Wizards of the Coast Avalon Hill Betrayal Legacy, Board Game

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a great game, with a brilliant twist every time you play. The game has two phases, in the first phase each player picks a character and begins to explore a haunted house as a team. The characters are the usual unlikely mix of people who always seem to band together in 80s horror films to go an explore the creepy house. The house is built up by drawing tiles, so is never the same twice, and as players explore they also have events happen to them that can either negatively impact on their chances of survival or can benefit them by awarding them with useful weapons. After a certain point, however, the game changes completely, when a player falls victim to an Omen (and this again happens at a different point each time you play), then one of the players will be revealed as a traitor. Who is chosen and what scenario plays out as a result is determined almost randomly. After this point, the betrayer will usually be trying to hunt down their former team members, with the rest of the team having to work together to either stop the betrayer or just escape the house!Lots of fun to play, especially as you're never quite sure as to when the game will change completely or who will suddenly turn on the rest of the group. Lots of replayability with a book full of different betrayer scenarios to play through. The game is dead easy to learn and quickly becomes involved and challenging! Always fun to play!

I like certain parts of the game where you build your own gameboard, and there's fun things like Frankenstein and Dracula, no problem.HOWEVER, there are VERY VERY negative spiritual elements in this game, in the book that said DO NOT READ (because it is for the scenarios). There is voodoo with an explanation of different voodoo dolls, seances, the gateway to hell, pentagrams, demons.... It goes beyond fun scary things into really, really dark things. I played it once, and it's now not allowed in my house. 'Nuf said.

Betrayal At House On The Hill is like a great jazz album. There's always something new and nuanced to discover. Although, unlike Jazz, it's actually interesting. And you can enjoy it with friends. And it doesn't sound terrible. Okay, subjectively, it's not a whole lot like jazz other than the constant shifting of tempo and electrical firing of your brain.•• Simple gameplay ••Traitor games are fun. The basic gameplay arc is broken into two phases: exploration and THE HAUNT.◘ Exploration: You start in the entrance of the house. You take turns exploring around, placing down tiles and fleshing the house out. Different rooms have events or omens that require your attention. Then, inevitably, someone at the table rolls horribly and initiates "THE HAUNT" phase of the game.◘ The Haunt: This is where the scenario kicks in. The rules determine which scenario you play. Someone might be a traitor. Maybe nobody is the traitor. Maybe you don't know who the traitor is. And the fun thing is, if you get a repeat scenario because of some staggering defiance of probability... you can just pick one you haven't played yet instead.Traitor based-games have become popular as of late, but this game continues to shine among them because of its staggering variety of scenarios and elegant simplicity of mechanics.•• Why does the game appeal? ••It appeals to many because it is problem solving, mystery, and most-importantly... shifting. The key to the replayability is the variety of missions. It seems like there's a steep learning curve due to the amount of content, but the mechanics are not overly difficult. There's no complex math; it's just simple dice rolling. Heck, you don't even need to use the proper tokens if you don't want; you just have to know what they represent.My point is, it's a joy to play from your first game to your 50th. Whether you know the rules like the back of your hand, or you barely know your booty from a grasshopper's uncle, it's still enjoyable.•• Rules, arguments, and complexity ••The rules are simple, but occasionally, there's room for interpretation.Some scenarios are not specific to every possible outcome. For example, you do your best to interpret whether or not the spirit can be harmed by the specific weapon you have, but the handbook's text may be a little vague. Googling goes a LONG way, as there are forums where people specifically discuss and argue their interpretation of the rules. If you still can't find a solution, create a house rule. After all, it's only one scenario, and you can always change it if it doesn't work out.Situations like these don't arise often, but they are inevitable due to the size of the game's literature. They rarely cause an issue, so don't be afraid to just "make a call" that seems consistent with the stated, overarching rules.•• Who is this game for? ••Admittedly awful analogy aside, it's a fantastic game. I have played it with a group of nerd friends who love board games, and it's one of our most-requested replays. I introduced it to a Mormon fella' who plays it with his gigantic, religious family. They LOVE it and play it over and over... and over and over at family gatherings. I've played it with my father-in-law who's idea of "games" is stuck on computer chess... and he likes to put it on easy to feel superior to the machine. He was daunted initially but quickly came to love playing "THAT BOARD GAME THAT'S REALLY FUN." /endquote•• How many players do I need? ••Different numbers of players make for different feels to the scenarios... but they're all still enjoyable. I've played it with as little as 3 or 4 (fun) to 7 (still fun). It's not a 2 player game at its core. I think 3+ is the sweet spot.•• Do I need the expansion? ••Don't buy it right away. The expansion is something you only need if you've played the game to DEATH and still aren't bored of the format. The base game has so much material, you could literally play 50+ games without exhausting the content.Realistically, you might want to add new items and scenarios after 10-25, but that's still a heck of a lot of gameplay.•• Conclusion ••It's one of my favourite games and an easy, "yes, you should buy it" if any of this sounded remotely appealing to you. Unlike many games that have gimmicks, this one lasts the test of time by providing more than enough variety to go around.Happy haunting. *diabolical laugh*

I'm not a games fan, but I can put up with this one. (which is high praise, believe me, I'm forced into family games ). Initially the one person being a 'traitor' was a problem,(panic and shyness ensued) but despite the amount of reading involved (probably not best played when drunk!) soon we were enjoying it and everyone wanted to be the 'traitor'.It was useful to have someone who knew the game to help us get used to it. The nice thing is the way that the game can have so much variety due to the way you pick the 'traitor' and all the different characters. so do persist with it. It's not as complicated as it first seems.I bought this as a present and was a little disappointed as the bottom of the box had been significantly dented. If I had bought it 'in a store' I would have picked another one, or asked for a discount. If this is the reason it was a good price (reduced compared to most sellers) then they should have said. It didn't look like it was due to the delivery, as it was like the bottom had been pushed in (bent upwards in a curve) then the cellophane tight wrapping put on afterwards, as the cellophane wasn't dented and was unbroken! ie it had somehow happened during manufacture.Luckily it hadn't damaged the contents and as it was for the family we kept it. This was one of those things that annoy me about online purchases, I was intending to buy this in a store, but they didn't have it in stock.

This is a great way to spend time with friends. You begin by selecting a character and exploring the creepy house together, by moving and drawing tiles, trying to avoid obstacles and hopefully discovering useful items. There are 5 things which can occur during exploration. Hazards, the house is essentially falling apart and there are many rooms which hurt your character mentally or physically. Omens, Items and events can occur should the room have a corresponding symbol, forcing you to draw the relevant card. Last of all is the big one. After triggering an Omen, the player must make a sanity roll. If successful, the game will continue as normal. If unsuccessful, that player will lose their mind and trigger the 'haunt'. This is when the game enters it's second phase. When the haunt begins, the player who triggered it must assume the role of the traitor and begin working against his former friends who will now be know as heroes. The traitor must leave the room and read up on their role whilst the heroes put their heads together to form their own strategy. There are many scenarios which dictate the nature of the haunt, each one with their own strategy. From Frankenstein to doppelgangers, this game will change it's objectives with almost every play-thru until you have exhausted the possibilities.There is one downside. The developers should of made more room tiles as after three games, I've revealed all of the rooms which kind of damages the illusion of exploring a new environment. I think they've addressed this in expansion packs which is sold separately.Overall it is a lot of fun and I thoroughly recommend it to any fan of board games.