The best Halloween board games

Spooky season is creeping over the horizon, so it's it's well past time to resurrect the best Halloween board games from their crypts. These options are a great way to get into the 'spirit' of things (pun very much intended); there's nothing better than dimming the lights and breaking out a creepy tabletop adventure for the witching hour.

There's certainly enough to choose from, so the 12DOVE team and I have scribbled down all of the advice we can muster about which Halloween board games should be on your to-do list this All-Hallows Eve. While some are horror-based and others are somewhat friendlier, they all set the mood nicely. And hey, many of them are contenders for our list of the best board games so should guarantee you a good time.

Wondering how these particular Halloween board games were chosen? As mentioned in the 'how we test' section below, we won't ever make suggestions that we wouldn't be happy to buy ourselves; the team and I have been hands on with each and every recommendation here, so can speak from hands-on experience.

Curated by

Curated by

Benjamin Abbott

Benjamin has written about and reviewed board games for nearly six years, but he's been a fan of Halloween since he was a kid. He's currently getting back into Betrayal at House on the Hill.

Best Halloween board games

Ever wonder how long you'd last in a horror movie? This Halloween board game lets you find out. Setting players loose on a haunted mansion that's different every time it's explored, there's no way of telling what you'll face until it's much too late. That's because the title isn't an empty threat; one of you might be a traitor in disguise.

This results in a sense of tension that lurks beneath Betrayal's surface from start to finish. As an example, the board is built at random as you explore, making it impossible to know what lies on the other side of a door until you set foot inside. And seeing as you'll need the weapons or items hidden within to survive, you've got little choice but to risk stepping across that threshold.

When combined with 50 scenarios that are triggered by unique combinations of room tiles and artifacts, you're never sure what's going to happen next. This results in a simple but effective race to the finish that keeps us coming back over and over again rather than opting for more complicated equivalents like Mansions of Madness, so we have no problem recommending it for your Halloween games night (be it with the new version or the older Betrayal at House on the Hill 2nd Edition).

• Read more: Betrayal at House on the Hill 3rd edition review

Nothing says Halloween more than vampires, mummies, and werewolves, so it's a real power move for this game to bring together monster royalty like Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Horrified creaks under the weight of nostalgia as a result, but it never rests on those laurels; it backs up brand value with clever gameplay and memorable situations. It's easily a front-runner for any list of the best cooperative board games.

A lot of that comes down to Horrified's love of the humble 'trolley problem'. Because you'll always battle a pair of monsters at a time (both are descending on the most gothic village you've ever seen with murder on their mind), tough choices become inevitable. Perhaps the Wolfman is moments away from consuming a villager while the Mummy corners another hapless soul. There's only time to rescue one, so who do you save? You can't be everywhere at once, and that gives this Halloween board game an edge.

Unique villain weaknesses add another layer to what is already a rich experience. All adversaries must be defeated in a specific way (like destroying Dracula's many coffins so he has nowhere left to hide), and that keeps things fresh. Fresher than the undead creatures you'll be facing off with, anyway.

As the next step up from classics like Mafia, One Night Ultimate Werewolf is one of the best party board games there is - it's elegant and straightforward, yet still has bite. With that in mind, it's what we'd recommend breaking out if you want to get your friends over for All-Hallow's Eve.

At its core, this version of Werewolf is basically wink murder on a grand scale; everyone has a hidden role, and the monster amongst you (if there is one, of course) must be found before the five-minute timer runs out. However, the twist is that players aren't killed each round; as the name would suggest, you only 'go to sleep' once. Besides keeping everyone involved from start to finish, this means you aren't able to sit on the sidelines and wait for things to blow over. You've got to make your case before the group turns against you.

New characters help shake things up as well. On top of seers who can check another person's card, there are other fun ideas like werewolf sympathizers, villagers who want to be wrongly accused, and drunks who are allowed to swap roles at random while everyone else is sleeping. Get your poker face ready, folks; you're going to need it.

Big-box adventure games have created more buzz in the tabletop community than over the last few years, and this has more than enough bite to stand amongst the best of them. Along with a gothic theme that's reminiscent of Bloodborne and the crunchy battles we've come to expect from Warhammer, Cursed City is the ultimate Halloween board game if you want something deeper with an RPG twist.

Although cynics may assume it's riding on the coattails of Gloomhaven with a gritty palette-swap, this version of the Quest series is much more novel than that would imply. To start with (and as you'd hope for something with 'Warhammer' in the title), its combat is meatier than rivals - you can definitely see the wargame DNA coursing through its veins with different layers of strategy and interplay between units on show. In addition, the blend of theme and gameplay is rather clever.

Plus, those miniatures are to die for. While we're big fans of the models featured in Descent: Legends of the Dark, Cursed City's might just be our favorite compared to similar RPGs. And sure, you've got to put them together yourself, but they're much easier to construct than you'd think thanks to being push-fit. That accessibility is true of the game in general, actually; the instructions feature step-by-step tutorials that ease you in gently.

Want a good Halloween board game that won't scare off family members or lumber your kids with nightmares for life? This Haunted Mansion tie-in is ideal. As an adaptation of the beloved theme park ride, it's family-friendly while still being delightfully spooky.

As the ride's song says, your goal here is to 'socialize' with as many of the house's happy haunts as possible. That means collecting ghost cards while exploring the mansion itself. Because each one offers a different kind of reward, there's room to forge your own way to happy haunts. Should you round up low-paying ghosts to win through weight of numbers, or is it better to hold out for big payouts that require a set of matching cards? Everyone will have a different strategy, so keeping an eye on what your opponents are doing can give you a heads-up on which ghosts to prioritise... or steal.

When you add Hitchhiking Ghosts that will reduce your score if they touch you, not to mention the ability to dump a rival in their path, Haunted Mansion develops a wonderfully duplicitous edge. This gives Call of the Spirits staying power, so it's one of those board games for families you'll be happy to play even after the witching hour is long gone.

• Read more: The Haunted Mansion: Call of the Spirits review

Anyone that fancies themselves as an armchair detective should try Mysterium. Despite being a good old-fashioned whodunnit, there's a big difference - one of you is the murder victim. In fact, you're helping other players solve your death from beyond the grave.

Seeing as the ghost can only communicate via surreal, deliberately vague 'vision' cards related to characters, places, or weapons that may have done the deed, your powers of deduction will need to be up to snuff. Did they choose that artwork of fields and woodland to make you think of the suspicious hunter, for example? When you throw a time limit into the mix, this Halloween board game becomes a tricky nut to crack; good teamwork and a methodical approach worthy of Sherlock Holmes are your only hope of breaking the case wide open before dawn.

It's not a total bust if things careen off the rails, though. No matter whether you claim victory or go down in flames, it's a lot of fun that has the atmosphere of a 1920s seance. Its two expansion packs - the bonus cards of Hidden Signs and extra storylines seen in Secrets & Lies - simply heighten that vibe. The same is true of the game's two-player counterpart, Mysterium Park.

Don't be fooled by its cute, whimsical art style; the Hocus Pocus game is as tough as nails. A test of deduction and non-verbal skills, it's a surprisingly difficult board game for 2 players that draws you in by the scruff of your neck.

Just like the 1993 Disney movie, your job is to banish all three Sanderson sisters by turning their witchcraft against them. How? Brewing a potion, naturally. Powered by gross but thankfully cartoony ingredients like dead man's toe, your aim is to put down five cards with matching colors or symbols.

The trouble is, you can't communicate with your teammate or show them which ingredients you have. Indeed, the only weapon in your arsenal is a "yes" or "no" question about their card's type and color. That makes coming up with strategies for this Halloween board game a fun challenge, particularly because it's easy for the other player to undo your hard work if they're not paying attention. It also means you'll need to pivot quickly if things go pear-shaped - waste too many cards and it's game over.

• Read more: Hocus Pocus: The Game review

How we test Halloween board games

Our testing methodology is incredibly important to everyone on the 12DOVE team; being able to advise you on the top board games is a privilege, and one we take seriously. Although you can read about the process in more detail on our dedicated 'how we test board games' page, it boils down to our staff spending as much as time as possible with the product in question. This is how we're able to comment on what a board game does well, where it could improve, and how long you'll actually want to play it for. We always do our best to run it with different player counts as well to see if it changes the experience.

Once that's out of the way, we split our critique into distinct sections:

• Features & design: This is where we'll go over the 'elevator pitch' of a game. What does it do differently? Have we seen similar ideas before? Art and component quality is also discussed here.
• Gameplay: The bulk of our review will revolve around the game's mechanics. Is it very replayable? Does the experience differ with two, four, or more players? Is it actually fun? Those are the sorts of questions we'll ask ourselves in this section.
• Should you buy: You'll find a breakdown of reasons to buy/not to buy here. The aim is for this to be easily scannable, so you can make a decision quickly regardless of whether you've read the rest of the review.

Alongside all of this, we also make sure we include a ranking table with a standardized set of criteria after every entry. Here's an example of what that looks like:

For a deeper examination of our sitewide process, don't miss the 12DOVE review policy.

If you'd prefer something a little more traditional to play over Thanksgiving or the Holiday season (it's really not that far away), be sure to take a look at our recommendations for the best classic board games. And if you're keen to make your money go further, you should definitely be on the lookout for Black Friday board game deals in the coming weeks as well. It's always a great opportunity to save cash on must-haves, and they're often some of the most tempting Black Friday gaming deals of them all.