The first time you fight a phantom who controls mechanical sharks, you may tear up a little. The villains and haunts are instantly recognizable from plots from the show. The cards and rule books humorously explain the rules in the voice of each character. The artwork on each of the rooms captures the animation style perfectly. Scooby-Doo! definitely has a younger audience in mind the haunt rules are not terribly complex, and the players are given the option of sharing the information from the heroes and villains haunt books with each other.įor those of us that grew up on the original Scooby-Doo! cartoon show, the Betrayal at Mystery Mansion is satisfyingly nostalgic. If the player who caused the haunt does not want to be a villain, someone else can volunteer to trade characters.) The haunt, like the original, depends on what clue was drawn in which room. You roll 5 dice, and if you roll lower than the number of clues discovered the haunt begins! Here, instead of transforming into a werewolf or suddenly being possessed by a ghoul, the character who caused the haunt is “dropped through a trapdoor”, and the player who controlled them now gets to control the villain! (Here, too, the game gives you more choice than the original. Each clue moves the haunt track up one number, and after each clue is drawn, the player rolls a haunt roll. Each room has a symbol that tells you what you need to draw-an event, an item, or a clue ( Scooby-Doo! style omen). A turn consists of moving through the inside or outside of Mystery Mansion, flipping up a tile from the pile as a new area is discovered, and stopping whenever they draw a card. If a spook is your goal, choose the “case of the sinister spirit”.Įach player chooses then a character (Fred, Velma, Shaggy, Daphne, and of course Scoobs) who has a unique set of attributes and-new in this version-a special ability. If you want to go after a robot, you choose the “case of the manmade menace”. This gives more control of the end game to the players. The players get to choose the mystery they will try to solve, which narrows the available haunts. For veterans of the original, the mechanics of the Scooby-Doo! version are the same, while there are some new elements. The newest offering from Avalon Hill, Scooby-Doo! Betrayal at Mystery Mansion, released in July this year, is a wonderfully nostalgic version of the original that solves those problems for a younger or more casual audience. The adult themes of the game and amount of reading required can be hard for a young audience. And the in-game betrayal is designed so the players have incomplete information whether they are the monster or not, which can lead to frustration as an hour into a game you suddenly have to learn new rules and you do not know all of them. Betrayal claims to be a 60 minute game, but can last twice as long. It’s a great game for serious gamers, however certain aspects turn off some people. It’s a fun experience that references every major horror trope either directly or with cheeky asides. Mysterious artifacts called “omens” are gathered, until one triggers the Haunt, when one of the players becomes a monster and the game shifts from exploration to survival. As players, everyone explores a terrifying mansion that gets revealed one room at a time as each player walks into the unknown. Since 2004, Betrayal at the House on the Hill has been the go-to scratch for the haunted house game itch. We get to dim the lights and bust out the board games that go bump in the night. It’s fall, and there are monsters and mysteries. We can dream about exploring haunted houses. In the year that seems to go on forever, we have made it to hot cider weather. It will be available on May 15th in North America and we can’t wait to play it.It’s spooky season. The Scooby Doo version of Betrayal side steps all that by telegraphing the start of the haunt and having someone switch roles midway through the game as opposed to hiding it the whole time. Hidden traitor mechanics are problematic for kids because they aren’t very good at bluffing very often and it isn’t a great idea to teach them how to get better at it. Once that happens one of the players switches sides and plays the roll of the “Monster” during the Haunt Phase. The real action stats once you find enough clues to understand what’s going on. Players each play as a member of the Mystery, Inc team as they explore a spooky mansion looking for clues and searching for a monster. It includes twenty five all new haunts based on fan favorite episodes and movies. Scooby Doo: Betrayal at Mystery Mansion is a kid friendly board game based on the award-winning Betrayal at House on the Hill board game. Avalon Hill has announced the newest Betrayal at House on the Hill game and this time its going to be one for the family.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |