In a dark and dreary house, every sound sends a cold chill through your bones. A door opens – is someone there? You hear whispers, but no one answers when you call. Your eyes and ears may deceive you, but the hair on your neck tells you what you already know: There are ghosts here — and not just one for these spirits are legion.
In Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, a.k.a. Geister, Geister, Schatzsuchmeister!, four intrepid treasure hunters are on a quest, searching for precious hidden jewels, but the phantoms in this house do not give up their bounty easily. As their ghoulish numbers grow, the treasure hunters must work together to acquire all eight jewels and escape the house before it becomes fully haunted or else face their own gruesome demise.
Players roll dice to determine how many spaces they move this turn and whether a new ghost is added to the board. Players may move up to the number of spaces shown on the die. If they end their movement in a space with a treasure, they may pick it up and place it in their backpack. If they end their movement in a space with a ghost, they fight that ghost by rolling a fight die. If they roll the matching symbol, they remove the ghost from the game board.
If the players must add a third ghost to a room, it transforms into a haunting. A haunting requires at least two people in the room to attempt a fight with it. Players win if they can get all eight treasures and their whole team out of the house; they lose if all six hauntings are on the board.
- Good balance for older kids and families
- Builds tension without being overly punishing
- Keeps a brisk pace with accessible rules
- Less depth for adult-only groups
- Could feel lightweight for experienced gamers
- Roll-and-move suspense with ghost combat
- Spooky mansion exploration with younger players
- Cooperative pursuit with time pressure
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative escape objectives — Team aims to collect items and exit before time runs out.
- Roll-and-move with ghost encounters — Players roll dice to move and confront apparitions while gathering items.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this game is absolutely fantastic
- it's the most thematic Halloween game you can get
- a toolkit that allows you to mold the game to you
- it's a very slimmed down version of werewolf
- Fury of Dracula is basically a very elaborate version of a very very old game called Scotland Yard
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- children's memory / dexterity — kid-friendly game with a memory/stacking twist
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- we picked it up for absolute peanuts
- it's actually really good for adults as well
- the rule book is utter utter awful
- this is a complete game we hate this game