Elder Sign Board Game - Supernatural Intrigue, Cooperative Dice Adventure! Horror Mystery Game, Ages 14+, 1-8 Players, 1-2 Hour Playtime, Made by Fantasy Flight Games

My wife and I love this game! There are a lot of piece that we keep in small zip locks, but that does not hinder the fun. It did take us a while to read through the instructions in order to get started, and we had to reference them a few times as we played, but it is a relatively simple game to learn.My wife and I are very much into playing co-operative games with each other when we can. The game seems a bit intimidating to set up at first, but the game play itself is very easy: 1. Move your character (or stay put) to any adventure card or the starting card. 2. Attempt to complete an adventure card by rolling the necessary dice combinations. and 3. turn the clock forward. Try to collect as many Elder Signs needed to keep the monster from emerging. If you do, you win, if not, then you have to battle the monster.This would make a great starter RPG-type of game that probably wont scare off newcomers.The first round we played, we won almost too easily. This was partly because we did not follow some of the rules we should have, such as the rule for focusing a roll. We were focusing a die even if we completed an item, which you are not supposed to do. When we played the second time, the monster appeared... very quickly thanks to my lame rolls. The game was much more intense and difficult this time around.There are 16 different characters to play as, and eight ancient monsters to try and keep locked away, which makes for great replay-ability.The art work is beautiful, and the cardboard pieces included with the game a very high quality, and pretty thick. The adventure cards a very large and easy to read. The item cards are small like in Ticket to Ride, or Timeline which are not my favorite size, but there usually is not a lot of information to read, so it works fine.I have not played any other games in the Arkham Horror series, but I look forward to purchasing expansion packs as we go.

I delayed picking this up as I have a few other Lovecraft themed heavier games and wasn’t sure if I wanted another. I’m so happy I finally gave in as this plays so differently from any of the other games with a similar theme. It is much lighter but retains the tension of attempting to save the world. The dice management is puzzling and quick. I primarily play solo and I have found this game to be great for short sessions when time is sparse and I can complete a turn or two and walk away, then return later for a couple more turns. I do highly recommend buying the Unforeseen Force when getting the base game as the two combined can be used together with every other expansion and if those are all someone would ever care to pick up, there would be enough replayability within those two boxes.

I started a monthly board game day at my house after my local comic book store started a used board game auction. While researching the games up for bid, I watched the TableTop Games youtube episode for Elder Sign. Our game group had always played competitive games in the stand vein (clue and scrabble and trivial pursuit), but this looked like a ton of fun and I had to have it.After losing my bid, I ordered this on Amazon. I am amazingly greatful that I did. This game has come out at every single board game day since and we never get tired of it. We recently even picked up the expansion. The game has the right level of difficulty. We don't often lose, but it is often close enough that we've thought there was a good chance we would lose.The physical elements of the game are fantastic. High quality cardboard throughout, though I do wish the player tokens were a little different, as we often have a hard time differentiating the characters. The box also does not provide a good way to keep all the elements organized. We used our 3d printer to make a nice tray, but if you don't have one, keeping everything straight is a bit rough and you'll want plastic bags to store your bits and pieces.The gameplay is mostly dependent on making good strategic decisions on which challenges to take on and is based soley on dice rolling to determine if you are successful. The goal is to get combos of dice, similar to yahtzee. It takes very little time to learn how to play, and about 3-5 rounds to teach new players the basic mechanics. Very enjoyable and lots of replay value. You don't need to get too into the theme of the game either, if role-playing holds not interest for you (we barely pay attention to the theme). This is a must have game for just about any collection.