France 1831: In a remote corner of Ardèche, the little village of Peyrebeille sees numerous travelers pass through. A family of greedy rural farmers is determined to make its fortune and has devised a diabolical stratagem to achieve this goal: Invest in an inn so they can rob traveling guests, getting rich without arousing the suspicions of the police! Whether or not their plan will work out, one thing is certain: Not every guest will leave this inn alive.
The Bloody Inn is a card game in which you play one member of a family of greedy, murderous innkeepers. At the start of each round, cards are placed face up to fill the inn with guests. Each card carries a cost representing how many cards a player must discard from her hand in order to take an action related to that card. Certain guests have an affinity for particular actions, so those cards return to a player's hand after being discarded. Cards also show how much money, in francs, each guest possesses. A round has two phases in which players take one action each, in turn order. Players choose one of the following actions:
bribe a guest into becoming an accomplice (take a card from the inn to their hand)
build an annex (move a card from their hand to their player area; it now represents a structure under which a victim may be buried)
kill a guest (move a card from the inn to their player area, awaiting burial)
bury a victim (place an unburied victim card under an annex card and take the money from the victim's pockets)
launder money (players may only have a certain amount of cash on hand; excess must be converted to 10F checks by the local notary)
At the end of the round, if any room of the inn contains one of the police, then they conduct an investigation; if a player has any unburied victims, then he must pay 10F per victim to the local gravedigger to hurredly — and quietly — bury the bodies! Lastly in the round, any cards (accomplices) in each player's hand must be paid 1F each. After the guest deck has been depleted the second time, players take a final round, then tally their francs. The player with the most money wins!
- Morbid, thematic flavor that stands out
- Engaging card interaction and multi-use decisions
- Out of print, may be hard to source physically
- morbid hotel management with guest manipulation
- hand-drafting/taut deck builders
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck/draft hand management — Draft and manage a hand of cards to maximize actions while manipulating guests.
- Multi-use cards — Cards serve multiple purposes (heck floor, killings, burying) to score money.
- set/graphic-driven tableau — Different cards enable different actions; timing and discard decisions matter.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I love Wizards of the Grimoire if you guys haven't checked it out yet I definitely recommend trying it at least on BGA
- this is the first game from Eerie Idol games
- Barcelona is oh such a fantastic game
- I'm so so happy I now have it in the collection
- I am not the hugest fan of Cooperative games
- oh my goodness I love the way it looks
- you are going to be killing the guests in order to get money from them
References (from this video)
- distinctive art and theme
- strong solo and multiplayer dynamics
- solo/pickup interaction feels different than multiplayer
- crime, burial, and deck-action economy
- 19th-century underworld
- darkly thematic with a twist
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card-driven action economy — pay with cards to take actions; some cards can be kept for later use.
- Multi-use cards — pay with cards to take actions; some cards can be kept for later use.
- Push Your Luck — burying corpses under buildings introduces high-tension risk.
- push-your-luck/ouch mechanics — burying corpses under buildings introduces high-tension risk.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- these are 10 games that I love where I would have a really hard time choosing between just Solo or just multiplayer
- the list actually very hard to make
- I am going to just focus on competitive games competitive games that work well both solo and multiplayer
- this list is really the way I thought about it
- it's such an amazing game
- it's a pure racing game no betting no controlling multiple cars you're one car racing around the track
References (from this video)
- Super fun
- Many different components
- Complex rules, played incorrectly initially
- Crime/Murder
- Victorian Inn
- Dark comedy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Play — Playing cards to bribe, kill guests, or manage consequences
- Resource management — Managing money to pay gravediggers and police
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Foster the Meeple - a channel all about board games
- we have our team jeff team jamie patreons who are going to be voting on what the loser has to do
- i love res arcana res arcana is quickly becoming one of my favorite games
- adult where's waldo
- knocked our socks off
- i love it
- so much fun
- winter is coming
- board game city up in here
References (from this video)
- Unique morbid theme with clean design
- Cpuld be very satisfying for euro-style players
- Can be heavy for casual or new players
- Some learns require careful reading of rules
- crime, dark humor, morbid whimsy
- 1790s inn with macabre murder and burial themes
- hand-management with criminal actions and deductions
- Other hand-management euro-crime games
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- hand management — spend cards to perform actions and build effects
- level-based costs — actions cost varying numbers of cards and discounts exist
- police investigations — police respond to murders and place pressure on players
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a perfect Halloweeny kind of game cuz it's a horror themed game.
- Septima is a cool game that we haven't really played as much as we frankly should have.
- There's zombies and they're coming at you and you're blasting your way out.
- The look particularly is absolutely incredible.
- 10 out of 10 adorable. Amazing.
- Mysterium is a really really interesting game
- it's a hand management card game where to do the various actions you have to spend cards
- it's so Halloweeny
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm giving away a copy of Dead of Winter: The Long Night with this video
- To be in with a chance of winning, simply like this video, comment below and subscribe to Actualol
- If you're new to Actualol then check out the rest of my videos.
- I'm Actualol on Facebook and Twitter. I'm Jon Purkis, thanks for watching.
References (from this video)
- tightly themed with a sharp, ironic premise
- clear, approachable core loop that scales well in playgroup
- engages social/diplomatic interaction as players maneuver guests
- thematic considerations may be off-putting for some groups
- specific mechanics and pacing may feel heavy for casual players
- crime, deception, murder-for-profit
- 19th-century innkeeping with a murderous twist
- darkly humorous, morally ambiguous
- Horrified
- Whirling Witchcraft
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — players draft cards to perform actions that affect guests and the inn's fortunes
- hand management — Players manage a hand of cards for actions, sabotages, and payouts
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- our perfect halloween game night would not include our catfish god
- we caveat everything
- this game is a fantastic little halloween game
- the first person to five ingredients wins
- you are an innkeeper who uh is a little bit sketchy because you're a little bit sketchy
- you are trying to murder all of your guests so that you could take their money
References (from this video)
- grim, compelling theme with historical hook
- tight, multi-layered mechanics for a small box game
- strong thematic coherence and clever win condition
- extremely grim content may be off-putting for some groups
- murder, crime, and illicit wealth generation
- 19th-century French inn
- grim, darkly humorous, historical fiction-inspired
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area control / annex expansion — build annexes to increase capacity and profitability
- economic engine / money economy — earn money from guests and bribe authorities to avoid capture
- hand management — players manage a hand of actions/cards to run the inn and commit murders
- victim handling / corpse management — burial of corpses to maintain station integrity and cash flow
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's absolutely fantastic
- beautiful artwork it's got great components
- an under-the-radar game and I just absolutely love it
- it's such a fun game
- this may be the most horrific game we have
- the tension in this game is insane
- there's absolutely no artwork to the game
- the way you win the game is by having the most money
- it's a party game right because most of those hidden movement games just the more people we have the more bloated it gets
References (from this video)
- Strong theme with morbid humor
- Tight, tense decision-making under pressure
- Theme may feel a bit far from typical family-friendly play
- Desperation, crime, and clever micro-economies
- 18th-century inn with a morbidly humorous tone
- darkly humorous historical drama
- The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- hand-management with money laundering theme — Players manipulate resources and finances to survive the winter threat
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "This is Spooktacular. It is spectacular and spooky."
- "The theme is very well integrated into the story that you're playing through."
- "You can feel the humanity of the ghosts and the dream transitions."
- "It's like Ford versus Ferrari for fashion."
- "The alien gets on board and starts growing. It’s iconic."
- "This is Mad Max on a board. Thunder Road Vendetta is fantastic."
References (from this video)
- Light, humorous, tense bluffing party vibe
- Accessible and quick to play
- Not a deep strategy game for some players
- Theme may be too dark for some audiences
- cozy-ish but criminal mischief with bluffing
- French inn during the 19th century
- Love Letter (bluffing/poultry bluffing mechanics)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- trick-taking with light bluffing — Players manage actions around cards to build or disrupt the inn and its patrons.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The goodest of morning to you all. I'm Tom Vassel.
- Two body parts. Well, I handed an elbow to take pieces out of the pool.
- This is Duel for Cardia. Simultaneous selection, simultaneous reveal kind of game with that brilliant little fun mechanism.
- It's the top of the bottom. No, top of the bottom is what I said.
- The mind of a genius, I tell you.