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Remember the days when you would cut eye holes in your mum's bed sheets. Throw them over your head. Become a ghost, then run around scaring everyone. Well now you can do that in this 2 to 5 player, spooky set collection game with a twist. All without ruining your mum's favourite Egyptian cotton sheets.
Set Up
In haunt the house, you play as the ghosts in a creepy old house. Your aim, scare off the pesky ghost hunters that are trying to ruin your fun. How does a ghost scare off a ghost hunter you ask? Well, by matching your scare cards to that of the hunters, obviously.
At the start of the game a set amount of rooms are placed in front of you according to player count. Then each player is dealt a deck of scare cards matching the ghost they picked. You all randomly select a red and blue tile aswell. You keep these hidden, they will score you bonus points at the end of the game. Finally, randomly place out a ghost hunter for each room, and that's set up.
Actions
Now that we are set up, what do you do? On its surface this is a relatively simple set collection game. You are picking up and placing cards, trying to match your scare cards to the ones on the hunter cards in hopes of scaring them off. But what sets this aside and really makes this game a lot of fun is the bluffing mechanic.
So, on your turn you can either take 2 actions or BOO! One of the actions is laying a card next to a room. You can either lay a card faceup for everyone to see. This card has to match one of the symbols on the ghost hunter for that room. Or you can lay a card facedown so only you know what it is, and this card does not have to match one of the symbols on the hunter. That is where the bluffing comes in. You are trying to trick your opponents into calling for a boo by laying hidden cards that are wrong. Or are they? And you are just setting yourself up for the next turn. The last action you can take is picking up a card.
Another thing worth mentioning, is each room has a unique power that you get to use if you place a face up card. This gives the game a nice bit of strategy as you choose whether to use actions or try and deceive your loved ones.
Boo!
The other option is to not take any actions and call a BOO! What does calling a boo mean? Well if you think the combined face up and facedown cards match the required symbols for that ghost hunter, then you call a boo. You reveal the facedown cards. Then add them to the face up ones and if they make up the correct amount of scares you win the ghost hunter. But what if your whole family is a pack of liars and have been bluffing and putting the wrong cards down.
Well if that happens, unfortunately you don't win the hunter. All hidden cards are discarded, and that ghost hunter is still in your house like an unwanted bug. But, not all is lost. Any player that played a hidden card that was correct, collects a victory point token and play continues.
Game End
The game ends when a set amount of hunters have been scared off depending on the number of players. You then add up any VP points from any hunters you scared, any points you picked up from playing cards down. Then you calculate any points you gained from your 2 hidden objective tiles you got at the start. The hidden objectives are just items that are on certain hunter cards, but are worth a lot of points if you can grab them. And the person with the most points wins and is crowned the scariest ghoul of the mansion. So now you can all celebrate with some BOOze, and party to thriller long into the night.
Final Thoughts
We've had a ton of fun with this one. Be it with our kids or a group of friends. The bluffing element really takes this from just another set collection game to something much more. This is a game you could introduce to everyone, it has a simple rule set, and teeters on the edge of that party game/board game border. The theme is super fun and the kids especially loved the idea of being a ghost and scaring people.
Component wise there is nothing special here, but what is included is really nice. The art is very nice, nothing feels cheap. But that is to be expected from KTBG. Also included in the box is a phantom deck. This adds to the gameplay if you want to ramp up the complexity a little bit. To be honest we mainly play without it and always have a good time. I really can't fault this one, it isn't going to blow anyone away. It's not groundbreaking. But what it is, is just pure, unadulterated, mischievous, bluffing fun that everyone can enjoy.
