Betrayal at House on the Hill has developed into a franchise that started as a first of its kind horror board game with the first edition in 2004. It has become a snowball picking up steam (increasing since Hasbro began distributing it). In 2010, the Second Edition was released, and it was essentially an errata edition of the first. Expansions and variations began in 2016 with the release of Widow’s Walk Expansion, followed by a Dungeons & Dragons variant, Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, and a Scooby Doo Variant with Betrayal at Mystery Mansion. Then the game received the Legacy treatment with Betrayal Legacy, followed by 2022’s Third Edition, a werewolf variant Betrayal The Werewolf’s Journey Blood on The Moon, and a Holiday Horror rendition with Evil Reigns in The Wynter’s Pale The Yuletide Tale Expansion.
Now, just in time for HBO’s release of IT: Welcome to Derry comes an expansion with Pennywise, Stephen King’s legendary villain from IT, to haunt the series with Betrayal at the Neibolt House: The Evil of Pennywise. Does moving the haunted house to Derry reignite the passion of the original game like the 2017 film IT, or does it suck like IT, Chapter Two? Read on to find out.
Expansion Overview:
For those of you who have never played a Betrayal game, you can read the gameplay overview from Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate. The gameplay remains the same. Before the haunt begins, you build a mansion, and after the haunt starts, the game changes to trying to defeat monsters and/or a traitor.
This expansion requires that you remove two events from the Event Deck, adds four rooms to the base game that are very IT inspired, three new large monster tokens: Georgie’s Ghost, Stan’s Head, and Zombie Hocksetter, three Miniatures for Henry Bowers and two versions of Pennywise, and a red balloon token.
The biggest addition to the game is the Pennywise Encounters, which are drawn on tiles that have Omen symbols. Instead of haunt rolls being related to Omen cards, you roll one die per Pennywise Encounter card. Some encounters tell you to also draw an Omen.
In Betrayal at the Niebolt house, there are 5 additional haunts (sadly, only inspired by the less than inspiring IT: Chapter Two), and three of the haunts have a traitor, while two have no traitors, so percentage-wise wise there are fewer haunts with traitors in this expansion.
Game Experience with the Expansion:
The new rooms are more complicated, in a good way, than the base rooms and add more to the game:
- Darkened Hallway has you draw two events.
- Old Well has an item marker and requires a knowledge roll that results in a chance for an additional item or to bury an item
- Winding Tunnels splits the tile into two rooms that require a knowledge roll for heroes to cross, but monsters and traitors can cross without a roll.
- Ancient Den: If it is placed before the haunt starts forces you to draw two Pennywise Encounter cards and choose one to keep. No matter when it is placed, it also has you draw 2 Omen cards and choose one to keep.
I read the book IT in 1999 while traveling solo in Prague, on the train ride from Prague to Rome, and while in a hotel room alone in Rome. I have never been more scared in my life. I rode the train with my foot on the door, so no one could sneak up on me, and I barricaded my hotel room door with chairs and luggage. I was hoping for a similar experience with this game, and I was only mildly disappointed.
The Pennywise Encounter deck really enhances the game by bringing players into the IT universe. Each encounter is taken from the Book/Movies and based on trait rolls results in increasing traits, taking damage, or drawing Omen cards.
The Haunts are varied in difficulty, offer opportunities to continue as a cooperative game, or twist the game with the traditional traitor mechanic. It is fun to move Pennywise, Georgie’s ghost, and Henry Bowers around the house and try and kill the players.
Final Thoughts:
The expansion works, it’s fun, it adds complexity, the Pennywise Encounters make it feel like an IT game… but it’s just small. It seems the majority of the $24.99 you pay for this expansion goes to licensing. Per Tony’s review of the original expansion Widow’s Walk, there were 50 new haunts and 20 new room tiles. In this expansion, there are 5 new haunts and 4 new room tiles. Also, you continue to use the characters from the base game, instead of characters from the book/movies. I feel like Avalon missed on not making this a variant where tiles were locations in Derry, characters were from the book/movies and having more Haunts. It’s still fun, and if you own the base game and like IT/Pennywise, pick this expansion up.
Hits:
• Pennywise is the scariest villain in Horror Book/Movie history and it is fun to see him in a Betrayal game
• The Pennywise encounter deck puts you in the IT Universe
• The new room tiles are interesting and add to the gameplay experience
Misses:
• Making this an expansion instead of a variant
• Not having IT characters for the heroes
• Not adding enough room tiles or haunts
