BISMARCK, ND (KXNET) — The gaming industry’s columns aren’t just for focusing on the latest developments in card and video game history — it’s also a place where we can shine the light on your perfect board game. next family night or game session. But the catch is to put something out of order and unusual. Today we’re discussing the Avalon Hill line of games.
In this series of games, players typically take on the role of a group of people (ranging from children to teachers to high school stars) who have arrived at an abandoned house on a hill. However, as they explore the house and come across various things and events, they can also find Omens – useful things that herald a disaster. Once they have collected enough Omens, the middle of the game, known as the Haunt, will begin. The question then is what exactly this Haunt entails.
You see, after collecting accurate omens and starting in the Haunt Room, players will be subjected to one of many random horrific events, from giant spiders to alien invasions or even roaming realtor demons. Often one player will take on the role of a traitor, and the rest must band together to stop them. However, with separate lists, neither the Traitor nor the Remnant are fully aware of each other’s capabilities or goals – meaning it takes a lot of cooperation and guesswork to correctly predict and avoid the adversaries’ schemes.
A huge amount of Haunts has certainly been drawn to the game – but how many versions of this game exist, and how many spooky scenarios are possible?
Contrary to some beliefs, the game did not appear before as it does now – in fact, it seems that two updates have been started since its inception. First created in 2004, the original version of Betrayal featured 50 Haunts, and the original idea of the house. The second edition of the game brought not only redesigns of some missions and parts of the game, but some new Haunts to go along with it. Between the first and second editions of Betrayal at Home on the Hill, a series of private fan-made Haunts (for Haunts 51-70) were designed by game designer Jeremy Lennert – eight of which were adapted into official missions. replace the missing eight from the original edition.
After the release of the second edition, an expansion of Widow’s Walk was released in 2016. Added to this are another 50 completely new basic missions, all created by guest writers (including the cartoon author Advent Time and founder of the Witches Coast). It also added a whole new floor and level (Roof and adjacent tiles) and included a “Final” hunt – known as “Time of the Witch”, where players try to survive in a house for a whole year (in game time, of course) against their creator.
Finally, in 2022, the third version of Betrayal was released, this time with a new, brighter look and a whole game with new missions and pieces. This time, the missions took on simpler goals and rules, helping to reduce some of the confusion that existed in previous games, as well as the smallest details in most of the Haunts and cards. This version is also notable for the inclusion of subjects – where players could choose why their characters were searching for a house in the first place (everything from a real estate deal to looking for a lost friend), so they experience certain places for reading from all of them, 50 to 11. A smaller expansion, known as Blood on the Moon, adds five missions and another stage.
These wouldn’t be the only entries in the line of betrayal, but over time, the series grew more into a franchise than a single cult classic. New versions of the betrayal system have appeared in other licensed games produced by Avalon Hill — including Betrayal at the Mystery Mansion, the kid-friendly version of House on the Hill featuring Scooby-Doo characters, and Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, which uses the same mechanics. in a more fantasy-based setting (complete with special powers and new rooms). For those who favor longer, more in-depth games, there is also Legacy of Betrayal — a version of the game that spans multiple generations and involves playing through a campaign mode with permanent effects in any game using the board. and parts in the future (including completely destroying or removing certain papers or terminations from the box).
While each version of the game has its pros and cons, one thing that is generally praised is the number of Haunts players experience. Even the smallest version of the game boasts that 25 different roles can be played, and with the huge combination of players and items that can be in the game, when these Haunts are encountered, the possibilities are great. But 25, or even 50 possible endings wouldn’t be worth an article in themselves – so let’s do the math and see how many scenarios unfortunate researchers can encounter in an example of betrayal.
To start calculating just how many potential options are available, one can look at the already existing 109 scans of the first/second edition of Betrayal and Widow’s Walk. Adding in the third edition alone produces a total of 164 scans for each of the main lines of the Betrayal game. This number can be raised even higher when dealing with spinoffs, including 25 missions from Mysterious Mansion, 50 from Baldur’s Gate, and another 50 from Legacy. Even without Lennert using ghosts or any other fictional comments, this brings the minimum number of missions available in Betrayal at House on the Hill to a whopping 289 — each with its own different story, mechanics, and strategies. A box so small it can be confused for any other board game, an unexpected number of dreams can be made to experience. This is all the more impressive because, through substitution and particle mixing, the majority of them are (unless it requires some roof) can be played with any version of the game used.
The game itself, while praised for its immense number of endings and gameplay paths, also has its fair share of detractors – many of whom criticize how certain missions can heavily favor one side or the other, or overpower it already. The player also gets several advantages with luck, as well as the sometimes confusing Haunt rules and message specials. On the popular site BoardGameGeek, the original and second editions of Betrayal at House on the Hill have a respectable 7.0 score, with the third edition slightly higher at 7.5. Legacy is the most well-received of these games, with a score of 7.7, while Mystery Mansion has a slightly lower 6.7.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of cheats and rules in the game when it comes to a game like Traitor – but there are a few easy places for anyone to start. We personally recommend Betrayal of the Mystery Mansion for beginners, and Third Edition for those looking for a longer experience. The different versions of the game all appeal to different markets, and whether your board is exploring a familiar family mansion or a more mature setting that will leave a legacy on the board game, we highly recommend checking out this unusual game. be strong
To learn more about Betrayal at Home on the Hill or any of its variants, visit Hill’s Avalon website.
