3-5 PLAYERS
15-30 MIN
AGES 8+
Each player is hosting their own party on Halloween night, sure to be filled with spooky monsters of all types. However, some guests are better than others. To win, you must try to guess who is at the door and assemble the most festive group of party-goers!
Components and Setup 56 cards in several categories: 20 Creatures- 5 of each
Skeletons
Vampires
Ghosts
Monsters
Take 3 of each type of creature and shuffle them together into a Setup Deck, then deal 2 cards face-up from the deck in front of each player. While a card is face-up in front of you, it is referred to as a “guest” at your party.
Types of Guests
all divided evenly among the 4 types of Creatures
12 Hosts 4 Bouncers 4 Revelers 4 Musicians
Other Guests
3 Hearses 5 Headless Horsemen 3 Pumpkin Heads 1 Pumpkin Head Host
Shuffle the rest of the cards together along with any cards that remain in the Setup Deck to form the general deck. Deal 3 cards from this combined deck to each player’s hand of cards. Only you may look at your own hand of cards. Finally, deal 3 cards (or 4 cards if there are only 3 players) from this deck into a face-up display of cards in the center of the table.
Overview
The player who is offered the card must choose one of the following options: Open the door – the other player takes the card that has been offered to them, turns it face-up, and adds it to their party as a guest. OR Leave the door closed – YOU must take the card that you offered instead, turning it face-up and adding it to your party as a guest.
On your turn, you will select a card from your hand and offer it to another player, face-down so they cannot see what it is. When you offer a card, the other player may choose to take it and add it to their guests (face-up in front of them) or reject it. If your offered card is rejected, you must add it as a face-up guest to your own party instead. Some cards may have effects when they are added to a party, and most are worth points. When you can no longer add cards to the display from the deck, the player who has the highest total value of guests in their party wins!
Gameplay in detail The player who most recently attended a party will take the first turn, then play proceeds clockwise around the table. On your turn, you must select a card from your hand and offer it face-down to any other player, saying “Knock, Knock”.
When the other player turns a guest face-up and adds it to their party, resolve the effect of the card immediately if it is a Host, Headless Horseman, or Hearse,:
Host – When the other player reveals a Host that would be added to their party, instead you take both the Host and any one other card of the same type as the host from that player’s party and put it in yours.
After this, select a card from the display in the center of the table and add it to your hand.
If there are multiple guests matching the Host’s type, you may choose which one of those to take. If there is no matching guest of the Host’s type at the party, the disappointed Host is discarded instead.
Headless Horseman – When the other player reveals a Headless Horseman and adds it to their party, take all guests from that party of the type which that party has the most of and move them to your party. If they have a Bouncer for that type, you must take the next most populous type of guests for which there is no Bouncer instead. If there is a tie, you may choose which of the tied types to take, though in no case may you select a type for which there is a Bouncer present in the party. Once you have resolved this effect, discard the Headless Horseman back to the game box.
Hearse – When the other player reveals a Hearse and adds it to their party, discard all guests from that party of the type which that party has the most of.
If they have a Bouncer for that type, you must take the next most populous type of guests for which there is no Bouncer instead. If there is a tie, you may choose which of the tied types to discard, though in no case may you select a type for which there is a Bouncer present in the party. Once you have resolved this effect, discard the Hearse back to the game box as well.
If this was the last card in the display, immediately refill the display with 3 new face-up cards from the top of the deck (or 4 cards when playing with only 3 players). If there are not enough cards in the deck to refill the display completely, fill it with as many as you can. If there are no cards left in the deck at all when you must refill it, the game proceeds to Final Scoring.
Reminders: The guests are Ghosts, Vampires, Monsters, Skeletons, and Pumpkin Heads. Bouncers protect guests of their type from Headless Horsemen and Hearses, but not from Hosts. Hosts are not permanently attached to the card they took from a party – that guest might be stolen back by another Host in the future. A card only generates its effect the first time it is turned face-up and added to a party, not every time it moves to a new party.
Final Scoring At the end of the game, add up the points indicated on the guests in your party. Vampires, ghosts, monsters, and skeletons are worth 1 point apiece, except the Reveler which subtracts 1 point from your score instead. If you have a Musician for a particular type of guest, the value of all those guests are doubled. This means most of the cards of that type (including the Host, Bouncer, and Musician) are now worth 2 points apiece, and the Reveler subtracts 2 points instead. Pumpkin Heads are worth 3 points apiece, except the Pumpkin Head host which is worth 1 point. If you have the highest total points in your party at the end of the game, you win! Ties go to the tied player latest in turn order.
Game Design: Bruno Faidutti & Gwenaël Bouquin Illustration: Drew Rausch Game Production: Chris Zephro Graphic Design: Nikki Pontius Project Management: Andy Van Zandt