Avalon Hill - Betrayal at House on the hill - Board Game

Having got this the other day (via the EXCELLENT Amazon locker system) me and a couple of friends sat down to play this for the first time last night and needless to say, we had a great time.This is a relatively straight forward game which would be easily accessible to a large number of people. Whilst me and my friends play quite a games (from the family friendly such as cash and guns and camel up through to the pure awesomeness that is twilight imperium) this is a game that I would feel comfortable bringing to the table to play with people who haven't played much beyond the classic games such as monopoly and cluedo.The game itself is quick to set up (we took less than 10 minutes) and just as quick to get in to. The rules are pretty self explanatory and definitely suit the game and also aren't overly complicated. The game starts with all the players exploring the house which is randomly generated by tiles as they go. The explorers discover new rooms, complete events, gather items and hopefully upgrade their character before a haunt is triggered.The haunt, for me, is the selling point of this game. Once the haunt hits, the whole game flips from an exploration game to a battle for survival. One played (in our game) became a betrayer, who was out to kill the others via a brilliant horror movie staple - which was executed fantastically. The only point i'd raise here is that the player who is the betrayer has to go off and read a special rules book with rules for each haunt on their own. For most players this wont be an issue at all, but there is a chance younger players or even some adults may not fully understand these and they can't really discuss them with the other players as most of this information is kept secret. The other explorers also consult a special rules book for the haunt which tells them how they can win but, as in our game, may be a bit vague about how to do so, requiring players to think a bit as well.Overall my group had a brilliant first game. Even the player who initially came to the game thinking he wouldn't like it and that it wasn't very well designed said he enjoyed it and is looking forward to playing again.The game itself has amazing re-playability. There are 50 different haunts that can be triggered. Yes 50. The house itself will also be different each time you play adding further fun to playing again. This is definitely not a game where once you've played it you know where everything is and how to win. For some people, this might be a negative, but for me it's the games biggest positive. In this one box you get up to 50 games (thats 50 - 100 hours!) of completely different game experiences.Positives -The board - the tiles are of excellent quality.The gameplay - something very different to other games, even other "traitor" games i've played and incredibly fun.Speed - quick to set up and just as quick to get in to. In a world where some board games can take an hour just to put on the table! Betrayal at house on the hill takes under 10 minutes. And that's the first time you play, having to punch out all the tokens. Future games will likely take less than 5 minutes.Negatives -The pieces - as with a few people a couple of my pieces were damaged. The models themselves are great and fun, but two were slightly bent. Still perfectly playable, but just not as they should be. However as they're more than playable they didn't spoil the game at all so I'm not knocking anything off here.Betrayal at House on the Hill is a fantastic game for a wide audience. It's a little more complicated than more luck based games such as monopoly, cluedo etc as it requires players to think and their actions determine whether they win as much as the roll of the dice. There is also quite a bit of text to be read, both in the multiple books and on the cards themselves. For some this may be a negative but for me it only enhanced the feel of an already great game.One i'd highly recommend to a very wide audience.

"Betrayal at House on the Hill" is a thematic board game where 3+ players enter a haunted house and... well, something happens.Gameplay starts with each player picking a character. These character having starting stats - Speed, Strength, Knowledge and Sanity - which can be changed by events throughout the game. If any of these stats are reduced to 0, that player dies.The players take turns exploring the house - moving as many tiles as their Speed stat allows them to. As they enter a room, the player draws a card from the deck and adds it to the house. Some rooms hold events which may benefit the player, or impede on their progress.Some of the rooms have a crow tile. When this appears, the player must roll six dice. If at any point the number rolled is less than the amount of crows in play, an event called the haunt begins. This is a good mechanic as it prevents the haunt coming too early if the players are taking the game slow.The haunt is the selling point of the game. When it occurs, anything could happen. One player could become a madman, trying to kill the other players. Or maybe a giant blob may begin to consume the house, leaving the players to fight it - or be devoured. Perhaps all the players will be shrunk down and hunted by cats, or the house lifted up by an eagle... with only one parachute left inside.Many of the haunts are samey, standard horror plots: one character has lured the others into the house in order to kill them for [insert reason here]. There are 50 of these haunts, so there's plenty that could happen, but several feel a bit dry and uninspired.You don't decide the haunt; the game decides, based on what tile the player who revealed the haunt is on, and what card they picked up as a result. You match this combination to a grid, which tells you the haunt number you'll be carrying out. Once you know this, the good characters take the booklet to read their objectives - whilst the traitor(s), if there is one, take theirs to another room to read. The two teams will have a vague idea what the others are up to, but not entirely, meaning that you usually have the element of suprise by your side.Often, to win you either have to kill the traitor\good guys, obtain\destroy an artifact or pull some switch and escape the house, or something along those lines. Once this happens, the chase is on. The traitor is trying to prevent the good guys from getting away, whilst the good guys are trying to stay alive in the process. Considering five minutes previous you were all on the same side, it makes things pretty tense.Betrayal is a great game to play, just not too often; the similarities between haunts becomes apparent and some games just feel exactly the same as others. Sometimes the odds feel too stacked against one side too; this seems to come down to how many players you're playing with. It's a brilliant game to experience, especially if you like thematic games.