Elder Sign

If you’re a fan of the cosmic horror genre looking for a fun, quick-to-set-up, moderate-length game with excellent replayability & extra options in the form of two decent, mechanics enriching expansions then this should hit the spot, center target. The game play is what I like to describe as “complex farkle” - for those familiar with that classic dice rolling game - in the sense that your main action to complete quests or challenges, defeat enemies, etc. involves rolling specialized dice in an attempt to acquire the right symbols (etched on the dice faces) in the right combinations & amounts, with game mechanics that allow you to store or “bank” certain rolls & re-roll misses. This all happens against the back drop of earthly locations with attached quests goals - represented by cards arrayed in a grid- and where monsters may spawn to increase the challenge at that locale. Additionally, cosmic locations - so called “other worlds” - are also flory introduced & present their own challenges & rewards. All of this is, of course, leading up to either the summoning of an elder god or the heroes prevention of the summoning ritual … or their deaths. The base game has a satisfying roster of ancient ones to choose among, and additional options for increasing the difficulty of challenging them in replay. The two expansions (which I also purchased) add to this roster, as well as introducing new mechanics, new locations, monsters, etc. This is a game that’s perfect for one of those game nights where you want a decent challenge, but also want to maybe have some “hang time” & maybe casually play things out while eating, laughing, & talking. In other words, it’s not going to be the kind of all nighter or beat-over-three-days type of session, but a good tone will be had & you’ll be able to enjoy another game if you’d like or plan other activities without feeling like you missed out on any one kind of thing that evening, if you get my drift. Highly recommended :-)

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 bought this game after seeing an episode of Tabletop on the Geek & Sundry youtube channel featuring it. I knew from the beginning that I had to have this game. This is a great, fun game. I have a roommate who loves Cthulu and my boyfriend and I love board games. Pros: - You can play by yourself or with up to 8 players. So far I've played it with 2 players and 4 players and the results were wonderfully varied. I haven't played by myself, but I think it's safe to assume that it's a lot more fun with others. - The artwork is beautiful and really sets the feel for this game. - It is a cooperative game, so you can even play it with friends who are a little too competitive. - It's pretty quick for a game of this genre. - Lots of characters, items/abilities and monsters give the game high replay value. - Price is pretty reasonable for this type of game. - It's essentially a game of chance, so it can be pretty suspenseful. Always fun. Cons: - There are a lot of pieces and cards to keep track of. - The rules (including set-up) can be a bit complex the first time you play. - As with any game of chance, sometimes you just don't get the rolls you need. There are items and abilities that can help you reroll, add dice or boost your rolls, but in the end sometimes you just don't get what you want which can be frustrating. In conclusion, I'm definitely happy with my purchase and foresee myself playing a lot more in the future. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys cooperative games, likes H.P. Lovecraft or collects board games. I'm happy to have this one as part of my collection.

Let's start this review off with a few bullet points about the physical aspect of the board game and then myself, so that you can understand where I'm coming from as I review this. The game: The shipping was very quick with this item. Within an hour of ordering, it was already being shipped. The physical game pieces are very good quailty. The artwork on everything is excellent. Myself: I'm 34, been playing video games as long as I can remember, and still do play some games. I do not play Magic, D&D or any other type of card games. Board games to me consist of Clue, Monopoly, normal stuff like that. I play all video games from FPSs to RPG but don't venture into hardcore RPGs like anything straight from Japan. I'll play stuff like Fallout or Elder Scrolls but not Final Fantasy or anything like that. Why did I tell you this? Because I feel that this review is being written by a relatively new board gamer, and this sort of game will really be appreciated by people who do play Magic or D&D or anyone who plays these more serious board games. However, if you aren't, and aren't really accustomed to stretching your imagination in certain and almost required ways, you might not get what this game is about. Keep reading to find out what I mean. So, compared to your standard board games, this is a little more complex. I could see it chasing away people who just don't have an imagination. There are no giant maps like Clue had to show you exactly where you were. In fact, there is only one card that shows a "scene", and that's the Entrance card. It looks like the entrance to the museum, where the game's storyline takes place. But other than that, there are no visual clue to make you believe you are in a museum. To bring this game to the masses you need more supplied visuals. The rules. Ok, so there are rules, actually, quite a bit of them. For the most part, they are pretty common sense and quickly become second nature after a bit. Some rules we just didn't follow for the first few games. Most notably the terror rule that if you roll a terror on the last dice if your turn and it's a fail, you suffer the terror effect from that card. We just didn't care. For the most part, after two games you'll have 99% of this game pretty well down. The game. Obviously you either know the whole mythos behind the game or you don't, but you don't have to be intimate with it to enjoy the game. The mechanics of the play are also fairly decent. After a bit all of the parts of this machine work together well and the game plays itself. Also, it's quite refreshing to find a game that isn't pitting the players against each other, it's against common enemies, so everyone is working together. Players. You really want at least two players but you should have three to four. That will make sure more cards are in play so that there is more going on and it will be much more interesting. Like I said before, they should have included a mat or some kind of board to rest the cards on that shows a museum and various other things. For someone who doesn't have a stretchable imagination, it could be difficult to realize where you are supposed to be. It's like Batman and Superman fighting outside of a 7/11, but before they do, they tell the audience to "just imagine we are fighting in Gotham city.". All the while you have people filling up their gas tanks and chugging down Big Gulps in the background. Any kind of game, be it a card game, a video game, D&D, you need that imagery to keep you there in the moment, that world, and not having it just drags you back out. Where are we again? Oh, a museum? Oh yeah, there's the entrance... Getting past all of that, the game is very fun. It's very dice heavy and you are often subjected to very poor luck of the dice. I can't count how many times I've blown a nearly perfect card because I could roll a scroll or a terror. But, thems the breaks. You'll get that sensation of tension as the enemy's doom track fills up and you know he's about to come out. You'll feel the pressure as your character's life hangs in the balance over the roll of a single die. It's a really very sinister game in that way. The designers tease and prod you. They threaten and terrify you. They stack the cards against you and you have to fight back. I really am very glad I got this game and can't wait to play more of it. Who should buy this game? You need to have some patience in learning new stuff and have plenty of time to learn it. Our first game too three hours, and that also consisted of reading the rule book. The second game took just over an hour with two people. If you like board games and fantasy sorts of scenarios, you'll like this.

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.

When purchasing this product, I was initially interested in the larger, much more complex Arkham Horror. However, after reading the reviews on Elder Sign (same universe, simpler setup, shorter games), I was convinced to purchase it instead. I must say, I was not disappointed. The first thing I noticed when unboxing the game was the high quality of the pieces. From the cards to the cardboard tokens that make up so many of the game's components, you could tell the makers didn't skimp on construction. Next, the gameplay itself was excellent. The game is completely cooperative (all players vs. the board) which allows a lot of interesting strategies that wouldn't be possible if every player were on their own. Some of the rules are a bit ambiguous in certain situations; however, after a couple of playthroughs things started to coalesce. There is a very good balance of difficulty in the game, I always felt uneasy about our chances to win while never feeling completely hopeless. I love the end game in the situations that the "Ancient One" is fully summoned and the players have to fight them. It is almost always a lost battle, but provides an adrenaline rush comparable to watching your favorite football team throw up a Hail Mary at the last second of a game to try to pull out a win. On those times where you actually defeat the "Ancient One" in battle, the victory is just as sweet. I would definitely recommend the game to anyone looking for a fun addition to their board game collection. The varied environment of the game and interesting twists give this game a lot of longevity. Well worth the money.

I initially saw this played on Wil Wheaton's "TableTop" web series on YouTube and thought "Huh, that looks kinda fun." A friend bought it and three of us have played it 10 times now and LOVE IT. The rules are a tiny bit arcane at first, but once you play through the game once, it becomes second-nature. There's a LOT of strategy concerning which adventures to attempt when, whether to use your items to get the extra red or yellow dice, whether to hold symbols on spells for your friends to use, etc. Warning: the game, much like Arkham Horror, is designed to beat you. Our current split is 4/6 win/loss and in all but one of those wins we were really close to losing. My favorite part of the game is not only the challenge you have beating it, but that it's a cooperative game like Pandemic or Castle Panic; that is, the players vs. the game. Some of my friends aren't very competitive-minded, so playing an adversarial game isn't always fun for them. With Elder Sign, there's no competition between players, which they like. The game plays fairly quickly when you're familiar with the rules; around 40 minutes per game. The materials are very high quality, with cards printed on heavy stock and laminated like playing cards. The tokens are all thick paperboard and also laminated. This game should last a long time with normal care. And since there's no game board to worry about, you could consolidate everything into a box 1/4 of the size of the game box and play it pretty much anywhere. Overall, a great game that has a ton of replay value. This is one that I'll be sure to keep in our regular game-night rotation!

Really enjoyed this more than I thought I would. At first glance it appears that fate is the only factor in the game. But after playing quite a few games I can safely say that strategy plays a big part. Some say the game is too easy and I think I can agree with that. However it is very easy to adjust this by choosing only 2 investigators instead of say using 4. Also, the way I play is, once an investigator dies they do not get replaced. I found these things make the game perfectly balanced for my skill level (though ymmv). What I love most about this game is how often it hits the table. The game can be medium in terms of time length (about 1-2 hours), but setup and take down is super quick making you want to bust it out quite often. Slight warning - Even though this game is part of the Silver Line series, it does require the player/s to keep track of many things and it can be overwhelming to new players. It is VERY easy to miss something. For example you have the normal trappings of keeping track of your player options such as items and default abilities, but you also have to keep track of the Ancient One's persistent abilities, mythos cards that have daily affects, and adventure cards that have triggers at midnight and one of my personal favorites, forgetting to advance the clock. A few times when I played I would punish myself by removing an Elder Sign (the tokens needed to win the game), just because I wasn't sure if I accidently gave myself an advantage by forgetting to do something. All in all, this game is very addictive and beautiful to look at. It is also very reasonably priced for how much you get in the box. Easily one of my favorite games.

This has quickly become a favourite in the house thanks to its easy to learn rules and quick set up. The basic premise is that you are a group of adventurers and experts in the occult rushing around Miskatonic University trying to gather enough Elder Signs to seal the dark lord Cthulhu or one of the other Old Ones before they wake from their ancient slumber and cause a nuisance. For Lovecraft fans everything will be instantly familiar. For those new to the world, each card and token comes with a brief but atmospheric bit of text that I like to read out in an old and creaky sounding voice. During initial setup you will lay down six adventure cards. These are rooms and events around the University that you must complete to earn rewards. The rewards will most commonly be magical or mundane items to help you clear further adventures but your main goal is to pick up Elder Signs from these cards which you will need a certain amount of to seal the current Old One you are facing off against. Fail these adventures and you will suffer the penalties which will most often reduce the players health or sanity, the two factors that keep each investigator alive. However they may also add Doom to a counter. Accumulate too much Doom and the Old One will wake up and you will be pushed into one last ditch effort to defeat the Old One as they wrack your body and mind with their ancient evil. To resolve these adventures you will have to roll six dice. Each adventure card has a number of results you must roll. Meet the requirements with a roll and solve that portion of the card. Fail and you must discard a dice and try again. When you run out of dice you fail the adventure and suffer the penalties. There are items and mechanics within the game that can help you make this easier or harder. Like items that let you use extra dice or monsters that will lock a die until you defeat them. It adds a nice layer of strategy to what could have been a frustrating reliance on the luck of the roll. The game is not perfect of course. It can be a bit too easy sometimes as the game really stacks the odds in your favour. Especially if you are choosing your own investigator at the start of the game, since certain combinations make you almost unstoppable. After a couple of games though it should be easy enough to tweak the experience slightly to add an extra challenge if you think it needs it.

If you are a Lovecraft freak and love to get all Eldritch with your chosen clan of fellow freaks, then you already know that this has a place on your game shelf!! Arkham Horror-Eldritch Horror- Mansions of Madness-and Elder Sign, there’s really not much more I need to say, love Lovecraft and board games,!?, get yourself a copy and start following the Elder Signs, you won’t stay sane so you will not regret it…

Had a great time playing this with a like-minded sister of mine. The faces of the dice are well thought out and the general rules don't over-push the Lovecraftian theme, but has the artwork and mood down pat! We frequently found ourselves discussing what our next room of attack would be, weighing the odds as to whether our characters may just have the ability to clear the room. Now that my sister is back home with here family, I'll be playing it single player for awhile...

Being an avid fan of Arkham Horror, I got this game to see how it compared. I love the setting and this game didn't disappoint. For anyone who has played Arkham Horror, Elder Sign is a much "lighter" version of that game. For those that haven't, Elder Sign is a great introduction to the setting! TLDR Version: Coopertive Game No Board Cards and Dice, dice pools with match and discard mechanics to achieve success. Items and abilities allow you to modify this pool by granting more, re-rolling, or gaining "special" dice with higher probabilities. Great Art, High Quality pieces, tokens, and cards. Fun, Quick, supports up to 8 players. Simple rules, small learning curve. For fans of Arkham Horror: It's Arkham Horror "light" confined to a museum. Details: The game is board-less, making it good for gaming areas that are smaller, compared to Arkham Horror which takes the entirety of a moderately sized dining table. The game pieces are high quality, as expected from Fantasy Flight Games, and the cards are durable. I especially like the Adventure cards that are Tarot card sized instead of playing card sized, much better. The art is fantastic and the feel is very similar to Arkham Horror. The game plays like a story unfolding as a group of investigators work together to stop an ancient evil from awakening within the confines of a museum. A variety of Ancient Ones and Investigators with different abilities lends a lot of replay value. The central mechanic is the dice pool where you roll dice to achieve certain outcomes to succeed at "adventures" and gain rewards. Most coveted is the Elder Sign which will help the players win the game. Each Ancient One can be sealed away by obtaining a certain number, if the Doom Track reaches full before that time then he awakens and the group is offered one last attempt to fight him back in a "nearly hopeless" battle. (Manual's words) The writing and content is great, looking forward to the Expansion rumoured to come out in May 2013!

Good board game and well packed