Designed by Bruce Glassco, and published by Avalon Hill (we have the 2nd edition by WoTC), Betrayal at House on the Hill 2nd ed had us players starting out as friends exploring a haunted house filled with dangers omens and traps. As the friends continue exploring the mansion, they expand the board (by drawing tiles) and eventually creating the event called “The Haunt” that randomly generates a scenario and villain in the session.
This game has so many possible outcomes that we can’t help but commend the creator as we’ve played about 9 sessions to date and we haven’t really repeated a scenario just yet.
The fun came about each time there were enough omens on the table to potentially make The Haunt event happen and literally had us screaming at the game table.
Of course instead of reading the rules throughout, we went through the video of our idols at Geek and Sundry to get familiar with the game. You can count on them as tutorial videos as well.
This board game is a must-try and has been around for a while. For some reason, some people really hope to be the antagonist in a game. But if the traitor has the Spear and Armor token, well, it’s going to be a bloody night at this haunted mansion.
Oddly enough, with Azanthriel playing, it felt kind of spooky and odd things started to happen with our electronics. At some points lights would flicker just when the haunt started, and none of the videos or photos we took came out clear. Either way, it added to the spook and excitement to the whole experience. We definitely recommend playing this with a soundtrack. If you don’t know where to get one, here’s a handy playlist you can click on.
