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You know what really scares me during Halloween? (I mean, aside from the prospect of dealing with my sugar-crashing daughters on a school night.) Missing out on a perfect excuse to play some creepy games. Here's a list of thirteen of our favorite spooky tabletop games to help you set the mood: zombies, vampires, werewolves, Ancient Ones, all hanging out in a haunted house on the hill.
I'll always have a soft spot in my heart (or brains?) for the shambling undead, and my favorite zombie game is still Last Night on Earth, which was also featured on TableTop recently. With iconic character, all the right zombie-flick tropes, and even soundtrack CDs, you're not just playing a game — you're collaborating on your own tiny B movie. The new Timber Peak standalone expansion doesn't have its own soundtrack, but it does bring three survivors from Woodinvale — each with upgraded skills but some haunted memories — to a new, remote location. Don't care for zombies? Maybe you'll appreciate Invasion From Outer Space: and for Halloween you can play Orson Welles' War of the Worlds in the background.
The classic game that casts one player as the dread vampire Dracula and the others as the heroes trying to foil his evil plans. Designed by Stephen Hand and originally published by Games Workshop in 1987, the latest edition from Fantasy Flight is faster and more furious than ever. Set eight years after the events in the novel Dracula, in the game the vampire lord seeks to take revenge on Van Helsing and his friends, who must stop him before he destroys them all.
3. Gloom
This aptly named card game for two to four players comes with a unique goal: make the family that you control as miserable as possible before they end up dying a horrific death. Strategically, you can make good things happen to your opponent's family; it's one of the few times you will frustrate a friend with good news. For added fun, you can incorporate storytelling into your game, as Wil and friends did when playing Gloom on TableTop. Gloom's unique transparent cards, goth-like art and constant misery makes this a miserably enjoyable game for the Halloween season.
In this fast-playing card game designed and illustrated by Ben Mund and published by Signal Fire Studios, the players compete to be the first to construct a Lovecraftian deity of their own while doing their level best to keep the others from beating them to the awakening. Building an Elder God funded successfully earlier this year on Kickstarter, and copies are now available for purchase.
Deck-building games are great, but Dominion isn't really known for its chills and thrills. For that, you should check out Eaten by Zombies. If the undead don't get you, maybe the Bomb will finish you off. And if you do get eaten? Well, zombies can still have fun, wreaking havoc on the living. If you've only got two players, check out the In Cahoots stand-alone expansion.
The classic cooperative board game of Lovecraftian horror, designed by Richard Launius and published by Chaosium back in 1987, now revised by Kevin Wilson and published by Fantasy Flight Games. In it, the players work together as investigators of the occult in the city of Arkham in the 1920s, trying to find and close gates to horrific dimensions before the Ancient One breaks through into our world and slaughters them all.
One note of caution: if you choose this one for your game night, then don't plan on anything else — it's an epic game that often lasts a few hours ... if the Old Ones don't get you first.
7. Letters From Whitechapel
This Victorian-themed deduction game, similar to Scotland Yard, will have detectives chasing down alleys, after carriages, and closing in on Jack the Ripper's latest location. The feeling of suspense that the game creates as the killer hopes to get away is worth the price of admission alone, but it's one of the strongest themed games in any game closet, as well. One player plays the part of the "Leather Apron" as the others are detectives in Whitechapel's Criminal Investigation Department. Where will Jack strike next? Find out in Letter From Whitechapel. (Unfortunately, this game is currently out of print — hopefully tracking down a friend who has a copy will be easier than finding Jack.)
8. Elder Sign
Elder Sign is a cooperative press-your-luck dice game set in the Lovecraft mythos. You'll investigate clues, learn spells, and find powerful relics in the hopes of sealing the Ancient Ones before they awake. Or, like Wil Wheaton on TableTop, you might just roll horribly and the rest of your team will have to bail you out. It has the theme and feel of Arkham Horror but plays in a fraction of the time, plus you get to roll piles of dice.
9. GeistesBlitz
The scariest thing about this fast-paced game is how quickly your kids will grasp it before you do. A little bit like Set and a little bit like Spot It, you have to be the first to grab the correct item based on a card — but be warned, the item you want might not actually be on the card. Although a typical game will only last about five minutes, it's enough to turn your brain to mush. (Mmmm, mushy braaaaaaiins.) I haven't seen it in English yet myself, but the German version does include rules in five languages.
There are several versions of this party game (including Mafia), and some of the newer takes like The Resistance do away with player elimination, but for Halloween you definitely need werewolves. Each player is assigned an identity secretly (werewolf or villager). The werewolves pose as people during the day, and maul one of the villagers at night; meanwhile, the villagers are trying to sniff out all the werewolves before it's too late. It's a tense game of deception and deduction, and you can play with a huge group. (And, hey, if you get killed off, you can go start up another game with the other dead folks.) Looney Labs had a successful Kickstarter campaign last month for a Deluxe version which isn't out yet, but the original is still widely available.
11. Zombie Dice & Cthulhu Dice
Need one more shot of zombies or Lovecraft? Steve Jackson Games provides a great pair of options for fast and easy Halloween gaming; Zombie Dice and Cthulhu Dice both offer maximum fun with minimum fuss. The unique specialty dice make for super simple gameplay that travels well, and most importantly they're undeniably holiday appropriate.
Here's a fun game that you can actually play in the dark, because the pieces glow! The horrible vampire hunter Knobelzobel has covered the vampires' castle with garlic, and it's your responsibility to clear it away without letting it fall down where the vampire children are sleeping. You push the guardian vampire around with a magnetic wand, trying to knock the garlic off the roof without letting it drop into the holes. Sure, it's a bit silly, but your kids will love it.
13. Betrayal at House on the Hill
For a good, old-fashioned romp through a haunted house, it's hard to beat Betrayal at House on the Hill. All of you explore the house, trying to collect equipment and avoid harmful events, but at some point the Haunt occurs, and one of you will betray the others. A randomly-selected scenario comes into play, and from then on it's the traitor against everyone else. The rulebook isn't great, but the theme is spot on.
Have a happy Halloween!
