Spooktacular review: "This is the perfect family board game for Halloween"

Real horror on the tabletop is a very difficult challenge. The best board games demand meaningful decisions and planning, which are anathema to making players uncertain and uncomfortable enough to deliver the scares. As such, most entries in the genre aim either for rich thematic trappings and the attendant complexity, or they go for a more hokey version of horror fun. Spooktacular is in the latter camp, but the way it riffs on popular horror movies gives it a head start on its peers in terms of delivering on a scary theme.

Spooktacular features & design

• Set in a movie theatre where monsters have come to life
• Lots of unique creatures to play
• Art could use more atmosphere & detail

The game’s premise is that movie monsters have broken out of the screens at a cinema and are now running amok, terrorizing the patrons. So the board represents a series of rooms, linked by doors, designed to look like the insides of a movie theatre. There’s a drawstring bag that you fill with different-coloured wooden meeples, which are drawn out and placed randomly in these rooms during setup.

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Beneath the board in the box are 20 different monster sheets representing the selection of spooks you can choose to play. Most are based on either horror movie stereotypes or popular franchises: it’s fun to try and figure out what film each is riffing on. Beneath them are bags of colorful wooden pieces representing said monsters, each of which has a unique shape and screen-printed design. They’re great fun, chunky and satisfying, although some of the colors are too close to one another for easy identification during play.

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The art on cards, monsters and game board is fine: it’s sufficient to communicate the theme and to differentiate them in-game, but it’s nothing special. Some of it looks excessively clumsy or cartoonish.

Gameplay

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• Each monster has a unique turn structure, special cards, & powers
• Gameplay involves using powers to "spook/devour" guests to score points
• Strategy & tactics are very lightweight, compensated by lots of variety

Spooktacular is a peculiar game in which almost all of the gameplay interest lies in its asymmetry. The core concepts are incredibly simple, and involve playing cards, most of which let you take a mix of three actions: the self-explanatory Move, Spook (causing guests to flee out of the room's doors, scoring you a point for each), and Devour, (which lets you keep a meeple from your room, offering bonus points if you can cash in a set of each color).

The actual steps you’ll take each turn are dependent on what monster you’re playing, and they’re written on your player mat. Monsters come in three different difficulty levels. The "easy"-rated horror clown Chortlin’ Charles, for example, tells you to play a card, devour all guests in the room if you spooked anyone, move yourself and another figure, then draw more cards. At the other end of the scale, the "advanced" killer capitalists Beasts of Business can play a card, draw up, and then move, interspersed with two special actions that provide bonuses based on betting where players will end up on the score track.

With the turn structure of each monster being so different, actual gameplay falls out of how whatever powers are in play interact. Still, things tend to proceed along broadly similar lines regardless. The goal is to leverage your special powers to get into rooms that allow you to spook and/or devour as many guests as possible, trying to make sets where you can. When you scare or use special actions to move guests, you need to be on the lookout to chain actions for yourself, or reduce those opportunities for your fellow monsters. A few characters - Chortlin’ Charles above is a good example - allow for more direct interaction.

Whatever monsters you choose, however, sessions tend to share one unfortunate flaw: the game feels like it ends too soon. Play finishes when either one player hits 50 points or there are no more tickets to take, both of which tend to happen around the same time. Given that you can score 10+ points on a decent turn, it doesn’t give you many chances to go through all the cards in your deck. You’ll just be getting to grips with how best to leverage the mix of powers at your table when the game is suddenly over, just as it feels it was getting interesting. Furthermore, everyone plays out their turns, ensuring an equal chance to score points, so the results tend to feel artificially close. In such a chaotic spree of special powers, it's hard to know what you might have done that pushed you over the victory line.

On the plus side, that means the game is fast and fun. The chaos is a boon if you take this view, as the enjoyment comes out of sitting back and watching the action unfold (not unlike an actual horror movie). But at the same time, it highlights the game’s lack of depth. The obvious solution is just to play to higher totals, but if you try that, Spooktacular begins to feel repetitive. Hence the 50 point end condition: it’s a sweet spot that allows you to enjoy the game’s asymmetry without outstaying its welcome.

That said, the designers have gone to town on ensuring there’s plenty of asymmetry to explore. There are 20 different monster boards and most of them play quite differently, leveraging the game’s simplistic mechanics to the full extent. Despite the game’s lightweight nature, there’s plenty to keep you engaged for a good few plays.

Should you buy Spooktacular?

While Spooktacular doesn’t have the chops to see regular game night action, it does serve one target market exceptionally well - families, particularly at spooky season. Younger players will love the chaos and the exciting selection of monsters, while more seasoned gamers can appreciate the variety. While it's not amongst the best family board games, it fits the bill if you want a great Halloween-themed game you can bring to any autumnal gathering and have a good time with.

Ratings

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Spooktacular

As is the case for all of our tabletop reviews, we devoured the game's rules in full before diving into test sessions designed to evaluate how well its mechanics work in practice. We also do our best to play multiple times to help us judge longevity.

For a closer look at our process, check this guide to how we test board games or the full GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

If you'd prefer to try something else, don't miss the best card games or the best 2-player board games.