Avalon Hill Betrayal at House on the Hill, Green

I bought this game a month ago and we just played it with family home for Thanksgiving. I had misgivings at first as it is very complicated, with a myriad of different scenarios. We've only played this game a couple of times, but so far we love it! It takes some getting used to, as there are many, many rules and it can be difficult to keep tract of all of them at the same time!Love the dark and terrifying scenarios and the unexpected twists and turns the game can take. Probably better for older teens and adults, and up to six can play (but we have had as few as three) and still have a great time.Basically, each character has four stats (Might, Speed, Sanity, Knowledge) that they need to keep up during the game to continue exploring, finding items, etc. until an event called "the Haunt" begins. Once the Haunt begins, one of the characters becomes the "traitor", essentially the game is now the house + the traitor vs the heroes (everyone else playing). The heroes read a scenario from a one guide book, separate from than the traitor, in a separate room so that each team can develop a game plan. From there, the house and the traitor attempt to prevent the heroes from escaping or solving the mystery of the house , depending on the Haunt presented.. There many, many different Haunt scenarios, and each one is really interesting, involving both the history of the house, and the history of the characters. Each character has a different perspective on the game, and it is never the same twice!We are big fans of board games. Settlers of Catan is a favorite. This is more complicated and far more difficult to keep all the elements of the game in play but it is very interesting and the game plays out differently each time. The only issue I have is with the quality of the game pieces. The cardboard is nice and thick and will probably hold up well, but the markers that fit on each game card do not fit tightly. When they fall off during the game it is confusing as the markers are an integral part of the game and are essential to game play and character moving. Hopefully this flaw should be corrected in the next edition.

My rats were almost invincible. Twice the heroes had tangled with them and run away, nearly dead and unable to brave the swarm again. More and more rats were pouring in to stand guard over the door to my pentagram chamber. My ritual was nearly complete; I was seconds from destroying my enemies and raising an unstoppable army of rodents that would swarm the world, all at my control.Then my son drew the Dynamite card. I rolled and rolled, but every rat necessary to my ritual perished in the fiery explosion and the eldritch power I was calling devoured me as their link severed. My almost certain win was destroyed with the drawing of a single card.Betrayal at House on the Hill has: 2-6 explorers, a house that builds slowly with tiles, a set of omen cards that draw the players ever closer to a haunting, and 50 scenarios in which the haunting reveals a traitor, his minions, and the winning and losing conditions for each side.In the first part, you all explore the house, drawing room tiles, encountering event cards that test you, the occasional item, and even more infrequently, an Omen. During this part of the game, no one can die, there are no monsters, and no need to attack other players. Nobody is the enemy yet. However, Omen cards add up; each time you find one, you roll dice to see if the second part of the game happens: the Haunting. The Haunting is when one character either openly or in secret (depending on the scenario) becomes the traitor, controlling the monsters and scenario that challenges the heroes (all the other players) while pursuing goals known only to him. The heroes, to win, have a set of tasks to perform. Sometimes the goal it simply to make it out alive. Sometimes to find a room and complete a ritual. The task is *almost never* as simple as killing the traitor. Sometimes the traitor character is removed and the traitor only controls monster tokens to achieve his goals. Sometimes, the traitor attacks simply to interfere with the heroes as they attempt to flee a ticking countdown. Sometime his goal is to flee the heroes, get to a certain place, perform a ritual of his own, or other nefarious things. In one scenario, sometimes he has only to move a counter and watch the heroes die on their own (my daughter and I actually won that one even with my son's attempted interference, although I died alone on my own without the possibility of escape she was able to complete the goals and so our side won.In any case, we've only played a handful of scenarios, and each one is unique. Sometimes sheer luck makes an easy win. Sometimes winning for one side or the other will be impossible. But all in all, the sheer variety of options, rooms, cards and scenarios makes it enjoyable and balanced, and the ratcheting tension of omen cards leading to a haunting roll succeeding and one of us becoming the bad guy is a fun mechanic.There are rules for playing alternate scenarios if you come up with the same one twice in a row or one everybody has played and want to switch, which is nice.Unlike some of the reviews here, the pieces in my game are sturdy, well made, and in no cases thin and flimsy. And those 1 star reviews pearl clutching at finding ghosts, demonic rituals, the undead, Satanic and/or Chthulic influences, and (gasp) a pentagram room in the game, what were you expecting from a game about hauntings, monsters, and betrayal? Did you not read the back of the box? Go back to playing Clue.Two caveats: lots of pieces so get some baggies to separate them and it requires at least a folding table to play on. A small kitchen or coffee table isn't going to do it.