This morning, Avalon Hill, Lone Shark Games, and Wizards of the Coast announced Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk – a long-awaited sequel to the classic horror-themed tabletop experience.
For those unfamiliar, Betrayal at House on the Hill could be described as an adversarial cooperative game. As they explore, players lay tiles to build the titular House, room by room, floor by floor. Traps, items and – obviously – betrayal await discovery. At a crucial point in the game, a player is revealed as the traitor and the game mechanics for both the traitor and the cooperating players diverge. The game, designed Bruce Glassco and Rob Daviau, developed by a team led by Mike Selinker, and released originally by Avalon Hill in 2004, was reprinted in 2010 and is currently marketed by Wizards of the Coast. Multiple fans have written their own scenarios – called Haunts in the game – to expand the lore, but no official expansions existed.
Until now.
This October 14th, Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk arrives, bringing with it
- 50 brand new Haunts penned by an all-star cast of contributors including:
Max Temkin and Eli Halpern, co-creators of Cards Against Humanity
Pendleton Ward, Emmy Award-winning cartoonist
Mikey Neumann, chief creative champion for Borderlands
Jerry Holkins, co-creator of the Penny Arcade webcomic
Angela Webber, one half of the nerd pop duo The Doubleclicks
Justin Gary, co-designer of Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
Anita Sarkeesian, blogger, media critic and public speaker
Bruce Glassco, college professor, science fiction writer, and Betrayal at House on the Hill‘s original designer - 20 new room tiles, including a never before explored new floor, the roof
- 30 new cards, including 11 items, 11 events, and 8 omens
- 78 new tokens including a new set of possession tokens that allow you to track your explorer’s progress
The Haunts sound amazing and include “a litany of terrifying horrors like the Fleshchild, the evil clown Knick-Knack, and a vengeful little girl hell-bent on playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek.”
Last night, I had the chance to speak one-on-one with lead developer and gaming legend Mike Selinker about this awesome expansion. Check out the exclusive audio interview below and listen closely for a few hints about some oft-asked-for game content.
Whether you’re a fan of Betrayal at House on the Hill, Mike Selinker, the above authors, or any combination thereof, you need to check out this expansion. Find out more at the Avalon Hill website and follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
What the hell is going on here? Bruce Glassco is the original designer of this game. He play tested this game with Wizards of the Coast and developed it until it was produced by Hasbro. Why is Bruce mentioned only as the “initial designer.” This is some flagrant bullshit.
That error was entirely mine, and I corrected it above. While I appreciate your criticism, I do ask for more respectful discourse if you’re going to comment. We all make mistakes, but most are easily corrected.
Well said, sir, and thanks for the article.
I’ve seen a definite drop in the “respectful” nature of commenters on GeekDad of late, Gerry. Sign of the times, I guess.
I don’t frequent this site; but, if you get another chance to speak with the head dev, could you ask him to prioritize putting some stat clips in this expansion that actually grip the player cards. If you’ve ever played betrayal, you know that the ones included simply don’t work, and my friends and I would play it a ton more if we didn’t have to keep track of the stats with pen and paper. Most of the game’s fan-base agrees that the clips need replacement. So much so that this is one of shapeway’s best selling items: http://www.shapeways.com/product/7BYXRQRWT/replacement-clips-betrayal-single-player?li=shareProduct&optionId=55434125
They’re definitely aware, but it wasn’t on the table for this expansion. I agree, though. Needs something new.
There are some phone apps for tracking character stats too (not to say making the clips work is not desirable).
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/house-on-hill-betrayal-at/id970189437?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/character-stats-for-betrayal/id969245381?mt=8
and more…
Yeah, the phone Apps work. The Android is way better than the IOS one… but I agree, I would like clips. When I play a game, I don’t want to have to use my phone 😉
I apologize for the disrespect. I personally know the original designer, and after listening to the interview where Bruce was mentioned in passing and only as the “initial designer,” I got defensive. I also saw another article on gizmodo which credited Mike for being the original lead, so my comment was holdover from that. I appreciate the correction.
I think it’s all cool here. I have always told everyone that Bruce is the original designer of the game and a freakin’ genius to boot. My team did a whole lot with it, of course. But seriously: no Bruce, no game.
Mike