As she has gotten older, my daughter has become a big fan of pretty much all things Scooby Doo related. So, for her last birthday, I decided to buy her the Scooby Doo Haunted House Board Game as one of her presents.
When I purchased this game, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it. The description didn’t give a lot of detail about how to play the game and I didn’t know if it was going to be something that was a bit too complicated for her. But, I also liked the fact it was a 3-D board game that featured all her favorite characters from the show. The low price tag (under $20) was what finally sold me.
The game turned out to be pretty decent. The object is to get your character (Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby or Shaggy) to the top of the house to unmask the villain first. To do this, you have to avoid a series of traps ranging from a cage that drops to stairs that disappear or shake while you’re standing on them. Each trap has a specific penalty ranging from lost turns to having to go back to a certain spot on the board.
The game reminded me a bit of another board game I recently bought my daughter called Rhino Rampage. I like the rules because they are easy to follow and winning is based more on luck than actual skill; something that makes it easier for her to beat me occasionally without me having to let her win. And, I’ll admit, the moving traps are kind of cool to watch; especially since you don’t know which trap or traps will be tripped next.
I also like the fact the game moves at a fast pace. My daughter is at an age where she gets distracted easily and we rarely finish games that take more than 10-15 minutes to play.
Overall, I do like the game and feel it was worth the money. But, I did have some complaints about it too.
First, it takes forever to set this game up. This is because the set-up instructions are printed in diagram form on the bottom of one of the pages. They are also in a weird order that makes it more difficult to put the pieces together. For example, there is a moose head trap on the game that is attached to a plastic chain. The instructions have you putting the moose head on first then the chain when it is much easier the other way around. We played three games in roughly the same amount of time it took me to put the board together.
The instructions for the game are also a bit vague. The rules are easy to follow but we found ourselves having questions about what to do when a space is covered with a trap (especially the cage trap). Do we still use that space or do we pretend it’s not there?
Despite those issues, I do feel happy with this purchase and would definitely recommend buying the game.
