Haunted Halloween Board Game

In September 2023, I found a Kickstarter for Haunted Halloween, a board game about trick or treating. It had almost everything I would put in my dream trick or treat game, so I had to back it! 

 

In case you're wondering, the only thing really missing that my dream version would have is a "take that" element where you can play tricks on houses...or other players!

The game arrived just in time for Halloween! Being the Hallo-weirdo that I am, I went in for the Deluxe version of the game which includes a lot of fun extras. 

 

I should take this time to mention that this game is put out by Castle Clark, which is a small family owned and operated business. I've been in touch with them regarding a couple issues with the shipping (not their fault) and they have been super!

The back of the box shows what all is included. The Deluxe version extras include 3D printed player figures, ghost figures, candy corn trays to hold the treats you earn, a 3D printed coffin, and a 3D printed Jack-O-Lantern to hold all the candy pieces.

Let's get a closer look after the break!

Here's a look at the game board. You start in the "safe" neighborhood on the right side where there are only two houses. You trick or treat by rolling a die to move, landing on a house and then using a spinner to see the result. You can only visit a given house one time, no changing costumes! To get to the other houses, you have to pass through the graveyard in the center! More on that in a bit.

Being a game about trick or treating, you play as a costumed kid. Each costume has a special power that can be used during the game. Your goal is to be the first to visit the required number of houses then rush home to declare "Bedtime!" to end the game. The pail on my Frankie figure arrived broken but I already contacted the game makers and they're going to replace it!

Remember how I said you have to pass through a graveyard? You didn't think a graveyard on Halloween would just be there for atmosphere, did you? The players' main nemeses (that's the correct plural, I just checked) are three ghosts and a banshee. Once a player enters the graveyard, they start rolling a ghost die every turn to move ghosts out of their way...or to chase down another player!

 

They enter the game slowly but each one steals more candy from you than the last if they land on your space. They take the stolen goodies back to a coffin in the graveyard where a brave soul can try to add them to their pumpkin pail. 

 

In one corner of the board is a haunted house where you can pickup a glowstick (protects from one ghost encounter) and possibly extra candy...if you don't get scared and run away! While we're zoomed in here, I want to take a sec to say how much I love the artwork! As much of a horror fan that I am, when it comes to Halloween I prefer things kid-friendly and magical. 

 

As Tim Curry once sang, "Anything can happen on Halloween!"

Here's a look at the components. I haven't punched anything yet as you can see. In the top left is the trick or treat spinner and a cutout for the haunted house so there's no missing it on the board. The sheet to the right has the tokens for the kids and ghosts that go in little plastic stands. 

 

As much as I wanted the 3D figures, I kind of prefer the standee figures because they're more colorful and cardboard figures like that take me back to games of my childhood. The sheet in the front has a lot of candy tokens. That's a lot of punching out! You can also see the candy corn treat trays and the candy coffin.

One of the add-ons I opted for are these extra player costume options of black cat and dragon. When these were sent out, the creators' daughter randomly put pumpkin stickers on some envelopes and those people got an extra prize! 

 

I was one of the lucky ones and chose the sheet of stickers in the background. They're made so you can spruce up your game board with extra little things. The collector in me won't allow putting stickers on the board because what if they peel and pull up the board?

If you want to pick up the game, head over to Castle Clark where they're currently taking pre-orders at a discount price. You can also add-on the black cat/dragon figures as well as STL files to print your own kids and special gravestones. 

 

If you want a more in-depth look at the game play, including some stuff I didn't mention here, check out this video.