Overview

The player with the FEWEST Curses win.

During the game, you will acquire Cursed cards that will have a Curse value. Try to collect cards with fewer Curses on them and dispel cards with lots of curses. When you dispel a a card it flips over and its Curses no longer add to your total.

Sometimes you'll get haunted by Ghosts. Having a few ghost tokens is okay. But if you end with the MOST ghosts you will gain a lot of Curses.

Flashlights protect you from Ghosts. It's risky going further into the haunted house, but you can get 1st choice of the cards.

Setup

There are multiple Cursed card types but not all will be used each game.

At the beginning of the game, several Cursed card types will be selected (5/6/7/8 different types for 2/3/4/5 players). Cards are then shuffled and some are randomly removed (16/12/8/4 removed cards for 2/3/4/5 players).

Gameplay

On your turn you must place one of your Meeples into a Room. If it is the 3rd Meeple in the Room then the Room will be resolved.

Placing a Meeple

Place 1 Meeple from your supply on an unoccupied space in any Room. Each placed Meeple will allow to claim one of the cards above the Room. A Meeple placed further up has a better chance of getting 1st choice of cards, but an increased chance of taking Ghosts tokens. Some Rooms have an effect that will activate immediately after placing a Meeple into them. If you place the 3rd Meeple the Room is immediately resolved. Otherwise play passes to the next player.

Resolving a Room

1. Roll for Ghosts

Roll a number dice equal to the total of the dice symbols on all cards above the Room board. The owner of each Meeple takes Ghosts tokens equal to the number of Ghosts rolled minus the number of Flashlights on the Meeple's space.

2. Take Cursed Cards

Beginning with the Meeple in the highest space in the room and continuing down, the owner of the Meeple must take a Cursed card of their choice and adds it to a face-up tableau. Some cards will trigger an effect immediately after claiming them.

3. Reveal a New Room

Once all Meeples have claimed cards, the Room is flipped to its opposite side and 3 new cards are dealt to the Room. If no cards remain in the deck, the Room board is removed from the game. Play continues with the next player after the player whose Meeple triggered Room resolution. Once every card has been claimed and all 3 Rooms have been removed from play the game ends.

Game end

The game ends when all Cursed cards have been taken. Once game end is triggered, the following steps are resolved.

1. Trigger Cursed Cards with Game End Effects

All players trigger the end game effects of all end game Cursed cards visible in their tableau.

2. Ghosts

Reveal the Ghost tokens of all players. If a player has the most or is tied for the most Ghost tokens they will gain 1 Curse for every 2 Ghost tokens they have (rounded down).

3. Winner

The player with the FEWEST Curses wins. If there is a tie, the tied player with the FEWEST Ghost tokens win. If still tied, the players share victory.

Cursed cards

There are 8 Cursed cards of each type, 2 of each Curse value 1-4.

Note: For all card types that dispel cards of their own type the game will automatically dispel the cards with the highest Curse values, as there is no valid reason to select any other cards.

Amulet

At game end, dispel the Amulet cards indicated by each of your Amulets. Each Amulet card can only dispel 1 Amulet card with the indicated Curse value.

Cat

At game end, if you have 9 or fewer Ghost tokens, dispel all but 1 Cat card.

Clocks

If you are the 1st player to collect a set of Clock cards whose Curse values add up to 8 or more, immediately dispel 2 Clock cards. After that, collecting a set of Clock cards has no effect.

Doll

When you have a set of Doll cards whose Curse values add up to exactly 6, immediately dispel those Doll cards.

Holy Water

When you collect a set 2 Holy Water cards immediately discard half of your Ghost tokens rounded.

Mask

When you collect a Mask card, immediately pass 1 Ghost token per mask card in your set to the player on your right. If you have less Ghosts than you are required to pass, pass all possible.

Mirror

Each time you take a Mirror card, immediately take a Ghost token. When you collect 3 Mirror cards immediately dispel those 3 Mirror cards.

Music Box

At game end, if you have the most total Curses on Music Box cards, dispel 2 Music Box cards. If tied, all tied players dispel 2 Music Boxes.

Portrait

At game end, dispel half of your Portrait cards, rounded down.

Ring

When you collect a set of 4 Ring cards immediately dispel those 4 Ring cards.

Tome

When you collect a set of 2 Tome Cards, choose a card type (not Tomes) and dispel all the cards of that type. Dispelled cards no longer count as part of a set.

Twin

When you collect 2 Twin cards with the same Curse value, immediately dispel those 2 Twin cards.

Rooms

Attic

If you place a Meeple on the top space of this Room immediately take a Ghost token.

Basement

After the dice are rolled for this Room, the player that placed the 3rd Meeple may re-roll ALL of the dice 1 time.

Hallway

After the dice are rolled for this Room, the player that placed the 3rd Meeple may change 1 die result.

Library

Place the 3 Cursed cards in this room in left to right in ascending Curse value. The player the takes the leftmost card must first take a Ghost token. The player that takes the rightmost card first discards a Ghost token

Nursery

If you place a Meeple on the bottom space of this Room immediately discard a Ghost token.

Secret Passage

Place the 3rd Cursed card in this Room face-down. When a player places a Meeple in the Room they can look at the face-down card. When a 3rd Meeple is placed, reveal the card.