I played the game “Betrayal at house on the hill” with Giovanni, Winslow, and Sadie. The game presented many challenges and was confusing to us at first. We all tried setting up the game and trying to understand the end goal, but we struggled to do so until we watched a YouTube video explaining the game. It took time to figure out things like which rooms should go where and how many rooms (tiles) we put down in a roll. As the game went along, we had to decide how to interpret some cards and the descriptions they gave us.
The game encouraged decision-making in many ways. We decided which card to take in the beginning, which ended up being very important during the game, specifically the haunt. When we rolled the dice, we had to decide where to place the room tiles on the table. However, the dice had more of an influence in the game than the decisions we made. The game was a bit slow because rolling dice without being able to choose much and determine your fate becomes repetitive and boring after awhile. Our group was patient, though, and kept confidence that the haunt would bring the most excitement to our game. Luckily, the haunt lived up to the hype.
During the haunt, Sadie had to choose to kill me or Giovanni after all of us rolled a number greater than six and she chose Giovanni. Then, I rolled “against” people and my rolls were very lucky. I kept out rolling my opponents and I ultimately ended up beating Winslow because I had the holy symbol. If it weren’t for lucky rolls during the haunt and exploring stage, anyone could have won the game because this game took virtually no skill. In my play of this board game, Steven Johnson’s statement that board games do not require the same strategic decision making skills as video games do is very true in this game. In most video games, you have total control over your character’s actions and decision making. For example, in GTA V, players can decide where to go and how to complete missions. In sports video games career mode like in NBA 2k, gamers at home can choose their player’s path and dictate their player’s performance. In a board game like “Betrayal at house on the hill,” players have most decisions made for them based on the cards you pick up. Also, the rolling of the dice determines where you go and what tiles go onto the board, requiring no skill whatsoever.
Throughout the game, we dealt with telescoping and probing. At certain points while exploring, we were confused and had to consider how our decision on what to do would lead to the haunt and affect the final outcome of the game. We also engaged in probing by rereading rules and talking amongst ourselves about what to do when someone chose a card that was confusing. Overall, this experience allowed my group and I to work through challenges such as interpreting rules and understanding how the game works. Although it was a slow start and complex to play, we got the hang of it and the haunt had us all excited. When it came down to the haunt, everyone was fully engaged and eager to see what was going to happen.
