recent uprising. InnerSloth announced a sequel to Among Us last August, but because of the recent increase in popularity, the company decided to spend their time updating and improving the current version of the game instead.

“I love the game because I can play it with my friends whenever I’m bored, and it creates a competitive and fun environment,” junior Anna Painter said. 

Players say you will rarely find yourself not having fun while playing Among Us because you and your friends will constantly be framing others for a recent murder. The best part is it’s free on your cell phone. Although the game is meant to be played on your computer, that download does require $5.