Collection Status
Your Rating
Description
Things gets quite spooky on the "Spirit Stairs". There's a race in the old castle ruin, and the most courageous have the edge. The ghost lives at the top of the stairs. Being completely quiet, a few brave children dart up the stairs- everyone wants to be first to scare the ghost with a "BOOOO! ”But the ghost knows this age-old game and tries to transform the players into ghosts - one after the other one!
Every turn players roll an enchanted die to see how fast they climb the stairs, if a player rolls a "ghost", he may place a ghost piece over another player's pawn. A magic magnetic field connects the two and the pawn disappears! Now the players must remember for the remainder of the game under which ghost their own figure is. If all players are transformed and another "ghost" rolled, two ghosts may be exchanged. Whoever can make it to the top of the stairs amidst the chaos wins.
Ages 4 and up
Expanded by:
Geistertreppe: Flaschengeist 5 & 6 Player expansion
Year Published
2003
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment:
pos 2 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video d1Kg5wCc__c
All Games 4K general_discussion at 1:57 sentiment: positive
video_pk 13727 · mention_pk 40078
Click to watch at 1:57
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Accessible for very young players
- Simple and hilarious family-friendly experience
- Great for Halloween atmosphere with minimal setup
Cons
- Limited depth for experienced players
- Simple mechanics may feel repetitive over time
Thematic elements
- Horror-adjacent, light-hearted spooky
- Spooky staircase world, child-friendly Halloween theme
- Memory/motion-based, simple patterns
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Memory/cover mechanic — A magnet ghost covers a pawn; players must recall positions across turns.
- roll-and-move — Players roll a die to advance along a cartoon staircase board.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
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)
No references stored for this video.
Video Fflv2nCikrs
Adam Porter (Board Game Designer) analysis at 1:43 sentiment: positive
video_pk 4852 · mention_pk 14386
Click to watch at 1:43
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Incorporates memory element offsetting randomness
- Chaotic but engaging gameplay
- Innovative use of ghost mechanics
- Variant for older players increases complexity
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Ghost adventure
- Haunted staircase
- whimsical
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- memory — Ghost pieces cannot be identified once placed on board, requiring memory to track
- Piece Swapping — Rolling ghost allows swapping player piece with ghost piece of matching color
- roll and move — Pure roll and move with ghost swap mechanic
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Where once randomness ruled modern games prioritized player agency designers strived to incorporate meaningful decisions into their games and role and move became a dirty word among the modern tabletop community
- I myself put out a video called dicer not the answer back in 2017 one of my most watched lamenting role and move
- In 2022 i feel like maybe just maybe we've tipped too far in the other direction thrown the baby out with the bath water
- This video is a quest for redemption
- When done well roller move is one of the most intuitive exciting mechanisms out there
- In a pure roll and move game the player rolls a die or spins a spinner and moves their playing piece according to the result
- In talisman you roll the die and then you choose to move clockwise or anticlockwise around the board that one deviation from the purest role of move games the decision to go left or right immediately put talisman head and shoulders above most board games on the market at the time
- Hero quest showcases the strength of the roller move mechanism its elegant simplicity and the excitement of a successful role outrunning an ogre
- It can be really frustrating to lose a long game which you were totally invested in purely because you rolled badly
- Spooky stairs is a great example of a game where the roll and move mechanism itself isn't tampered with but the basic race mechanism is turned on its head by incorporating a chaotic memory mechanism
- This game beautifully highlights the intuitive nature of roll and move as a mechanism
- More than any other on this list this game demonstrates how such a simple mechanism can create agonizing decisions and a hugely interactive variable board game experience I can't recommend this one enough
- Roll and move games don't have to be devoid of meaningful choices
- Formula d has a great roll and move mechanism which i haven't seen replicated in any other game
- Push your luck and roll and move complement each other nicely
- Among hobby gamers roll a move is widely considered something of an untouchable mechanism in 2022 and that's a shame
- Roll and move isn't a cursed mechanism
- Like every mechanism roller move has strengths and weaknesses
- It can be used effectively to create an exciting intuitive system or it can be used ineffectively to create a wildly random experience which feels primitive and unfair
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–2 of 2