With Halloween on the horizon, Wizards of the Coast’s Avalon Hill imprint has released a long-awaited expansion to the classic Betrayal at House on the Hill. Called Widow’s Walk, the $24.99 boxed set comes with a bunch of new bits, plus 50 new scenarios from an amazing list of game designers.
Originally developed by Mike Selinker from a game by Bruce Glassco, Betrayal is a cooperative exploration game set in a generic B-grade horror film. But there’s a huge twist. Half-way through the hourlong game, one player at the table becomes a traitor. They have to leave the room, crack open an entirely different manual to digest the nature of their new in-game role, and then return to the table to duke it out with the survivors.
It’s a game with more mysteries than rules, so we won’t give away too much other than to say it’s an enduring title, great for beginners and perfect for this time of the year. This new expansion adds 50 new scenarios — called haunts — as well as 20 new rooms, 30 new cards and 76 tokens.
Let’s take a minute to appreciate the credits list on the Widow’s Walk expansion, however. It’s pretty fantastic: Pendleton Ward, creator of Adventure Time, shares a byline here with Max Temkin and Eli Halpern, two of the co-creators of Cards Against Humanity. Penny Arcade’s Jerry Holkins contributed a haunt, as did Depression Quest designer and Crash Override Network co-founder Zoë Quinn. Well known tabletop designers Rob Daviau, Chris Dupuis and Keith Baker are also listed alongside Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian.
AAAAA THE MAIL JUST CAME I can't believe I'm holding this thing and my box has my name on it and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa pic.twitter.com/nclkSgtDWD
— da scare z0ne (@UnburntWitch) October 14, 2016
In order to play you’ll need a copy of the original game, which goes for $39.99. Both the original and the expansion will be on sale at your friendly local game store as well as on Amazon.