My (sort of long-winded) review here is for the tabletop game we played in class, called "Betrayal at House on the Hill."
This is quite a behemoth of a game, for more than one reason. On the one hand, it's a great blend of chance, strategy, and a mystery/horror narrative. On the other hand, the sheer mass of playing pieces to keep track of and rules to remember can be daunting to first-timers. I think the box said "Ages 10 and up," but that assumes the 10-year-olds in question are some kind of prodigies.
The game flies in the face of conventional boardgame wisdom, which has both good and bad impacts. First, I'll consider the bad. Aside from the initial confusion over how to start playing, the expanding nature of the board area means it's hard to know exactly how much table space is needed to play on. Myself and other people in the group kept having to move things around on the table to make more room, which obviously is tedious and interferes with enjoyment of the game.
As well, there are several events that cause a semi-permanent object or effect to be added to a room the player is in. The game rules state event cards are to be discarded after use, but we found we needed to hang on to these cards in a separate spot just so we wouldn't forget what these weird effects do if/when they were encountered by another player later. It's kind of a hassle.
Also, the game allows up to 6 players at once, which is how many people we played with, but to me the 6-player style seemed to move rather slowly. I think limiting the game to 3-5 players would've been a better choice, at least in terms of keeping things moving.
But, let's look at the positives now.
The game has a lot going for it, asthetically. The house the game is set in was quite interesting to explore, always full of surprises. The sheer variety of items, rooms and events there was a lot of new things to learn, and there was a definite sense of risk vs. reward with every move or choice made.
Likewise, the game's art was appealing to me. The board pieces, the cards and the character tokens all were beautifully colored and fascinating to look at. The narrative style of the story books and the cards was engaging as well. They felt at times like reading a real horror novel, which added greatly to my overall enjoyment of the experience.
Also, the sheer number of different Haunting scenarios, offering new twists and criteria for success with each one, creates great replay value for this game. As we've discussed, a game tends to get boring once you've learned everything there is to learn about it. Well, with the varied haunting scenarios, even if you play through the game a dozen times, learn the mechanics of every possible event, every item, every omen and every room, the nature of these different Hauntings ensures each new game you play will be interesting and unique from previous plays.
Bottom line: when our time in class was up, I found myself saying "I'd like to play this again sometime." That is the key point I take away from the experience. Sure, the mechanics of the game were complicated, and the sheer volume of different pieces were easy to lose track of, both in terms of what the pieces actually do and in the physical pieces themselves getting lost in the box somewhere. However, once I got a general feel for the flow of the game, I enjoyed exploring the house, uncovering new things and unraveling the mysteries held within. The game seems to keep you guessing about a lot of things, but the rule book helps make sure that new players aren't left completely in the dark.
From all I've seen, I'd say this game clearly has the makings of a cult classic, if not a universal best-seller.
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