Spooky Season Recommendations for 2022

• Posted on 24 September 2022
• By Fair Game
• 0

Whether you're looking for a way to bring the family together or just looking for something fun to do, we've got a handful of outstanding board games for you and yours.

The weather is cooling down, you’ve got a warm mug of your favorite pumpkin spice drink, and the leaves are turning brown. That’s right, fall is here. And of course, with this autumnal season comes every child’s favorite holiday… Halloween. If you are staying home to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters this year that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun as well.

If you don’t already have a selection of monstrous and scary games, we’ve got some great ideas for you. All of the titles we are going to talk about today are not only family-friendly in their theme, but easy to get to table. So read on… if you dare!

Horrified

This cooperative game comes in two different versions. There is the original Horrified game that features classic movie monsters such as Frankenstein, Wolfman, and Dracula; while Horrified: American Monsters has creatures from American folklore: The Chupacabra, Bigfoot or the Jersey Devil to name a few. Regardless of which flavor you prefer, the gameplay is the same. You’ll take on the role of a hero trying to defeat one of the monsters from legend. The gameplay features a “pick up and deliver” mechanic where you’ll be moving around the board and collecting the items needed to defeat your chosen monster. What’s neat is that each of the monsters are wholly unique, both in their playstyle and how you must defeat them. This gives Horrified a lot of replay value.

Betrayal at House on the Hill

This year saw the release of a brand new, 3rd edition of this classic traitor game. If you’ve never played it before, it’s quite the unique experience. Betrayal at House on the Hill starts out as a full cooperative game that will have you and your fellow players exploring a spooky old mansion. You’ll collect items, level up skills, and discover new rooms in each of the three levels of the house. However, at some point in the game the “haunt roll” will fail. When that happens, one player suddenly becomes the traitor! They will now have their own, separate role, goals, and abilities. Meanwhile, the rest of the players must band together to achieve their own mission. Each side won’t know the goals of the other (they will have their own separate mission books), so there is not only a sense of discovery to be had, but also a bit of dread as the players must do all they can to stop (or escape from) the traitor!

The Goonies: Never Say Die

1985 brought us quite a few movies that have stood the test of time: Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, and Clue. However, none were more amazing than The Goonies. If you have ever wanted to go on an adventure with Chunk, Sloth, Mikey and the rest of the gang, now’s your chance! In The Goonies: Never Say Die, one player will take on the role of the game master (called the Goondock Master), controlling the nefarious Fratelli gang and One-Eyed Willie. The rest of the players will each control one of the titular goonies. The main gameplay will start with the Goonies players needing to find a specific item or room. However, their information will be limited and they might not even know the direction they need to go to achieve this goal. So get ready to do some exploring! Their spend their time searching, fighting off bad guys, and making skill checks. Meanwhile, when the GM gets to go, they’ll focus on impeding the Goonie’s players progress: putting traps in rooms, spawning bad guys, etc… If your group likes Dungeons-and-Dragons-style games where one player knows all the secrets and “runs the games” while the rest of the group goes on an adventure, The Goonies: Never Say Die is worth checking out.