Betrayal at House on the Hill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Betrayal at House on the Hill

Players	3 to 6
Age range	10 and up
Setup time	< 5 minutes
Playing time	30 min-2hrs
Random chance	Medium
Skills required	Team play

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a board game by Bruce Glassco published by Avalon Hill. Players all begin as allies, exploring a haunted house filled with dangers, traps, items and Omens. Whenever an Omen is revealed there is a chance that one of the players will change allegiance and combat the other players. The game contains two scenario books, one of which goes to the traitor and the other going to the remaining good guys. Each scenario is different — the traitor may end up controlling (or becoming) zombies, cannibals, dragons, vampires or almost any other monster imaginable. The goals for winning also change — the remaining players may need to kill the monster(s), kill the traitor, survive for a number of rounds, or achieve some other goal for winning. The traitor's goal is usually to kill the other players first, but occasionally the traitor can win by other means. Both sides pursue their goals in the endgame until one side defeats the other.

Because the original rules are sometimes unclear or indeterminate, the revised rules (below) are well worth attention.

One of the best features of Betrayal is as you explore a new part of the mansion, the next room tile is chosen at random so the game board is different each time you play the game. One direct consequence of this is that, once the goals have been revealed, the "fun factor" of the remainder of the game heavily depends on how the house has been set up.

Betrayal won a 2004 Origins Award, the Gamers Choice Award for Best Board Game.