Four games to kick off spooky season
October brings a haunting chill in the air. Here are four games to kick off the season.
A happy spooky season to you all! To get into the spirit of October, I wanted to share with you some recommendations for games that deal with topics that are a bit spooky. I’m not looking to scare you (or myself!) so much as I think the season presents an opportunity to play games about ghosts and ghouls.
Horrified
If October and Halloween mean you’re thinking about monster movies, Horrified is the game for you. It’s not a particularly complicated take on a cooperative game, but it’s accessible, well-produced, and generally worth your attention. In Horrified, you and your teammates will work to vanquish classic movie monsters (Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon — thanks, BGG, for having these listed so I didn’t have to open the rulebook!) With each player having a different set of powers, you’ll have to coordinate your abilities to best reach your goal. Spirit Island it is not, but Horrified has a place in my collection all the same.
This game did make my list last year, too, but I hope it’s with good reason that it appears here, again. (It’s because it’s back from the dead! Cue cackling. Thanks for listening.)
Mists over Carcassonne
If monsters aren’t your scene, how about ghosts? No, this isn’t a Ghostbusters-themed miniature game (thankfully), it’s a cooperative spin on the classic Carcassonne. In Mists over Carcassonne, you and your team are working to vanquish ghosts from your budding town, and throughout, the game manages to feel like a Carcassonne game. It’s very cool. I wrote about this one in some depth earlier this year, and you can read that for more detail if you’d like.
You might be wondering why Mists over Carcassonne is spooky, aside from the ghosts. I’ll be honest with you: It’s mostly the ghosts. But there’s also a tension that comes from its cooperative nature, and I think that’s really neat.
Mysterium Park
I’ve recommended Mysterium several times for this sort of purpose, and I stand by that. But if you’re looking for a more streamlined take on the cooperative, surrealist game, Mysterium Park does a good job of paring down the rules significantly. The core of the game is still there — a ghost player is delivering visions to everyone else — but instead of trying to find suspects, you’re trying to whittle down suspects. I don’t know if I strictly prefer this, but changing the end game significantly is something I appreciate — it’s less convoluted and it retains the spirit of the game better than its predecessor.
That all being said, I don’t think Mysterium has lost its place or anything — I think it’s still a great game, and I think it benefits from being a little more involved. This one really becomes a choice for you to make — there’s no strictly dominant position here. I think I prefer Mysterium Park, which is actually slightly closer to the original rules for Tajemnicze Domostwo, upon which Mysterium is based. Your mileage may vary, and they’re both great games.
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
I can’t recommend this game enough times. This is one of my favorite games to pull out with a mixed skill-level group, with new players, with experienced players — it’s immensely fun. You’re all playing as quack doctors brewing potions to solve any number of ills, but if you aren’t careful as you add ingredients to your cauldron, you’ll explode. It’s easily the most accessible bag-building game I’ve played, and it’s simultaneously so clever and cute. I’ll always play this one if you ask, and that’s why it’s made the list again.
Pro tip: Grab a bunch of gummy candy in various creepy, crawly shapes. Place them around the table like they’re the ingredients for your potions. (I must caution against putting candy in the bags, though. I can’t imagine the stickiness would be a good thing.) Also, eat said candy.
Some more games on my to-play list
Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go To the Ghost Town: A deduction game with a delightfully long title, Psychic Pizza looks to be exactly what it says on the box.
Jekyll vs. Hyde: A two-player trick-taking game in which you’re either trying to win many tricks (Hyde) or a limited number of them (Jekyll)
Fury of Dracula, a hidden movement game — hidden movement games really can amp up the tension!
Five spooky game ideas
I told you last week that I might do something like this — I’ve got five short ideas here for spooky games that I think should be made based on various works of horror.
The 2018 film A Quiet Place: A cooperative trick-taking game in which your primary goal is to not make noise — noise being represented here by playing off-suit in a trick, maybe? I don’t know. I haven’t actually designed this game, nor have I designed any game.
Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Birds: A semi-cooperative real-time game in which you must successfully save yourself from, well, the birds.
Dawn of the Dead, a landmark zombie film from 1978: An increasingly dire cooperative game in which you’re faced with constant human threats — as well as an ever-looming zombie horde.
W.W. Jacobs’ The Monkey’s Paw: A storytelling game in which you must come up with increasingly convoluted ways to avoid a wish that can be misinterpreted by others at the table.
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Premature Burial: A solo journaling game in which you play as someone conquering a fear of being buried alive. Honestly, this sounds like a game I’d probably think I’d love to play, but the reality of wrestling with that idea just seems a bit much.
As always, thank you for subscribing, reading, and generally just being around. I hope this newsletter found you well, and that the month of October finds you doubly well. I’ll be back with you next week, and frankly, I don’t know exactly what I’ll be talking about quite yet. That’s kind of fun, right? I hope it’s fun.