Game show host Mr. Menace the Sixth has summoned a group of daring contestants to explore his ever-changing haunted house. Room by room, they’ll encounter traps, twisted magic, and bizarre challenges.

Once the entire house has been revealed, the contestant who’s collected the most soul crystals will be declared the winner—if they make it out at all.

Do you have what it takes to win the show?

🧩 Game Components

  • Location Cards
  • Movement Cards (cards numbered 1–9)
  • Spell Cards
  • Character Cards (two copies of eight different characters)

🧙 Setup

  1. Board Layout: Shuffle all location cards and place them face-down in a grid, haunted house shape, or any design you wish. All players start on the Foyer, which is revealed.
  2. Movement Cards: Shuffle and place in a draw pile. Each player draws 3 movement cards to form their hand.
  3. Spell Cards: Shuffle and place in a separate draw pile.
  4. Choose Characters: Each player selects a character card and places them on the Foyer.
  5. To decide who gets to move first, add up the total value of your movement cards. The highest goes first and then go clockwise. You may also randomly determine who goes first.

🔁 Game Flow

Each contestant’s turn follows this sequence:

  1. (Optional) Cast a Spell
    Before moving your character in the haunted house, cast any spell(s) you wish to cast. Note that some spells can be used even when it is not your turn or after you moved your character.
  2. Play a Movement Card
    Choose and play 1 movement card from your hand. Move that many spaces without repeating any steps.
  3. Open and Resolve
    If the room you land on is closed, flip it over. Then immediately resolve the task on the card.
    If the room is already revealed, simply resolve the effect, if applicable.
  4. Draw a New Movement Card
    Draw 1 card from the movement deck to refill your hand to 3.

Then the next contestant takes their turn.

🧳 Spells

Spell cards provide special powers, protection, bonuses, or cursed effects. Some spells will gain an enhancement if the player casting the spell is in a specific room. For example, casting the Book Attack spell while in The Library grants the user an extra turn. Chant the spell and follow text on the card to use the spell card. Since you would cast spells at the start of a turn, after landing in a room, you’ll have to wait until it’s your turn again to use any spells.

  • You may carry up to 3 spell cards. You cannot draw any new spells from the spell deck if your inventory is full. The exception is if the top card is a soul crystal.
  • Some spells can only be used in specific situations.

💠 Soul Crystals

As contestants explore the haunted house, the goal is to collect the most soul crystals, which can be initially found when exploring rooms. When you find a soul crystal, place that card in front of the contestant. The empty space left by the soul crystal becomes a safe room and passing on and through the empty spot still counts toward one’s movement steps.

  • DANGER: Some rooms may force you to shuffle a soul crystal into the spell deck, allowing someone else to steal the card. If prompted to draw a spell card and your inventory is full, if the top card is a soul crystal, you may collect the soul crystal since technically it’s not a spell and doesn’t count toward your spell inventory.

🔁 Duplicate Players

  • Hidden through the haunted house are Duplicator Rooms, which may create a duplicate of your character. You may only have a max of two versions of yourself.
  • When moving, split your movement value between them. For example, with a 7 movement card, you could move one character 5 and the other 2 spaces.
  • Move one character first to a room and resolve the effects of that room. Unless the room caused the contestant to skip their turn, then move the other character the remaining steps.
  • Duplicates can be lost by room traps (like Bottomless Pit or Ghost Trap Room) or spells. Once destroyed, you return to a single character.
  • Optional Rule: You may add an optional house rule that limits use of duplicators.

🧟 Ending the Game

The game ends when all rooms have been opened.

At that point:

  • Players count their soul crystals.
  • The player with the most soul crystals wins.
  • Ties go to the player with the highest total of movement cards.

FAQ

Q: How long does a game last?

A: I have no idea! Let’s do some play testing and figure this out.

Q: Is this game scary?

A: The artwork is on the tamer side of horror. The game’s artwork is 100% made by humans.

Have a specific question? Reach out to me and I’ll resolve your problem. This game is a work in progress and I’m open to feedback and questions.

Thank you for testing out my game!