Spooky season is well and truly upon us! If you’re looking for some tabletop games to get you and your friends or family in the mood, we here at Card Gamer have some great suggestions for what you can play together. Let’s check out our suggestions for the best games to play at Halloween!
For Advanced Players: Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Not only is Arkham Horror: The Card Game one of the best card games to play at Halloween, it’s also one of the best card games there is, period. You’ll play through investigations with cosmic horror always ready to strike, either alone or with another player. It’s hugely immersive, with a strong narrative focus and plenty of ways to upgrade and level up your character as you play. The biggest blessing and curse is that you will want to play through more and more investigations, which means picking up expansions.
There’s a huge number of packs available, and the cost can soon build up, particularly when you consider that replay value for each one is limited. That said, the gameplay really is superb, and Arkham Horror: The Card Game feels almost like a tabletop RPG in card game form, with its character progression and relative freedom to explore when investigating. The cosmic horror setting, based on HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, gives it the perfect Halloween ambience too! It’s definitely not for inexperienced players, requiring a lot of preparation and rules to learn, but it’s a hugely rewarding and addictive game once you get started.
For Beginners or Younger Players: Selfish: Zombie Edition
Though we’ve pictured the even easier, smaller version of Selfish: Zombie Edition, the full size edition is just as easy to learn and play for players of all ages and experience levels. Don’t go in expecting a deep or complex experience! This is a fast paced, silly game with lots of chaos that sees you trying to escape a zombie apocalypse, hindering the other players as much as you can along the way! You can also die and be reborn as a zombie, to stop the other players from succeeding. Lots of fun, with cartoon-style artwork that also makes it a suitable choice for younger players who have a taste for gross humour.
Getting Everyone Involved: EXIT: The Haunted Rollercoaster
We might be stretching the definition of card game here. However, the EXIT games all have clues and puzzles on cards, so we think we can make a case for its inclusion! There’s a huge range of EXIT titles, each one offering an escape room style experience for any number of people who want to participate. In any EXIT box, you’ll find yourself working your way through a one-off adventure together, solving clues and making your way through a story as you go.
The coolest thing about EXIT is just how inventive every title is. You’ll be solving puzzles by writing things down, folding over components, cutting things up and even finding clues on and around the box itself! We chose The Haunted Rollercoaster because it’s the perfect Halloween theme, but also because the difficulty level makes it the perfect entry point for players new to the EXIT experience.
Our Favorite Halloween Game: Horrified: Universal Monsters
Stretching the definition of card game once more, we’re including the co-operative board game, Horrified. It does have a very strong element of card play, so we think it fits here in any case! In Horrified: Universal Monsters, you and the other players will work together to try and stop a combination of classic monsters from enacting their nefarious plans. Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon are all included, and each one has a different goal. They also all have very different behaviors and ways to be defeated, with all aspects feeling really thematic to their characters!
If you’ve ever played co-operative disease contamination game Pandemic, you’ll immediately be at home with moving around the map and dealing with monster attacks, but even if you haven’t, this is an accessible and fun experience for players of just about any age. It’s relatively basic in complexity, and can be made slightly simpler or more complex depending on the monsters you use. It’s a really fun game, and our top recommendation for games to play at Halloween!
Check out our other feature on scary games for Halloween, which shows even more recommendations for a spooky game night. We also have our look at digital card games for spooky season, if that’s up your dimly-lit alley!
