Mansions of Madness Boardgame

[Trike]

I just opened my copy of this game last night and played with two investigators and myself as keeper.

At first glance this is a pretty cool game based on the Cthulhu Mythos. Fantasy Flight Games produced it and it shows in the fantastic artwork and quality game pieces. Most of the players are investigators exploring a mansion as part of a particular story. The keeper is given abilities to hamper their efforts and attempt to complete his own objectives. If one side completes their objectives, they win the game.

If you like Arkham Horror, Elder Sign, Castle Ravenloft, or Betrayal at the House on the Hill, you will probably like this game. It takes a lot less time to finish than Arkham Horror. But it uses many of the same investigators. There are already plenty of expansions available. The gameplay is similar to Betrayal at the House on the Hill but there are a few clever twists on the the story-driven, explore-the-haunted-house theme.

If I had to choose one drawback for this game, I would say it is the limited story options. The main game comes equipped with five stories that can be altered by choosing a few different variations. I think you could reasonably play each of the stories a handful of times. Let's say 5 or so? That means the main game comes with about 25 different variations. I thought I'd mention it because it might upset some players to put a good deal of money into a game and not have unlimited playability. However, if you tend to change out players fairly often. Or simply take turns being the keeper. You can stretch this out for a while. Then you can start buying all the expansions.

We bought this game as a partial replacement for Arkham Horror. I love Arkham Horror. I really do. But its a huge game and it takes longer to finish than a good game of Risk. Possibly a lot longer. We were able to finish our first attempt at Mansions of Madness in about 3 hours. I think it will go much faster when we know the game better.

Either way, I highly recommend this game for horror boardgame fans.

[HuManBing]

Fun story - I saw Mansion of Madness and thought "I'm going to buy that next time I visit this store".

I came back and picked up the wrong box. I picked up Arkham Horror instead. That would be almost two years ago.

Based on your recommendation, I might give Mansions another try!