Horrified: American Monsters - Board Game Review!

We always enjoy finding new board games to play together as a family, it is nice to sit down at the table with the TV and phones off to talk, laugh and conquer a board game. For Christmas my mom gifted my husband the board game Horrified - American Monsters and we've enjoyed it so much I wanted to share a review of it with all of you looking for a new game to play.

This game is fantastic in general, but anyone who loves supernatural beings/monsters/cryptids will enjoy the number of creatures that are put into this game. American Monsters is the second game in the series (we haven't played the first) so this one focuses on monsters that are typically found in the US such as Big Foot & The Jersey Devil. You can play this with 1-5 players and it is recommended for ages 10 & up, game time typically takes 45 to 60 minutes. It can be found at a number of stores including Target, Walmart and Amazon, it usually goes for between $35-$40 however you can catch in on sale from time to time. It is by Ravensburger games. 

Monsters included in this pack are: Big Foot, The Jersey Devil, Mothman, the Chupacabra, the Ozark Howler, and the Banshee of the Badlands. Each one has it's own difficulty level which will turn the tide either in your favor - or theirs. The two that are the most pain in the butt are the Jersey Devil because of the amount of work it takes to beat him mixed with him being able to foil your plans, and the other would have to be big foot because you have to chase him around the board. We find that the easiest is the Chupacabra followed by the Banshee. 

You and your investigator team have to work together to save the town and defeat the monsters who have come to terrorize the citizens. The number of monsters you are up against is completely up to the players, they have a guide within the rules that show you how many monsters to use based on the difficulty you'd like to do. Though depending on which monsters you end up with, even the two monster game can be a slight challenge if you guy two of the big boys and I will explain why below. 

Setting up the game is pretty simple, there isn't a ton that goes into the game and each monster has specific items that go with them so if you prefer you can keep the monster along with their items in a baggie together. The game will take a little while to figure out the rules and how each monster works, so you can read through all the rules together prior to playing or figure it out as you go since everything is set up in a way that is easy to understand. Both of our kids who are ten and fourteen play this with us often and were able to pick it up quickly. 

All players will take a turn doing the number of tasks that their investigator is allowed (shown on your player card) to try and collect items needed to defeat the monster you are up against. You'll have to keep an eye on where your investigator is while also keeping an eye on where the monsters are because at the end of your turn, you will need to draw a card from the Monster Deck. These cards allow the monsters to move, this is when they will move and often attack any investigator or town folk that are close to them. It also allows them a chance to potentially ruin some of the progress you've made towards defeating them. There is also a chance that a card will bring out a local citizen out onto the board, this is good and bad. Good, because if you manage to scoop them up and get them back to their safe zone, you'll get an extra card to help aid your investigation. Bad, because if a monster attacks and kills a town folk the Terror level moves up one. If you reach the end of the Terror zone landing on the skull, you are defeated and the monsters win. 

Other ways the terror marker moves up: An investigator is attacked and killed (you re-spawn the next round) or monsters have the ability to roll a dice move that will also move the terror marker up. You will also lose the game if you run out of cards in the monster deck to play.

How to win: Save citizens along the way, while staying alive yourself. Move around the board collection the correct items needed to defeat the monsters, the monster cards will tell you what you need and how to beat a monster. Once the number of monsters on the board are defeated the investigator team wins. 

We usually have a lot of fun with this game and there have only been a small handful of times that we were defeated by the monsters. If the kids aren't feeling up to playing, my husband and I are able to play by ourselves and it can even be played with just a single player, however none of us have tried out a single player game. This is a fun game for families and a fun game for friends, it is worth looking into and adding to your collection.

If you want some other awesome games to check out there is a link on the right hand side of my blog where you can find other board game reviews I've done.

***I did not receive this item for a review, nor is it sponsored by Ravensburger games. This is a product I own and wanted to do a review on.***