How to Play

Horrified

1-5 players 60-60 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Players cooperatively battle iconic Universal movie monsters in this horror-themed board game. Each turn consists of hero actions followed by monster activities, with event cards controlling which creatures appear. Victory requires defeating all monsters before the terror track fills or monster cards run out. Seven unique monsters demand different defeat strategies.

Published 2019

Horrified

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Unfold the game board
Place it in the center and familiarize yourself with the locations (spaces with names)
2
Place the Terror marker
Put it on the "0" space of the Terror Level track in the upper left corner of the board
3
Prepare villagers and dice
Place the 10 villager silhouettes and 3 dice beside the board
4
Prepare the Monster deck
Shuffle the Monster cards and place them face down beside the board
5
Choose your monsters
Select which monsters to play against based on difficulty:
6
Set up Monster boards
Place the Monster board for each chosen monster beside the game board, arranged from lowest to highest Frenzy Order (shown in upper left of each board)
7
Complete monster-specific setup
Follow the setup instructions on the back of other Monster boards for each monster in play, then return unused monster components to the box
8
Place the Frenzy marker
Put it on the Monster board with the lowest Frenzy Order
9
Distribute hero badges
Shuffle hero badges face down, deal one randomly to each player with matching reference card, return unused heroes to the box
10
Place heroes on the board
Each player places their hero at the starting location shown on their badge
11
Deal Perk cards
Shuffle Perk cards, deal one face up to each player, place remaining cards face down beside the board
12
Prepare the Item bag
Place all 60 Item tokens in the Item bag, draw 12 items and place each at the location indicated on the token, keep the bag beside the board
13
Determine first player
The player who most recently ate garlic goes first

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Perform actions
Execute up to the number of actions shown on your hero badge, in any order, repeating actions as desired
2
Move action
Move your hero along a lit path to an adjacent space, taking any villagers with you
3
Guide action
Move a villager from your hero's location to an adjacent space, or from an adjacent space to your hero's location
4
Pick Up action
Take any number of Items from your hero's location and keep them beside your badge
5
Share action
Heroes on the same space may freely give or take any number of Items from each other without individual exchanges
6
Advance action
At a specific location, use one of your Items to advance a monster's challenge
7
Defeat action
At a monster's location, use your Items to defeat that monster
8
Special Action
Some heroes have a special action on their badge that counts as one action and may be performed multiple times
9
Understand Item types
Red items are physical, blue items are intellectual, yellow items are spiritual
10
Note Item strength
The number on each Item indicates its strength value
11
Single color restriction
When an icon shows a single Item of a color, only one Item of that color may be played per action
12
Multiple color allowance
When an icon shows multiple Items of a color, any number of Items of that color may be played, adding their strength values together
13
Discard used Items
Place used Items in a discard pile beside the board unless placing them on a Monster board (like for Invisible Man or Wolf Man)
14
Play Perk cards freely
Any player may play any number of Perk cards during any player's Hero Phase
15
Resolve Perk effects
Follow the card instructions, then place it face up in a discard pile
16
Perk cards cost no actions
Playing a Perk card does not use an action
17
Earn more Perk cards
When a villager reaches their safe location, remove them from the board and draw a Perk card
18
Draw a Monster card
Take the top card from the Monster deck and resolve its three parts from top to bottom
19
Place Items
Draw the indicated number of Items from the bag and place each at its specified location
20
Resolve the Event
Read the event and follow its instructions
21
Execute Monster Attack
Resolve attacks for monsters shown at the bottom of the card, left to right
22
Move the Monster
Move it toward the nearest person (hero or villager) by the number of spaces shown
23
Target priority
Monsters target heroes over villagers when equally close
24
Roll attack dice
Roll the number of dice shown on the card for each person on the monster's space
25
Resolve Hit symbols
For each Hit symbol (✷) rolled, the target takes one hit
26
Resolve Power symbols
For each Power symbol (!) rolled, activate that monster's special power as described on its board
27
Heroes may defend
Discard one Item per Hit symbol to ignore that hit
28
Heroes are defeated
If a hero has no Items or chooses not to discard, one Hit defeats them
29
Heroes can be hit again
A hero who discards Items to avoid one attack can still be defeated by a subsequent attack in the same turn
30
Villagers have no defense
Villagers are immediately defeated when hit
31
Frenzy marker placement
At game start, place the Frenzy marker on the monster with the lowest Frenzy Order
32
Frenzy monster attacks twice
When the Frenzy symbol appears on a Monster card, the Frenzy monster moves and attacks in addition to any other monsters
33
Move Frenzy marker
Some events advance the Frenzy marker to the next monster with higher Frenzy Order

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Victory condition
Defeat all monsters in play to win immediately
2
Defeat by Terror
If the Terror level reaches the skull (maximum), the game ends immediately and players lose
3
Defeat by time
If you must draw a Monster card when the deck is empty, the game ends immediately and players lose
4
Removing defeated monsters
When a monster is defeated, remove its figure and location tile from the board

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FULL rules

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