Ghost Stories

The weather has been cold and wet a lot over the past month. I have gotten outside a bit to look at the moon and find one or two more new star clusters, but mostly I've been spending my hobby time playing boardgames.

I've gotten a number of new games lately, topping my game collection over the 100 game count, which is kind of fun. The best new game I've gotten lately is called Ghost Stories. It is one of several cooperative games released in 2008 in which the players team up against the game mechanics rather than against each other. It's a nice change of pace.

In Ghost Stories each player controls a Taoist warrior protecting a Chinese village from an onslaught of mythical Chinese ghosts. It is a bit reminiscent of the 1980's Kurt Russel film "Big Trouble in Little China" and many other silly and similar movies.

In the game a new ghost arrives during each players turn and threatens to "haunt" the 9 village tiles in the center of the board. Once 4 tiles are haunted the players lose. If the players are able to exercise all the ghosts and survive to defeat the big boss ghost at the end of the game, then the players win. Along the way each player is given a special unique power to aid them and each of the 9 village tiles also provides the players with a special unique power if a player moves onto that tile that turn.

There are 2 main characteristics that make Ghost Stories a lot of fun. First, it is very frenetic. The ghosts just keep coming and coming and coming. Each and every turn brings a new sense of panic as the situation threatens to run out of control. Second, the game is very, very hard. I've played about 7 games so far (3 with friends and 4 alone) and I've only won one of my solo games.

The reason that the intense difficulty level makes the game more fun is that it requires a large degree of cooperation among the players. While you play the game it constantly feels like a puzzle that must be solved, but that cannot be solved alone. All four players must act in perfect harmony with very careful planning to see the game through to the end.

All cooperative games require teamwork, but I've never played one that required more teamwork and more group cohesion than Ghost Stories. It's also just a whole lotta fun. I can't wait to play it again!

If you've read this far and are still interested, click here for an interesting video review of the game. (Note: the reviewer has gotten a few of the rules wrong, but it is very informative just the same.)

Another video review can be found here.