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Play This: Horrified
The Horrified series of games have become my favourite board games since the original Horrified launched back in 2019. The games are wonderfully cooperative and intriguingly different in each version — or even each gaming session. They’re also beautifully designed and a pleasure to interact with. I’m not the only one who thinks so — almost everyone I’ve introduced the game to has ended up buying one of the versions of it. I’ve become an evangelist of horror!
The premise is simple: work together to defeat the monsters before the monsters defeat you. In the original game you are defending a town against classic movie monsters: Dracula, Wolfman, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein’s creature and his Bride. The monsters move around the board and cause mayhem according to monster cards, which are full of surprises sure to derail player plans.
Each character chooses a different hero character with special abilities to help in the fight against the monsters: the mayor, the archaeologist, the explorer, the courier, the professor, the scientist and the inspector. The trick for players is using these special abilities well to complement each other. Collaborate and plan and you will have a chance to save the town. Play as a lone wolf and the monsters will surely prevail. As a former academic, I have a soft spot for the professor but they all have their advantages.
Different items are scattered around the beautifully designed board for players to use, either in defending themselves against the monsters or satisfying certain requirements to defeat the monsters. For instance, to defeat Dracula players must find his four coffins in the town and destroy each with items they have collected, then track down Dracula and destroy him with a different set of items. Haven’t been collecting enough items? Enjoy watching Dracula feast on townsfolk.
Each of the monsters must be destroyed in different ways, which means the players can’t simply use the same strategy for each. To make it even more challenging, there’s a time limit of sorts. A terror marker gets moved each time a player or one of the townsfolk gets killed by a monster. Reach the end of the terror track and the players lose. So the players feel the pressure rising as the game goes on and they get more desperate.
The townsfolk are mostly helpless victims that can’t defend themselves, but they do provide help to the players in forms of perk cards if the players escort them to their desired safe locations. The perk cards can be used to prevent monsters from moving, giving the players extra actions, and so on. You can win without the cards but it’s that much more difficult.
Each game session is remarkably different thanks to the randomness of the cards that determine the monster actions and townsfolk appearances. There are also different levels of difficulty, where you can play against more challenging monsters or greater numbers of monsters. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve played Horrified, but it’s almost always the first pick for my gaming crew.
So check out Horrified today and get ready to have a horrifyingly good time!
Play This: Sushi Go!
I like sushi every now and then but I only eat it three or four times a year. So I was skeptical that I would like a card game about creating sushi meals. But Sushi Go! has quickly become one of my favourite games.
The object of the game is simple: Make the best combination of sushi dishes from the cards in your hand. What’s the best combination? That’s where things get interesting.
There are many different dishes that can wind up in your hand, and players get different scores for different combos. Want to play it safe and collect maki? The player with the most maki gets 6 points, while the player with the second most gets 3 points. Everybody else gets food poisoning. Or you could be adventurous and try the sashimi — if you collect three sashimi cards you get 10 points. Anything less and you’re picking up the bill. Then there are wild cards of a sort. Wasabi triples the value of your next nigiri. Chopsticks allow you to get extra cards and so on.
The real fun part of the game is you don’t stick with the same hand all game. Each turn you select one card from your hand that effectively becomes your order. Then you lay down your card so everyone can see it and you pass your hand to the player on your left while receiving the cards of the player on your right. It’s like one of those sushi boat setups. You never know what’s coming to you, so figuring out what to collect is always a bit of a gamble. On the other hand, you can see what everyone else is trying to collect so you can try to come up with ways to make sure they don’t enjoy their meal.
The game usually proceeds quickly, lasting about around 20 minutes or so, with the winner being the player with the most points after three rounds. Almost everyone I know is always hungry for more and wants to play again.
The game art is beautiful and it comes in a lovely box as well if you get the party pack version with all the cards and a game board. I highly recommend that, as most people end up ordering it after playing the basic game anyway.
It’s a good pick for family games as well, as the rules are easy to pick up and kids generally seem to enjoy it.
Just remember to leave room for dessert! (Seriously. I keep losing games because I don’t think of dessert points.)
peter darbyshire 