Halloween Board Game App Night

As Halloween approaches and you start planning your board game nights, I thought I’d help by pulling together my favourite spooky board game apps so you can host your very own board game app night or even play solo long into the witching hour.

Mysterium

If solving murders as a psychic detective with the help of a friendly ghost doesn’t tick the boxes for Halloween then I don’t know what does. Mysterium sees you one player as the ghost passing cryptic visions to the other players who must decipher them in order to figure out the murderer, location and murder weapon. It has the feel of Cluedo with a twist and is a tonne of fun to play with friends. While the app does support solo playing against an AI this is one I recommend you skip for any solo games nights, the nature of the game being about interpretation doesn’t lend itself to computer co-operative partners. For a lot more detail on Mysterium read my review here.

Zombie Fluxx

You’d be forgiven if you didn’t know about Zombie Fluxx, it’s an in app purchase inside the app Fluxx however it’s my preferred way to play the game and is a perfect fun card game for your Halloween board game app night. Fluxx is a game of ever changing rules and goals, it starts as simply as draw 1 card and play 1 card however every card you play will either add a new rule, update an existing rule, change the win conditions or add friends to your tableau. It’s a game that’s, as the name suggests, is in constant flux. Zombie Fluxx adds the variation of Zombies to the deck, limiting the moves you can make, stopping you from winning the game or sometimes being necessary for you to win the game. It’s a game short on strategy but big on fun and is a great light weight multiplayer game.

Zombies!!!

Continuing the same theme, Zombies!!! is a competitive survival game where you and your opponents explore a town, collecting items, killing zombies as well as being killed by zombies. This continues until the final escape helipad is revealed at which point it’s a mad dash to be the first to escape while hacking through hoards of zombies in your wake as well as trying to stay alive, hamper your opponents and generally survive en route to the helicopter. Zombies!!! has been around as an app for a long time and so is showing signs of dating compared to some of the newer apps, however with a group of friends there’s still a tonne of fun to be had in the luck filled mayhem that ensues.

Fury of Dracula

I don’t think there’s any bigger Halloween board game app out there than Fury of Dracula. Play as either Dracula himself or the 3 hunters tasked with locating and defeating him as he moves around Europe in this hidden movement board game. Dracula moves in secret, leaving behind him a trail of peril should any of the hunters get a scent of his trail, he gains infamy and spreads fear as he moves and it is the job of the 3 hunters to cooperatively pin him down and engage in combat before Dracula can gain too much strength. As a board game Fury of Dracula is a 3 to 4 hour monster of a game that’s super immersive and extremely thematic; thankfully the digital version has retained all of this while speeding up the gameplay to around 30 minutes meaning it’s a perfect addition to the Halloween board game app night. Compared to the lighter games I’ve recommended so far, Fury of Dracula really is the main event for you game night, play with up to 4 players or even tackle this challenge solo against the AI and you will be in for a spooky treat. Fury of Dracula is released on October 29th and so arrives just in time to celebrate Halloween so make sure you include it in your plans this year.

Zombicide

As we head towards solo board game nights I’ll continue down the well worn path of Zombies with the action RPG Zombicide. Play through a bunch of scenarios as characters avoiding death by zombie, activating items, character powers and moving around a tight town environment, each scenario completed allows you to upgrade your characters and weapons helping you complete the more difficult missions. It’s a good implementation of the physical game that really scratches that RPG itch and has you wanting to play just one more scenario which is perfect if you’re playing alone on your Halloween board game app night.