Welcome to the world of Arkham Horror!

Something sinister is awakening within the town of Arkham, and it’s up to you to put an end to it. As you embark on this thrilling adventure, you’ll step into the shoes of different characters who call Arkham home. Each character brings their unique strengths and weaknesses, represented by their deck of cards. The fate of our world hinges on your ability to work together and seal the ancient portals that threaten to unleash chaos upon us all. Failure means losing everything we hold dear.

Game Setup

Alright, let’s get started with the setup. First, take everything out of the box. You’ll find the game board in there. Go ahead and unfold it and place it right in the middle of the playing area. Looking good so far!

Now, on one end of the board, we’re going to place a bunch of decks. There are nine location decks, the gate deck, the mythos deck, and the ancient one sheet. We also have some tokens and markers to place, like the doom tokens, gate markers, monster markers, and clue tokens. Make sure to keep each stack separate.

On the other end of the board, we have some different decks to place. There’s the money bank, where you’ll keep track of your cash. Then there’s the sanity and stamina bank, which is where you’ll monitor your mental and physical strength. We also have decks for special investigators, allies, common items, unique items, spells, and skills. Again, each deck should have its own separate stack. You’re doing great!

When we start the game, we need to place clue tokens on all the unstable locations on the board. We should have eleven of them. You and the other players will each get an investigator sheet and a marker. Make sure to take stamina and sanity tokens that match your maximum. Now, grab the possessions for your chosen investigator. Put all the investigator markers on their home locations on the board. We’ll decide who goes first and give them the starter player marker. And with that, we’re ready to start!

GAMEPLAY

The game is divided into five phases. We’ll begin with the first player and then go clockwise around the group for each round. As soon as one phase ends, we move on to the next. The first player marker will keep passing to the left.

Phase 1

Now let’s talk about the upkeep phase. This is when we get things refreshed and make some adjustments. First, I’ll turn my exhausted cards face up to show that they’re ready to be refreshed. Then, I’ll refer to my investigator cards to see what upkeep actions I need to take. I make sure to complete all the actions listed. Finally, I can adjust the skills of my investigator using the skill sliders.

Phase 2

Now it’s time for the movement phase. I can either move my investigator within Arkham or to another world, depending on where they are. It’s important to choose the right movement option based on their location.

Phase 3

When I’m playing Arkham, there’s this part called the “Arkham Encounters” phase. It’s for investigators who aren’t in the Other World. Now, what I do in this phase depends on whether there’s an open gate or not. If there is, I move through the gate. If there isn’t, I have an encounter instead. I have to draw a card from the location deck and then read what’s written on it. Whatever actions are described, that’s what I do.

Now let’s talk about Phase 4.

If my investigator is in the Other World, then we move on to the Other World Encounters Phase. This is where things get interesting. I start drawing cards from the gate deck and keep going until I find one with colors that match an encounter symbol. When that happens, I see if a specific encounter occurs. If it does, I read it out loud and follow the instructions.

Lastly, let’s discuss Phase 5.

When it’s time for the final phase, known as the Mythos Phase, I will complete four actions. First, I will open a gate and spawn a monster. Then, I will place a clue on the board. After that, I will move any monsters that are on the board. Finally, I will activate my mythos ability. Once I have finished all of these steps, it will be time to pass the player marker to the left. This will mark the end of my turn and the start of a new one. The game will continue in this way until it eventually comes to an end.

THE END OF THE GAME

The game can end in two different ways. Either the players will be able to overcome the mythos, or they will be defeated by it. In order for us to win the game, we must close the gates, seal the gates, or banish the ancient one. If we choose to close the gates, there can’t be any open gates left on the board, and we must have more gate trophies than there are players. If we meet these conditions, we will immediately win the game!

If we decide to close the gates, we need to make sure that there are at least six elder tokens on the board. That’s the magic number for us to win! We’ll be victorious, and the ancient one will be banished. But if we choose to wake up the ancient one and somehow manage to defeat it, we still win. How cool is that?

On the flip side, if we awaken the ancient one and can’t defeat it, things take a turn for the worse. The ancient one becomes unleashed, and that’s when we lose the game. Yikes!

Hey there, I’m Ellie! I live in Northeast Tennessee and I’m a proud resident. I’m a huge fan of animals, from the smallest critters to the largest beasts. I also can’t get enough of fantasy fiction books and spending time outdoors. I’m lucky to have an amazing husband who loves me almost as much as our two adorable fur babies. Being a part of this wonderful community brings me so much happiness and excitement!