‘Tis the season for spooks, scares, and frights. Hopefully, you like spooky board games as much as I do, but for me, there is one that stands above all the others. My favorite spooky board game is Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition.
Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition is my favorite spooky board game because of its atmosphere. It creates a spooky atmosphere for the players through its app integration, story, theme, art, and gameplay. Plus, it’s a good game overall.
Table of Contents
Back-Of-The-Box Facts About Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition
- Player Count: 1-5
- Time To Play: 2-3 hours
- Age Range: 14 and up
- Difficulty: Intermediate/Medium
- Price Range: $60-$80
- Release Year: 2016
- Publisher(s): Fantasy Flight Games
- Designer(s): Nikki Valens
- Artist(s): Yoann Boissonnet, Tony Foti, Jacob Murray, Magali Villeneuve, Corey Konieczka, Cristi Balanescu, and Anders Finér
- Where to Buy: Amazon
What Makes A Good Spooky Board Game Like Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition?
How scary it is, right?! Somewhat, but it’s more complicated than that. I’m a budding horror movie lover, which is funny because I used to stay away from that genre like nothing else. But over time, I’ve grown to appreciate it and even seek it out.
Here’s the thing though, people who like horror movies don’t always watch them to get scared. The same is true for people who like spooky board games. And let’s be honest, it’s hard to get scared by a board game.
So, what makes a spooky game spooky, and what makes that game good?
What Makes A Good Spooky Board Game Good And Spooky?
Atmosphere. Does the board game make you feel like you’re playing something spooky? Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition does a great job with this because of its theme, art, app integration, story, and gameplay. Coincidentally, all of these elements also make a good board game good.
Let’s dive in.
How Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition Is Spooky And Good
So, there are several things that help Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition achieve its atmosphere. Let’s start with the most important: the app integration.
App Integration
This is the biggest change between Mansions Of Madness 1st Edition and the 2nd, and it elevates the 2nd edition far above the 1st. Look, I still love the 1st edition, that’s why it’s still in my collection. Heck, it was one of the first board games I bought when I was really getting into the hobby, but the app does so much for Mansions Of Madness.
Not only does keep track of many parts of the game such as damage, events, and so on, but it also provides things like music, sound effects, and so on, that help to add to the atmosphere.
Theme
A good Lovecraft theme is always a big selling point for me. What I love about Mansions Of Madness is that it takes place (usually) inside a mansion or some other Lovecraftian setting. I love that it takes place in the 1920s too, which I think helps add to the atmosphere too from things like the architecture of the time to the clothing people wore.
Art
Atmosphere in a board game needs good art, and Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition nails the art. It’s dark, contains plenty of little details, and it makes you wonder what’s around the next corner. Everything from the cards to the tiles does a great job in helping to build up the 2nd edition’s atmosphere.
Story
Full disclosure, I have not played through most of Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition’s scenarios. I own everything for the game, but I haven’t had a chance to play through it a lot yet. However, I have played a couple of them, and so far they’ve been enjoyable. There’s plenty of mystery, intrigue, twists and turns, all sorts of stuff that helps build this game up.
Gameplay
Sanity checks, combat, puzzles, events, exploration…All of these are handled in such a way that they’re easy to understand, but they all help build up the atmosphere in this game. For example, maybe the lights go out in a room, maybe a person runs screaming down the hall, maybe you’re fighting a monster and your sanity goes down so you end up going a little insane…
Every single part of Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition’s gameplay goes right along with what this game is all about, and it’s great.
Honorable Mention: Kingdom Death: Monster
I also happen to own Kingdom Death: Monster. This game wowed me when it first came out. Its production value is off the charts, and it has so much content. In fact, there are a whole bunch of expansions coming out next year!
For those who don’t know, Kingdom Death: Monster takes place in a completely dark landscape, the ground for which is made up of stone faces. Humans are at the bottom of the food chain here, and the goal of the game is to try to survive and build up your civilization while figuring out what’s going on. To that end, you and your fellow humans face monsters, madness, and so much more.
Death is inevitable and can come at any time, the monsters are horrific and vicious, and overall it’s a game that could easily be my favorite spooky board game.
For me though, while I love the theme, art, gameplay, story, and everything else about Kingdom Death: Monster, I wouldn’t describe it as spooky so much as dark. It does a great job building its atmosphere, maybe even more so than Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition, but I would describe it more as dark or grim than spooky.
Plus, I want my spooky games to be the fun kind of horror. I know that’s a weird word to use for any kind of horror, but Lovecraftian horror is just fun to play with. While Kingdom Death: Monster is fun too, it just doesn’t quite hit the same notes for me that Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition does.
Did You Know?
(Each time you refresh the page you will get a new “Did You Know” fact!)
Did you know there’s a great filler game about sailors trying not to get eaten by a sea monster? If you’re interested, check out my review of Uk’otoa in this article!
Conclusion: My Favorite Spooky Board Game Is Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition
So, there you have it, all the reasons why Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition is my favorite spooky board game. I’ve had this game since it was released, and I’m confident I’ll continue to have it for many years to come.
So, what’s your favorite spooky board game? Let me know your thoughts and why in the comments below!
And, as always, keep on gaming, fellow board gamers.
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