Betrayal At House On The Hill - 2nd Edition

CUSTOMER REVIEW



This game is really great. Someone in my gaming group has the 1st edition, so we were all really excited when we found out this was being reprinted.

For those of you who have played the first edition, the gameplay is the same. Some rules have been clarified, and there is more text on some of the room tiles for ease of use.

For those of you who haven't played: you should. You are a group of explorers going through a haunted house. Up to 6 people can play, and each of the 6 character cards has a front and a back, each with different stats to add variation. Other people have posted more on how the game works, so I won't go too much into it right now.

This reprint added some new haunts, which is really fun. I haven't had a chance to play many of the new ones, but I did get to play one with hidden traitors, and I enjoyed it. Some of the haunts can also be unbalanced. I was the traitor for one haunt where I didn't get to do a single damage to any of the heroes. The next week, I was the traitor for the same haunt and I absolutely obliterated the heroes. It all depends on how the house is set up, and dice luck.

My only complaint about this reprint is the quality of the components of this game. Something about the cardboard they used this time around just doesn't work. The first print had good, thick cardboard that felt high-quality. When I took this reprint out of the box, all of the cardboard components started to warp. The room tile stack can easily be compressed an inch or two because of this warping. Some people have prevented this by immediately placing the cardboard pieces under a book for a day or two after opening them, but I'm not sure if that works all of the time or not. Another component they didn't quite get right are the black plastic clips. In the first printing, they clips were too tight on the cardboard, and ended up scratching whatever part they were placed on. In the reprint, they are too loose. We have had some slide off completely because they are so loose they have no traction. The 5 spare clips can sometimes be enough to give you clips that fit on all the pieces you need, but it's not a guarantee.



The low quality of the pieces do detract from gameplay a little bit (when the room tiles slide under each other on the table, or your stat slider goes to the minimum and you die) but this is still a great game with a fun theme and lots of replayability. I would certainly recommend it, especially if they fix the game components.



Edit 2013:

As some have said in the comments, Wizards of the Coast is very good about replacing the cardboard in this game. I have had mine replaced through this process as well, and the replacements are great. While it is a hassle to have to request a replacement, it is well worth it and takes away the only deterrent to buying this game.