How to Play

Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

1-5 players 120-180 min 7.9 Board Game Geek Rating

Players become investigators exploring cursed locations in this cooperative horror mystery game guided by a companion app. Teams of 1-5 must gather equipment, solve puzzles, battle monsters, and maintain sanity while uncovering dark secrets. Victory requires more than mere survival—investigators must actively defeat the supernatural evils plaguing the town through careful collaboration and strategic decision-making.

Published 2016

Get Ready

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

Create card decks

Separate Investigator cards from all other cards, then separate remaining cards into decks by card type

Prepare Damage and Horror decks

Shuffle the Damage and Horror decks individually and place them facedown in the central play area

Organize Item decks

Arrange Common Item, Unique Item, Spell, and Condition decks alphabetically and place them faceup within reach of all players

Organize map tiles

Gather all map tiles and organize them by tile size for easy access during the game

Organize monsters

Ensure each monster figure has a matching token slotted into its base

Create token pools

Separate all non-monster tokens into pools by token type

Update collection in app

Run the Mansions of Madness app, select "More" then "My Collection," and enable all products and expansions you want to use

Choose scenario

From the main menu, select "New Game" and choose which story to play as a group

Choose investigators

Each player selects an investigator, taking the corresponding card and figure, then inputs selections in the app

Gain starting possessions

Distribute specific Common Items, Spells, or other possessions as instructed by the app among investigators

Read prologue

Read aloud the scenario's prologue shown by the app

Place starting tiles

Set the starting map tile(s) and investigator figures as instructed by the app

Place initial tokens

Position features, Search tokens, and Explore tokens on the game board as instructed by the app

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Perform actions

Take up to two actions during your turn, with the option to perform the same action more than once

Move action

Move up to two spaces, with the ability to interrupt movement to perform another action then continue moving

Search action

Investigate a Search token in your space by selecting an option with an action icon in the app

Explore action

Reveal an adjacent room by selecting an Explore token option with an action icon in the app

Interact action

Interact with a Person or Interact token in your space by selecting an option with an action icon in the app

Attack action

Attack a monster in your space (melee) or within range (ranged) by selecting the monster in the app and pressing "Attack"

Trade action

Exchange possessions with investigators in your space, pick up possessions from your space, or drop possessions

Push action

Push a monster or another investigator to an adjacent space by testing strength against their resistance

Set fire action

Place Fire in your space or adjacent space if you have a Light Source

Steal action

Take possessions from another investigator by winning an opposed skill test

Resolve evade checks

When attempting to leave a monster's space voluntarily or perform actions other than attack or move, test against the monster with highest awareness

Resolve tests

Roll dice equal to your skill value plus modifiers, spend Clues to convert investigation results to successes

Attempt puzzles

Perform puzzle steps equal to your indicated skill value, spending Clues for additional steps

End investigator phase

After all investigators take turns, press the end phase button to begin the mythos phase

Mythos phase event step

Resolve mythos events generated by the app

Mythos phase monster step

Activate each monster according to app instructions for movement and attacks

Mythos phase horror step

Resolve a horror check against the monster within range with the highest horror rating

Fire spreads

At the beginning of each mythos phase, place one Fire token adjacent to existing Fire before resolving events

Winning

How to claim victory.

Discover the objective

Progress through the scenario by listening to the prologue and examining hints to uncover the hidden goal

Complete the investigation

Accomplish the final task revealed by the app after sufficient progress to win the game

Avoid elimination

Prevent investigators from suffering Damage equal to health (becoming Wounded then eliminated) or Horror equal to sanity (becoming Insane then eliminated)

Race against time

Complete objectives before the game ends automatically due to taking too long

Handle elimination consequences

When an investigator is eliminated, remaining investigators lose at the end of the next investigator phase

All eliminated ends immediately

If all investigators are eliminated simultaneously, the game ends and all investigators lose

Check Insane conditions

Some Insane Conditions alter individual win/lose conditions, which that investigator must follow secretly