Best Board Games for This Year's Halloween Party

Tis' that wonderful time of year. The magical time when you can dress up as Batman and no one is going to look at you oddly. Or color your hair green to look like a Chia Pet. It is also a great time to play games while waiting for the trick-or-treaters. And remember if you give out full-size candy bars Death may well pass you by Margaret. 

But what are the best games for this year's Halloween party? How about some of these perennial favorites: 

Mysterium 

You get to be a medium, and that is rare. Ha! But seriously, one person plays as the Ghost who is trying to help the Psychic Investigators (the other players) figure out what happened the night of their murder. Which will lead to them figuring out who the killer actually was. Hopefully. The catch? The ghost does not get to talk. They can only communicate via vision cards. It’s up to the mediums to figure out what the Ghost is trying to tell them. 

King of Tokyo: Halloween Expansion

King of Tokyo is awesome. Who does not want to be a Kaiju and wreck their frenemies? Well it’s even better when you can dress your Kaiju up in costumes and use Orange and Black dice to do the damage with. Smash the city and smash your opponents all while being stylish and festive. Please note you will need a base copy of King of Tokyo/King of New York to play the expansion. 

Arkham Horror

Always a contender on the list of “board games that take a long time to set up”. But once you do you get to run around Lovecraft’s Arkham and try and stop those darn elder gods from waking up and wrecking the holiday. And since AH has around 50 pounds of expansions available you are not stuck in just Arkham. You can go to Dunwich and have “fun” with the horror there too. Or figure out what the King in Yellow is up to. Bring friends and plan on loosing at least one character each before the end of the game. Go, Ashcan Pete! You and Duke have this. 

Don’t like the long setup? Don’t have more than two players? No problem. Try the Living Card Game version. 

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

As much fun as the full board game above but shorter set up and playtime and plays great with just two. 

The Bloody Inn

It’s the mid to late 1800s and your family runs a hotel in rural France. But not all the guests check out alive! You can recruit guests into your gang and they can help you murder the other guests. The trick? You need to bury the bodies before the regional Gendarmes come looking for all the missing people. Hey, you are a respectable family who runs a quality hostelry. It would not look good to have a pile of bodies lying in the street next to your hotel when the police come snooping about.  

Betrayal at House on the Hill 

You ever want to play as the Scooby-Doo gang, or Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels? Maybe the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew? Then this game is right up your alley. In this case, old man Jenkins is actually a vampire and not some random cook pretending to be one to steal diamonds. But here is the twist. You do not know who old man Jenkins is until the haunting happens. You play as a team until the haunting happens then the betrayal in the title happens. One player becomes the bad guy and the rest of the players need to stop them before they can enact their evil plan. 

Speaking of Scooby-Doo, you can play a version where you are literally the Scooby-Doo gang: 

Betrayal at Mystery Mansion

 Zoinks!

Gloom

A neat little card game with transparent cards that allow for an overlay mechanic. But what is the point? To off your macabre family when they are the most unhappy. It is called Gloom for a reason. Happy dead people are no fun. They also cost you points. So make sure no one kills uncle Festus while he is having a good time. 

Terror in Meeple City

Giant Monsters eating people? Check. Silly mechanics? Yes. In this wonderfully slightly silly game, you play as Kaiju running amuck in Meeple City. You are smashing buildings, eating people, attacking fellow Kaiju, throwing cars around the map(hopefully hitting the other monsters when you do.), and you have special powers to boot. For example, you have a breath attack but to use it you have to put your head on top of your monster and blow with your own lungs. You flick little pucks around to do your movement. Hijinks and shenanigans ensue. 

Regardless of what you play. Have a great Halloween. Keep safe out there and see you next year. 

Cheers,

Sherpa Jim. 

Bonus Dad Joke: What is a little Zombies’ favorite toy? A Deady Bear of course. Come on that is a no-brainer.