This week’s game was Betrayal at house on the Hill. It is a semi-cooperative game that switches from a cooperative game to having a traitor that is against everyone halfway through the game. You are people exploring a haunted house looking through the different rooms for omens, items, and events. The game is unique in the fact that the “haunt” (when a traitor is selected) is totally random and dependent on dice rolls based on the omen cards. The haunt is random each game and it usually involves monsters, magic, or any other crazy thing the house throws at you.

The hardest part for me was the ambiguity of the start game. I felt like it was too vague and I really didn’t know what to do other than to go to a random room every turn. It was really kind of boring unless we got an omen. Another challenge I found myself with was determining what attributes to enhance and what attributes to diminish as the game progressed. The haunt was very difficult and we were constantly having to pick attributes to lose every turn. The management of what to get rid of was very difficult to ensure you could live for as long as possible.

The group leadership skills are very present in this game. From the start, everyone is on a team and exploring the house. You want to spread out and maximize the layout of the house as early as possible. Communication is very important early on and that is also very important in leadership situations. Another important skill that you can learn from this game is to stick to a plan. After the haunt was revealed, the remaining players and I had to figure out a plan in order to win. These are some of the group leadership skills that I learned while playing this game.

I think someone that would enjoy this game is my sister, Anabelle. She would love the role-play aspect of this game. She is in theatre and she would act out all the cards and it would be so funny. In addition, she would like the fact that it is a co-op game.