Great Board Games for Halloween Night

Great Board Games for Halloween Night

We are quickly approaching Halloween, and an unprecedented Halloween no doubt. With the difficulties this year has brought the world it wouldn’t be a surprise if parents go extra big on the celebrations (Halloween as well as Christmas). Many families will decide to stay home and can you think of a better way to spend Halloween night eating candy and playing board games? I can’t!

Here are some of our favourite themed games perfect for a Halloween Night in.

Family Games with Kids

Horrified (by Ravensburger) – suggested ages: 7+

Horrified is a cooperative game where players work together to save the villagers of the town and stopping the typical monsters, such as Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy. Each game plays differently depending on what monster you choose to play against, giving you a different task to complete to win. For Dracula you want to find and destroy his coffins scattered around the map. For the Swamp Monster you need to control your boat to find his lair. To do these things you are collecting items on the board and trading them in to complete your tasks. You balance this with moving the villagers around to protect them from the Monsters walking around the board. It’s a wonderfully designed board game where cooperation is key and provides a ton of replayability with all the different monsters.

Zombie Kidz Evolution (by Scorpion Masque) – suggested ages: 5+

Work together to protect your school from invading zombie hoards in this fast playing (15mins) legacy game where the game will evolved after each play as you open envelopes that will introduce new components and rules that change the game in fun and amazing ways. You won’t get enough of this one as you play over and over just to see what changes are going to come next. The game has a nice slow progression for kids to gradually grow accustomed to a more and more complex game. This is our kids favourite game of the year. You gotta check it out!

Haunted Mansion: Call of the Spirits (by Funko Games) – suggested ages: 7+

This is a competitive game where everyone is trying to collect cards that give you points depending on what other cards you have collected. The game has an interesting “game controlled” mechanic where the Hitchhikers are moving around scaring the players (giving them haunt cards) if they pass through your room. At the end of the game the player with the most haunt cards (got scared the most) will have some of their best cards removed (lowering their score). The game provides a cool balance of trying to get as many cards as you can while trying to avoid the Hitchhiking ghosts to avoid Haunt cards. If you are a fan of hte famous Disney ride, this game is dripping with theme that you will love.

Hocus Pocus: The Game (by Ravensburger) – suggested ages: 8+

Based on the Disney Movie, Hocus Pocus has players working together to add ingredients to a cauldron to stun the Stepford Sisters enough times until the sun rises. The cauldron needs a specific set of ingredients to stun the sisters but to make things hard the players can’t directly communicate what items they have in their hand. On your turn you can ask “does anyone have a green item?” or “does anyone have frogs legs?” Players can say yes or no, but not how many they have. To make things worse, the sisters may play cards that mess up your potion before you complete it. Luckily you have some help from Binx the cat that allows one player to show their whole hand of cards. This is a hard game to beat, so if you are looking for a challenge this might be it. I’d only play this one with kids 8 and older. Even with adults only it’s hard to win, but the theme is on point.

Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters (by Mattel) – suggested ages: 5+

In this cooperative game players are entering a haunted house trying to grab gems and get out before the house is overrun with ghosts. The game plays a lot like pandemic where at the end of each turn a card is flipped to dictate what rooms ghosts appear. If too many appear in a single room they transform into a larger haunting. Too many hauntings and the players lose. The components are incredibly cute with a perfect theme.

Social Games for Bigger Groups

Paranormal Detectives (by Lucky Duck Games) suggested ages: 11+

A who-dun-it game with a fun twist. In this game one player plays the role of a new spirit, while the Paranormal Detectives try to figure out what happened by trying to communicate with the ghost. They ask questions but the ghost can’t speak, so they play cards dictating how the ghost can answer. Asnwers in form of forming a shape out of flexible string, mouthing a word without saying it, miming an action for 3 seconds, spelling a word on a quiji board, selecting a tarot cards, drawing on someone’s back, to name a few. They have to find out the who, what, where, and why of the ghosts demise. It’s an incredibly fun and interactive murder mystery scene.

Obscurio (by Libellud) – suggested ages: 9+

One player is the Grimoire and is trying to help the others escape a mystical library by pointing them to the right doors using image cards as clues, very similar to Dixit style cards. In this game the players work together and discuss what they think the Grimoire is trying to tell them. However, the game is best when played with a hidden traitor that secretly tries to lead them astray.

Best for Older Kids and Adults

Harry Potter: House Cup Competition (by The OP Games) – suggested ages: 11+

If you’re not too into the “scary” aspect of Halloween, why not just stick to some of your favourite magical stories. In Harry Potter: House Cup Competition players use gained knowledge and magic to learn lessons and complete challenges to get the most points for their house. A strategic game for deep Harry Potter fans.

Silver (by Bezier Games) – suggested ages: 8+

Each player has their village of mystical people and creatures with special abilities. This is a card management game where you are secretly trying to get the best score among all the people in your town. Using their individual abilities you are able to peek, swap and discard cards in your own village and others village to get the best collection of villagers by the game end. This is a simple card game but the theme shines with beautiful art of interesting characters and their unique abilities.

Dead of Winter (by Plaid Hat Games) – suggested ages: 13+

A game that feels like Walking Dead the board game works wonderfully for a thematic game night. Players work together to survive the onslaught of zombie hoards why trying to gather supplies usch as food and medicine. All while a player is a hidden traitor looking out just for themselves sowing distrust amongst the players.

Exit: The Game Series (by Kosmos) – suggested ages: 12+

 

Escape Rooms are the most popular around Halloween. So if we can’t go to a real escape room, why not bring one home. The Exit series does a great job creating the escape room experience within a small box. With so many to choose from you can easily find the perfect mission, our favourite was The Abandoned Cabin.

 

 

Honorable Mentions:

Fury of Dracula (by Fantasy Flight Games) – suggested ages: 14+

A hidden movement game where Dracula is running around the map and the hunters work together to find him and destroy him before he creates too many vampires. This game is thematically perfect, but is a lengthy experience that works best for the most serious of gamers.

Funkoverse: The Nightmare Before Christmas (by Funko Games)

Battle it out in this head to head fight between characters of your favourite universes, from Harry Potter to Batman. However, the Nightmare Before Christmas should be the top pick for Halloween night.

Visitor from Blackwood Grove (by Resonym)

One player is an alien landing on earth protecting themselves in a force field. It’s a race between the government agencies and a little child to see who can find the secret conditions to pass through the barrier and gain the alien’s trust. A fun deduction game that plays very fast.

Werewords (by Bezier games)

It’s 20 questions meets the classic social deduction game of Werewolf. This game plays super quick so you’ll want to play it over and over again.

Midnight Party (aka Escape from the Hidden Castle by Amigo)

Hugo the ghost is coming to scare the guests at the castle party. Players try to get their guests to safety in the best room before Hugo comes down the hall and catches them! An old classic for the family.

Spooky Stairs (by Drei Magier) – suggested ages: 4+

Spooky Stairs is a fast playing race up a staircase, but at some point each player will eventually turn into a ghost and a ghost piece is placed on top of your pawn, covering it completely. During the game pawns often swap places so you have to try to remember which ghost is yours and move the correct ghost up the stairs. It’s like that street show where someone places a ball under one of 3 cups and mixes them around and you have to follow along to know which cup it is under. It’s chatoic madness with a bit of memory and bluffing that is hilarious when someone thinks they won, but they moved the wrong ghost.