10 Spooky Board Games to play this Halloween

Boo! Did we scare you? Well, hopefully not. On the bright side, we do have some frighteningly fun games to show to you, all of them packing the horror needed for a Halloween board game night. What’s even scarier? Most of them are 15% off in both our online and real-life shops until October 31st. 

Salem 1692

First off is a cult classic, Salem 1692! Imagine your old Mafia games, but improved and set in the small town of Salem, sight of numberless persecutions of believed witches. This game perfectly captures Salem’s agitated atmosphere, combined with intuitive traitor mechanics, making for a GREAT party game!

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

While Salem 1692 pits your deduction skills against the wits of your friends, Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game brings you together against a stronger enemy: the game itself. In this cooperative masterpiece, you’ll have to solve a crime using not only the game itself, but also the internet! Whether it’s drifting from link to link or digging down into the game’s dedicated website, it’ll all form an investigation unlike any other.

Mysterium

Another cooperative game of great renown (and even greater spooky-ness) is Mysterium. In Mysterium, one player will take the role of the ghost, while the others become mediums trying to uncover the details of the ghost’s death. Challenges befall the mediums at every turn, with limited communication abilities and time limits being present. If you’re looking for a game that’ll provide you with a search for the truth, for your Halloween board game night, this is it.

Arkham Horror

Up next is a game of occult grandeur! Arkham Horror forces players to band together against ancient beings. Each player will take the role of an investigator and perform a set of actions on each turn, weaving in between the various areas of Arkham, defeating monsters and toppling the plans of Cthulhu or other elder evils. It’s full of tension, but easy to learn, with the game guiding you through enemies’ actions.

Tiny Epic Zombies

The next game is dominated not by scheming Lovecraftian horrors but simple, mindless zombies. Tiny Epic Zombies locks you inside a mall filled with undead baddies and forces you to complete a few daunting tasks. Don’t be fooled by the miniature size of this game. At its core, Tiny Epic Zombies is a replayability juggernaut, filled with intensity, plenty of strategic encounters and five different game modes. Not just that, but these game modes are divided between competitive, cooperative and semi-cooperative styles. It’s sure to fit the atmosphere of any game night!

Zona: The Secret of Chernobyl

Sometimes the biggest monsters are not mythical beasts but rather humanity itself. Zona: The Secret of Chernobyl places you within the ruined city of Chernobyl, where you’ll have to delve deeper and deeper within the city, trying to reach the nuclear core that started it all. You’ll be racing against time, radiation and the other players, using one of the various survivors, and hopefully you’ll reach the end.

Letters from Whitechapel

What’s scarier than Jack the Ripper? Letters from Whitechapel is a game that centers around the infamous London killer. One player will put on his trenchcoat and tophat, while the others will frantically rush through the streets of Whitechapel, trying to pin him down. This game of secret movement will bring terror not just to the policemen but also to the Ripper, who’ll have to dodge and weave through alleyways, bluff and commit his murders, all while moving at a slower pace than the police. If you want to get your blood pressure unnaturally high because of a game, Letter from Whitechapel will bring the panic you desire.

Betrayal at House on the Hill & Betrayal Legacy

We’re cheating for this entry, as it’s not one game, but rather two, but they are linked. Betrayal at House on the Hill is a game of exploration and adventure set in a modular haunted house. At the start, all players will be moving towards a somewhat common goal. Then the Haunt begins. One player will then start rushing to kill the others.

Betrayal Legacy ups the ante even more, bringing a Legacy element, with heirlooms, an overarching story and a generation-long story, making for a wonderfully thematic experience.

Axis & Allies & Zombies

While in the Betrayal games, you start as friends, Axis & Allies & Zombies has no time for such puny and childish endeavors. This game places you straight into the Second World War, but as if things were not bad enough… they get even worse, because every time a soldier dies, they turn. Not only will you have to fight off the opposite side in search of world domination, but you’ll also have to try to avoid world DAMnation. Seems only fitting for 2020.

Black Stories

What more is there to say about Black Stories that hasn’t already been said? This simple game of enigmas and deduction is as Halloween as it gets. A player will pick up a card, read aloud the premise of the mystery, and then the others ask yes and no questions, trying to get to the bottom of it. It’s simple, thematic, mysterious and great for even the largest of groups. And it’s a Halloween mainstay!

That is it for our Halloween game picks, but remember that most of them are on a 15% discount for the rest of October, so grab ’em while you can!