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Enthusiast: Board Gameson September 17, 2016
This game is basically comprised of two parts. In the first, you and the other players are explorers randomly revealing room tiles as you maneuver throughout the house.
Many rooms will have an Event, Item or Omen associated with it and after you reveal the tile, you take a corresponding card and read it aloud. This furthers the story along and does a great job of giving the gameplay a lot of character and depth. I always love games where thematic, bite sized stories are incorporated into it (I.e. The Crossroads cards in Dead of Winter or the story book in Above and Below).
Discovering and drawing Omen cards will move a counter in a track that you'll roll against. Eventually, youll fail the roll and the second part of the game (the haunt) begins.
One of the players will become the Traitor at this point. He/she will take a special Traitor book and go into another room to read what they will be trying to do from that point forward. The other players will read from a Heroes book and concoct a strategy based on the details they are given.
From that point forward the Traitor works against the Heroes. It's very fun, very engaging and playing with scary sound effect/music in the background is a hit.
This is basically one of those "must have" games if you're a board "gamer".
It is not without its faults however. First, the components/artwork are probably the worst I've ever seen. You'll need to heat the minis in boiling water and bend them back in place as well as heat the small tracker pieces that go on your characters board and pinch them together as they WILL fall off. I laughed when we played the first time as the "Ballroom" tile is about as ballroom looking as an empty shed. The art is horrendous and everything feels cheap. This is a game that can benefit from a WELL MADE rerelease.
Second, the instructions do a fairly good job but they don't cover all situations (no instruction booklet in any game ever does) so you WILL need to clarify some things during game via Googling or through agreements by the players.
Is it a "family" game? It does deal with occult topics and has monsters and is intended to be "scary". Cards can reference pentagrams, etc. so if you're offended by that sort of thing (lighten up!) then this isn't one for you and your family.
Many rooms will have an Event, Item or Omen associated with it and after you reveal the tile, you take a corresponding card and read it aloud. This furthers the story along and does a great job of giving the gameplay a lot of character and depth. I always love games where thematic, bite sized stories are incorporated into it (I.e. The Crossroads cards in Dead of Winter or the story book in Above and Below).
Discovering and drawing Omen cards will move a counter in a track that you'll roll against. Eventually, youll fail the roll and the second part of the game (the haunt) begins.
One of the players will become the Traitor at this point. He/she will take a special Traitor book and go into another room to read what they will be trying to do from that point forward. The other players will read from a Heroes book and concoct a strategy based on the details they are given.
From that point forward the Traitor works against the Heroes. It's very fun, very engaging and playing with scary sound effect/music in the background is a hit.
This is basically one of those "must have" games if you're a board "gamer".
It is not without its faults however. First, the components/artwork are probably the worst I've ever seen. You'll need to heat the minis in boiling water and bend them back in place as well as heat the small tracker pieces that go on your characters board and pinch them together as they WILL fall off. I laughed when we played the first time as the "Ballroom" tile is about as ballroom looking as an empty shed. The art is horrendous and everything feels cheap. This is a game that can benefit from a WELL MADE rerelease.
Second, the instructions do a fairly good job but they don't cover all situations (no instruction booklet in any game ever does) so you WILL need to clarify some things during game via Googling or through agreements by the players.
Is it a "family" game? It does deal with occult topics and has monsters and is intended to be "scary". Cards can reference pentagrams, etc. so if you're offended by that sort of thing (lighten up!) then this isn't one for you and your family.
on October 19, 2010
This game is really great. Someone in my gaming group has the 1st edition, so we were all really excited when we found out this was being reprinted.
For those of you who have played the first edition, the gameplay is the same. Some rules have been clarified, and there is more text on some of the room tiles for ease of use.
For those of you who haven't played: you should. You are a group of explorers going through a haunted house. Up to 6 people can play, and each of the 6 character cards has a front and a back, each with different stats to add variation. Other people have posted more on how the game works, so I won't go too much into it right now.
This reprint added some new haunts, which is really fun. I haven't had a chance to play many of the new ones, but I did get to play one with hidden traitors, and I enjoyed it. Some of the haunts can also be unbalanced. I was the traitor for one haunt where I didn't get to do a single damage to any of the heroes. The next week, I was the traitor for the same haunt and I absolutely obliterated the heroes. It all depends on how the house is set up, and dice luck.
My only complaint about this reprint is the quality of the components of this game. Something about the cardboard they used this time around just doesn't work. The first print had good, thick cardboard that felt high-quality. When I took this reprint out of the box, all of the cardboard components started to warp. The room tile stack can easily be compressed an inch or two because of this warping. Some people have prevented this by immediately placing the cardboard pieces under a book for a day or two after opening them, but I'm not sure if that works all of the time or not. Another component they didn't quite get right are the black plastic clips. In the first printing, they clips were too tight on the cardboard, and ended up scratching whatever part they were placed on. In the reprint, they are too loose. We have had some slide off completely because they are so loose they have no traction. The 5 spare clips can sometimes be enough to give you clips that fit on all the pieces you need, but it's not a guarantee.
The low quality of the pieces do detract from gameplay a little bit (when the room tiles slide under each other on the table, or your stat slider goes to the minimum and you die) but this is still a great game with a fun theme and lots of replayability. I would certainly recommend it, especially if they fix the game components.
Edit 2013:
As some have said in the comments, Wizards of the Coast is very good about replacing the cardboard in this game. I have had mine replaced through this process as well, and the replacements are great. While it is a hassle to have to request a replacement, it is well worth it and takes away the only deterrent to buying this game.
For those of you who have played the first edition, the gameplay is the same. Some rules have been clarified, and there is more text on some of the room tiles for ease of use.
For those of you who haven't played: you should. You are a group of explorers going through a haunted house. Up to 6 people can play, and each of the 6 character cards has a front and a back, each with different stats to add variation. Other people have posted more on how the game works, so I won't go too much into it right now.
This reprint added some new haunts, which is really fun. I haven't had a chance to play many of the new ones, but I did get to play one with hidden traitors, and I enjoyed it. Some of the haunts can also be unbalanced. I was the traitor for one haunt where I didn't get to do a single damage to any of the heroes. The next week, I was the traitor for the same haunt and I absolutely obliterated the heroes. It all depends on how the house is set up, and dice luck.
My only complaint about this reprint is the quality of the components of this game. Something about the cardboard they used this time around just doesn't work. The first print had good, thick cardboard that felt high-quality. When I took this reprint out of the box, all of the cardboard components started to warp. The room tile stack can easily be compressed an inch or two because of this warping. Some people have prevented this by immediately placing the cardboard pieces under a book for a day or two after opening them, but I'm not sure if that works all of the time or not. Another component they didn't quite get right are the black plastic clips. In the first printing, they clips were too tight on the cardboard, and ended up scratching whatever part they were placed on. In the reprint, they are too loose. We have had some slide off completely because they are so loose they have no traction. The 5 spare clips can sometimes be enough to give you clips that fit on all the pieces you need, but it's not a guarantee.
The low quality of the pieces do detract from gameplay a little bit (when the room tiles slide under each other on the table, or your stat slider goes to the minimum and you die) but this is still a great game with a fun theme and lots of replayability. I would certainly recommend it, especially if they fix the game components.
Edit 2013:
As some have said in the comments, Wizards of the Coast is very good about replacing the cardboard in this game. I have had mine replaced through this process as well, and the replacements are great. While it is a hassle to have to request a replacement, it is well worth it and takes away the only deterrent to buying this game.
on May 20, 2017
Fun game, and doesn't take hours to play. Only gripe is that it does have Satanic symbolism in it if that bothers you. While I do not prefer it, its only a game and have fun with it. Its a haunted house game, what did I expect to be in there? Unicorns and carebears?!?!? High playability. AT first can be confusing, because every mission is different, but after a couple of plays its a great game. Best with 4 players or more since 1 player becomes the trader with the monsters. The rest of the explorers have to work together to beat the bad guys, or escape the house. This reminds me so much of scooby doo, they could have altered a few things and this have been an awesome scooby doo game!
on January 2, 2017
The game itself is extremely fun, but dealing with the pieces is a chore.
Plenty have reviewed the game itself, so instead I'll note the construction issues.
The little sliders for your characters' stats are godawful and fall out constantly. My friends and I gave up and just started using a whiteboard to track everything until I find some kind of solution by bending the sliders or something. There are tons and tons of tiny tokens, but no real organizer for them and easily 90% of the tokens don't get used in a session. I, again, had to make my own organizer to handle these things so I didn't have to dig for five minutes to find a "skeletons" triangle or something.
Other than minor annoyances though, the game is pretty great for a fast pick up and has fairly long shelf life due to the inherit semi-random nature of it.
Plenty have reviewed the game itself, so instead I'll note the construction issues.
The little sliders for your characters' stats are godawful and fall out constantly. My friends and I gave up and just started using a whiteboard to track everything until I find some kind of solution by bending the sliders or something. There are tons and tons of tiny tokens, but no real organizer for them and easily 90% of the tokens don't get used in a session. I, again, had to make my own organizer to handle these things so I didn't have to dig for five minutes to find a "skeletons" triangle or something.
Other than minor annoyances though, the game is pretty great for a fast pick up and has fairly long shelf life due to the inherit semi-random nature of it.
on May 16, 2017
Update: The game can last an hour and on rare occasions, it can last four hours. (This is from personal experience.)
Great game over all. There are some scenarios that aren't in the rule book. The rules are a bit harder to follow than normal. You have to guess which rule trumps another in certain scenarios. (We're an avid gaming family. We have plenty of experience with the more rule heavy games like Firefly w/ expansions, Catan, etc.) Game box arrived damaged and looks like it had been sitting on a shelf for years.
Great game over all. There are some scenarios that aren't in the rule book. The rules are a bit harder to follow than normal. You have to guess which rule trumps another in certain scenarios. (We're an avid gaming family. We have plenty of experience with the more rule heavy games like Firefly w/ expansions, Catan, etc.) Game box arrived damaged and looks like it had been sitting on a shelf for years.
on February 7, 2017
It's tough to get my friends to play after the novelty has worn off, but I still enjoy this game! It's cooperative for the most part, since you don't know who is going to be the betrayer. I've enjoyed the scenarios I've been able to play through. I can easily see coming up with custom scenarios and even room pieces if I got really bored one day. Overall, I recommend the game, especially if you have friends who prefer team games and a bit of storytelling. I at least get to bust it out when halloween season begins!
on November 9, 2016
Great game and absolutely worth every penny! The amount of content is astounding, dozens of scenarios make this probably the single most replayable game I own (and I own quite a few). The gameplay is fantastic as you work together to explore the mansion, all the while knowing that one of you will very likely turn on the others at a random moment determined by the ever evolving mansion layout. This is the moment where the game drops from a solid 5/5 to 4/5. An issue Ive run into several times during the final phase when one player turns against the others is that the instructions are not always clear. There were several times where we would read the conditions and rules of the ending scenario and be unable to accurately figure out how its supposed to play. This leads to us simply attempting to follow the rules as best we can which always ends up drastically favoring either the traitor or everyone else. When this occurs a far bit of the fun is sucked out as the scenario ends and none of us are sure if we played it right; did we make it to hard? maybe to easy? never the less dont let that deter you, there are dozens of scenarios, most of which work just fine, and the game is an absolute blast to play!
on November 6, 2014
I picked this up after watch Tabletop.... This game is a bit complicated but the concept is awesome! I played this during the week of Halloween and prior to playing the game I watched a bunch of videos and went to the website to determine how the game works. You need to play this with people who understand the concept of using cards / inventory and are generally enthusiastic.
The game took us (group of 5) about over an hour before the HAUNT occurred and during that time we generally had only 2 items. When the haunt happened, my friend was the 'haunter'(?) and he was a phantom. He went off to read his instructions and we did ours. We determined a strategy and we were off the the races. We opened a new room and boom Phantom appears... my friend who was the Phantom misread a portion of resetting his stats, so we beat him in one roll and rescued the girl and disarmed the boom in another roll. A bit underwhelming....
The concept is great... but you need people who can read detailed instructions and remember them clearly. I need to give this game another go.
The game took us (group of 5) about over an hour before the HAUNT occurred and during that time we generally had only 2 items. When the haunt happened, my friend was the 'haunter'(?) and he was a phantom. He went off to read his instructions and we did ours. We determined a strategy and we were off the the races. We opened a new room and boom Phantom appears... my friend who was the Phantom misread a portion of resetting his stats, so we beat him in one roll and rescued the girl and disarmed the boom in another roll. A bit underwhelming....
The concept is great... but you need people who can read detailed instructions and remember them clearly. I need to give this game another go.
on January 21, 2016
One of my favorite boardgames ever! Here, we can unite children and adults in a fun and haunted past-time. Alas, my sister does not enjoy the game so we don't get to play it often at all. But here are my pros and cons:
PROS:
You can have a total of 6 players, which is awesome for a big family like mine.
The characters players may choose from have their own birthdates, hobbies, skills, and personalities. This gives the game depth.
Artwork is nice, especially the player tokens (no cheap cardboard figures with plastic stands here!) and polygons.
Replay value is high. There are many different storylines that may occur depending on where the Haunt occurs and which Omen is played. Plus, building the haunted house is great fun.
Pre-haunt exploration is great fun. I'm one of those hoarders who love to gather as many booties as possible in any game, so I explore as much as possible before the haunt starts. (...which always inevitably leads me to almost the brink of death due to various mishaps...)
The concept is wonderful and engaging. We've played in groups of adults and and ten-year-olds, who love it (though they're not allowed to be the betrayer until they are of age).
Creep factor is awesome if you read your cards with story voices. One must voice that creepy old woman on the other phone line properly or you are no worthy haunted house opponent.
Good cooperative play, except for the one betrayer. :)
CONS:
Characters seem sexist in design. I know the game is trying to follow along “Halloween”/“Haunted House” themes, but the “female gypsy”, “the little girl with a frock and teddy bear”, and “the old man scientist” are unoriginal.
Not only that, but it begs the question of why and how this odd medley of characters came together to explore a “Haunted House.” Which leads to…
Storyline is weak—and the reason the sister doesn’t want to play: she thinks it’s stupid and I can’t seem to argue otherwise. :( —I really wish we would play Betrayal at House on the Hill more…
Lots of seemingly useless tokens. There are so many tokens and we haven’t touched most of them. It’s annoying to keep track of and sort them properly, only to not do anything with them.
This game does require a lot of reading and complex rules so children may only play with a lot of adult help. Even we adults got thoroughly confused with the rules. (We watched TableTop and it was a huge help—and great amusement).
I definitely like this game a lot, however (more than Dungeons and Dragons) because of the fun voice acting my husband and I like to do. It’s fun to play in the dark and with children because it’s cute when they get excited (especially trapped in the basement… DUNDUNDUN!).
PROS:
You can have a total of 6 players, which is awesome for a big family like mine.
The characters players may choose from have their own birthdates, hobbies, skills, and personalities. This gives the game depth.
Artwork is nice, especially the player tokens (no cheap cardboard figures with plastic stands here!) and polygons.
Replay value is high. There are many different storylines that may occur depending on where the Haunt occurs and which Omen is played. Plus, building the haunted house is great fun.
Pre-haunt exploration is great fun. I'm one of those hoarders who love to gather as many booties as possible in any game, so I explore as much as possible before the haunt starts. (...which always inevitably leads me to almost the brink of death due to various mishaps...)
The concept is wonderful and engaging. We've played in groups of adults and and ten-year-olds, who love it (though they're not allowed to be the betrayer until they are of age).
Creep factor is awesome if you read your cards with story voices. One must voice that creepy old woman on the other phone line properly or you are no worthy haunted house opponent.
Good cooperative play, except for the one betrayer. :)
CONS:
Characters seem sexist in design. I know the game is trying to follow along “Halloween”/“Haunted House” themes, but the “female gypsy”, “the little girl with a frock and teddy bear”, and “the old man scientist” are unoriginal.
Not only that, but it begs the question of why and how this odd medley of characters came together to explore a “Haunted House.” Which leads to…
Storyline is weak—and the reason the sister doesn’t want to play: she thinks it’s stupid and I can’t seem to argue otherwise. :( —I really wish we would play Betrayal at House on the Hill more…
Lots of seemingly useless tokens. There are so many tokens and we haven’t touched most of them. It’s annoying to keep track of and sort them properly, only to not do anything with them.
This game does require a lot of reading and complex rules so children may only play with a lot of adult help. Even we adults got thoroughly confused with the rules. (We watched TableTop and it was a huge help—and great amusement).
I definitely like this game a lot, however (more than Dungeons and Dragons) because of the fun voice acting my husband and I like to do. It’s fun to play in the dark and with children because it’s cute when they get excited (especially trapped in the basement… DUNDUNDUN!).
