Spooktacular Review

It’s a dark and stormy night in 1986 when the old rundown cinema decides to open its doors for a horror movie festival. Everything is going fine until something happens and the monsters begin to jump off the screen, terrifying and devouring moviegoers.

This is Spooktacular, an area control and set collection game for 1-5 players. It is published by Level 99 Games and designed by Brad Talton Jr.

Gameplay Overview:

In Spooktacular, 1-5 players take the role of silver screen monsters and maneuver through the old movie theater spooking (scaring) moviegoers and collecting points. When a player reaches 50 points or all the movie tickets are gone the game ends and final points are tallied. The highest score wins.

Before the game begins players choose which monster they want to control. Monsters all play differently and have 3 difficulty levels, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Once the board is set up, each player follows their specific monster instructions for setting up and the game begins.

Each player will also receive a small deck of cards consisting of basic actions and unique actions for their specific character. At the start of the game each player starts with 3 cards in hand.

Each turn, a player follows the action sequence on their monster sheet, resolving effects, moving, and playing cards, all to gain points to win. There are primarily two ways to gain points, the first being to spook moviegoer meeples out of the rooms your monster is in. The other is to devour the moviegoer meeples and turn in one of each color, netting you a mystery movie ticket that contains bonus points that are turned in at the end of the game. Once a player reaches 50 points, or all movie tickets are acquired by players, then the game ends, and final scores are tallied.

Game Experience:

After seeing the theme for Spooktacular, I jumped at the chance to review it. I started off my first game with an easy monster, The Host of Horror. This monster utilizes animatronics and other players to have a larger action footprint on the board. I lost but learned a few things.

I then moved to the Devil’s Game monster (which is a possessed pinball machine). It had a unique ability that uses the five different meeple colors in order to bounce them around the board while creating unique effects. The third monster I tried was Regoo, a blob monster. I was able to keep creating blobs and won handily while taking a huge amount of the movie tickets due to Regoo’s unique cards, allowing for devouring in rooms wherever you have a goo.

The components within the game are of good quality, though a Neoprene mat of the game board would be an amazing addition. If you love old school B horror movies, you’re going to love the art and theming of Spooktacular. It digs into tried-and-true horror movie tropes from the 60s through 80s.

I found myself having a great time regardless of the monster I played, and I think that is where this game shines, it is complicated enough for players to implement strategic plays, but simple enough that you can take it out on a game night and teach it to the entire group in about 5 minutes.

After my first game, I found myself grabbing a monster and being able to start planning my strategy in the next game. The only concern I found while I was playing was that single-player mode can be brutal against easy monsters where the game can start to feel unwinnable. In that same vein the balance between advanced and easy monsters could be of concern as well if the playgroup skews towards a higher or lower level of play.

Final Thoughts:

In my opinion, if you love asymmetrical games and B horror movies, you’re going to love Spooktacular. It is just heavy enough to scratch a strategy itch, but light enough to bust out and teach new players. It could easily become a board game night staple due to its asymmetrical nature and the 20 different monsters you have a chance to play, making it have some great replay value. Some house rules to establish a ratio of easy/intermediate/advance monsters could help make the game balanced but you’ll be having so much fun with your monster that you may not even notice the balance skews in some game compositions. Overall, a great game to add to your horror themed board game shelf!

Final Score: 5 Stars – A strategic movement game with great themes and flavorful mechanics that are easy to learn.

Hits:
• Asymmetrical monsters feel unique.
• Theme and art are superb.
• Meeple movement strategy can be intense.
• Light enough to introduce new players easily.

Misses:
• Single player mode can be brutal.
• Balance can be slightly off depending on the mix of monsters.