The Basics:
- For ages 8 and up (publisher suggests 10+)
- For 3 – 5 players
- Approximately 60 minutes to complete
Geek Skills:
- Active Listening & Communication
- Logical & Critical Decision Making
- Reading
- Strategy & Tactics
- Risk vs. Reward
- Cooperative & Team Play
Learning Curve:
- Child – Easy
- Adult – Easy
Theme & Narrative:
- Escape the haunted mansion or be doomed to roam its halls forever as a ghost!
Endorsements:
- Child Geek approved!
- Parent Geek approved!
- Gamer Geek rejected!
Overview
Your car isn’t going anywhere. The tire is as flat as a pancake, and you have no spare. Worse yet, there is a very threatening storm on the horizon, and you broke down on a somewhat rustic dirt road where you cannot get any cell service. You need to find help, and you haven’t seen any other cars for miles! Perhaps the owners of the large and rather scary-looking mansion on top of the hill will have a phone you can use? There is only one way to find out. Grab your friends and make your way to the mansion. Knock on the door and enter if you dare.
Escape From Haunted Mansion, designed by Vidonni Gonzales and published by The Game Crafter, is comprised of 87 cards and seven meeples (three of which are “ghosts”). The card components consist of standard card stock, which is durable and feels good to shuffle. There are no illustrations to speak of other than the Room cards, which have black borders on one or more of their four sides to represent walls. A small number of Room cards also feature a colored circle or illustrated swirl to represent a teleportation spot.
On a Dark and Stormy Night
To set up and play the game, complete the following steps.
First, find the “Entrance”, the “Exit”, and one “Stairs” Room cards. Place the “Entrance” Room card in the middle of the playing area. Shuffle the Room cards, placing the “Exit” Room card on the very bottom. Set the Room cards off to one side of the playing area, face down. This is the Room draw deck. The “Exit” Room card should be at the very bottom of the draw deck. Place the “Stairs” Room cards you pulled, and place it next to the Room draw deck. You’ll need that Room card later.
Second, shuffle the Action cards. These are larger than the Room cards and describe an action that must be taken immediately or can be taken at a later time during the game. Place these cards next to the Room draw deck face down, leaving room for a discard pile.
Third, have each player select a colored meeple of their choice and place it on the “Entrance” Room card. One player should elect to be the “Ghost” and should take the “Ghost” meeple.
That’s it for game setup. Determine who will go first and begin!
Exploring the Mansion
Escape From Haunted Mansion is played in turns and rounds, with no set number of rounds per game. A player’s turn is summarized here.
Step One: Draw a Room Card and Build the Mansion
The entire objective of the game is to get the hell out of this haunted mansion before the restless spirits capture the players. To find the exit, the players must create the floor plan for the entire house.
Taking turns, but skipping the player who is the “Ghost,” each player draws a Room card and adds it to the mansion’s floor plan. Players do not move their meeples yet.
When the player draws a Room card, they must place it on the board. When placing the Room card, it must connect to another Room card already in play.
- Standard Room: These are just rooms—nothing to see or do in here except run through and hide from ghosts.
- Abyss Room: Noted with a red dot, when this card is drawn and put into play, the player who is the “Ghost” places their “Ghost” meeple on the “Abyss” Room card. They have now entered the game, but still take no action.
- Action Room: Noted with a green dot, when this card is drawn and put into play, any player who lands on it (except the “Ghost”) draws an Action card, reads it out loud, and resolves it if able.
- Teleportation Room: Noted with a swirl and text that says “teleportation,” when this card is drawn and put into play, it now becomes a “jump point” that can send any meeple that lands on it to any other “Teleportation” Room card in play. Only “living players” can use the teleport, however. The Ghost is unable to access the teleportation properties.
- Stairwell: One Room card has stairs. These stairs are not an exit, but do give players access to the mansion’s second floor. Once drawn, it should be placed as usual. Then the player takes the “Stairs” Room card, pulled and put aside during the game setup, and places it off to the side of the main floor. Players can now build rooms to the second floor. However, the second floor can never contain more cards than the main floor.
Continue to draw and place Room cards until all are placed, creating the main and second floors of the mansion.
Step Two: Run for Your Life
After all the Room cards have been played, it’s time to get out of this creepy old place.
All “living” players place their meelpe on the “Entrance” Room card.
On their turn, they move their meeple through the mansion, one Room space at a time. The “Ghost” always moves last. Once the “Ghost” moves, the round is over, and the players begin their move again in the turn order sequence they decided.
If the players land on an “Action,” “Teleportation,” or “Stairs” Room card, they either take an Action card immediately, travel to the corresponding Teleportation room, or move their meeple to another “Stairs” Room card. Ghosts can travel from one mansion floor to the next, but ignore teleportations and never draw Action cards.
When a Ghost moves, it travels one space at a time, similar to the “living” players. If the “Ghost” player lands on or goes through a Room that one or more “living” players occupy, those meeples are immediately replaced with a “Ghost” meeple. The players who owned those meeples now act as additional ghosts.
Continue taking turns until the game’s ending condition is met.
Surviving the Mansion
What “victory” looks like is dependent on the player’s role in the game.
- The “Ghosts” win if a certain number of “living” players are turned into ghosts. The number is dependent on the total number of players in the game.
- The “living” players win if a certain number of them survive and find the exit. The number is dependent on the total number of players in the game.
To learn more about Escape From Haunted Mansion, visit the game’s web page.
Final Word
The Child Geeks loved this game! They found each phase (building the mansion and escaping the mansion) to be engaging and entertaining. They even fought over who would be the first ghost, and I’m pretty sure some of the Child Geeks purposely put themselves in front of the Ghost to join its haunted ranks. According to one Child Geek, “I really liked this game. First, you get to make a creepy mansion. Then you get to explore it. I liked being a living player and a ghost, but I think being a ghost was my favorite.” Another Child Geek reported, “This was a lot of fun, and even when I was made dead by the ghost, I still liked playing.” When the last player escaped into the stormy night, all the Child Geeks took a vote and agreed that Escape From Haunted Mansion was a ghoulish delight.
The Parent Geeks also enjoyed the game, finding it to be a fun, casual experience that quickly became a game of cat and mouse. According to one Parent Geek, “The rules to this game are simply awful, and nothing about it makes sense until you start playing. As soon as you do, it all falls together really fast, and you are off to building the mansion and then running through it. I enjoyed both parts of the game, both as a living player and as the ghost.” Another Parent Geek said, “This was a fun little game. You need some decent table space, but you can build the mansion however you like. The running from the ghost was also fun and became even more interesting with the Action cards.” When the Parent Geeks took their vote, the results clearly showed that they found the game to be hauntingly entertaining.
The Gamer Geeks had a tough time getting over the game’s rule book. As one Gamer Geek put it, “You are better off not using it.” I wouldn’t go that far, but yes, the rule book needs work. Similar to the Parent Geeks, however, the Gamer Geeks understood how to play the game with a little bit of trial and error. After a few plays, the Gamer Geeks were able to vote without hesitation. According to one Gamer Geek, “A straightforward game that has great potential to be great if the rule book is fixed, the artwork is improved, and there is more interaction with the Action cards. I think it’s a good start, but it has a long way to go.” Another Gamer Geek said, “Meh. Reminds me of the early games I played. I think the game is halfway done, at best.” When the games were all over, the Gamer Geeks took a vote and all agreed to hire an Exorcist to remove Escape From Haunted Mansion from their gaming table.
I’ll be blunt. The rule book isn’t great. We learned to play the game by reading the rule book, taking the cards, and fiddling with the turns until we found what worked, all the while editing the rule book. I honestly have no idea if we are even playing the game entirely as the designer intended, but regardless, it works. This was one of those games where all of our players got together and created a shared FAQ. That isn’t good. It’s also worth mentioning that credit is given to the game’s playtesters, who were the game designer’s middle school students. I haven’t met many middle school students who have a wide range of experience editing rule books.
Despite the rule book lacking much clarity, once we learned how to play the game, it was clear that it was a good time for our younger and casual players. It’s crazy to suggest that you will have a good time “once you get past the rules,” but that is truly my point of view on this. Much like the game Tomb, it’s a great idea that is hindered by a rule book that immediately turns you off and confuses the hell out of you. That said, I’ve enjoyed it and am planning on keeping it. Needless to say, the updated rules are included in my game, making all future gameplay easier to teach, learn, and enjoy. I do hope the game designer considers releasing an updated version, as there is a lot of potential here.
This game was given to Father Geek as a review copy. Father Geek was not paid, bribed, wined, dined, or threatened in vain hopes of influencing this review. Such is the statuesque and legendary integrity of Father Geek.
