Game: Midnight Party

Thread: Re: The step from the gallery into a room costs one point.

reapersaurus — 2008-10-29T23:36:16+00:00

They're only talking about movement points - not penalty points.

But you must be referring to a different version than mine, because there could not be any confusion looking at this board about movement spaces:
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Thread: Re: The step from the gallery into a room costs one point.

Luminous — 2008-10-29T23:08:47+00:00

We've always played it as the latter. If your last movement places you at the doorway of a room, you may not enter it for "free." Stepping into a room counts as a space.

Or a "movement point" as that translation so weirdly says.

Thread: The step from the gallery into a room costs one point.

Islay — 2008-10-29T22:03:30+00:00

The English translations available in the Files section include this phrase: "The step from the gallery into a room costs one point."

Does this mean that your score is reduced by 1 point every time that you enter a room thereby rendering the bonus from a +3 to a +2 and the "small ghost room" penalty becomes a -2 instead of a -1?

Or

Is this a loose reference to an abstraction such as a "movement point" (a term not used anywhere else in the instructions) trying to explain that you need one more die pip of value to get into a room from the gallery?

Thread: Re: Time-Lapse Video of a Family Session

chaosjenkins — 2008-10-15T20:53:35+00:00

Thanks, John -- you're right about the frame rate. When I time lapsed Fury of Dracula with the 1 frame per 15 second rate, it worked pretty well for a four hour game (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/345827). When I chose 4 second intervals for this one, I thought I was compensating within the right range, but upon viewing I realized the same thing you did -- that it would have made for more a more "animated" experience if I'd even gone so low as a frame every one or two seconds. I'll probably give that a whirl soon.

And your eye for the game is excellent. You nailed our play experience exactly. What's funny is that we had been orienting the board 180 degrees differently in the past, and my wife thought she was positioning her pawns well away from Hugo's danger zone. She didn't realize until he made it to the gallery what had happened. And you're right on about my son only rolling Hugos for a nasty stretch there. That die seems to get stuck in an odd groove, sometimes.

Thread: Re: Time-Lapse Video of a Family Session

reapersaurus — 2008-10-15T19:26:22+00:00

You could easily slow down the frame capture rate by half or 2/3rds, and still have a short playtime.
The way Hugo was flying by at times made it hard to follow.
But your wife committed suicide in the 1st round by placing 4 of her figures right in Hugo's first 3 spaces.

It was funny seeing the way they learned to keep their people FAR away from Hugo's starting spots by the 3rd round.

And your son looks like he may have gotten gobbled in the last round because of the all-too-common "all I rolled was Hugos this round" phenomenon.

Try it some more times, and see how their approach in player placement changes.
I have a key and shield variant that kids like to play (I'll post soon), and I'm trying to get an opportunity to try out the movement-card variant.

Thread: Re: Time-Lapse Video of a Family Session

Jatoha — 2008-10-15T12:04:43+00:00

This is great-- thanks for sharing!

Thread: Time-Lapse Video of a Family Session

chaosjenkins — 2008-10-15T01:35:23+00:00

In this video, my wife Becky, son Harrison and I play Midnight Party (technically the German version, Mitternachtsparty). The total video represents about 30 minutes of real time, capturing a full three-round game. The time lapse captured a frame every four seconds.

Vimeo Video

The game represents an excellent family/party game in which the players control revelers at a grand ball in a haunted mansion. The ghost, Hugo, is awakened by the revelry and heads upstairs to chase the party-goers into the various rooms of the mansion. Those who don’t make it to safety are chased into the basement and their controlling players suffer penalty points.

I (turquoise pawns) was well ahead after the first round, suffering few losses while my wife (blue pawns) was 33 penalty points in the hole. My son, (red pawns) was squarely in the middle.

In the second round, I suffered major losses, but was still a couple of points ahead of the wife. Harrison was in decent shape, and we were all in contention. This round featured an amusing chase all around the board of one of my female pawns, whose flight was eventually unsuccessful.

Heading into the final round, there’s a bit of game education going on as I explain to the others why the order of taking turns positioning pawns each round is important.

In the final round, Harrison’s pawns were gobbled up and thrown to the darkest parts of the basement. Becky managed to preserve a good many of her pawns and I suffered enough that I fell to her by one point, 58-57. Harrison brought up the rear with a whopping 80 point cumulative total thanks to that ill-fated final round.

At the end of the night, a fun time was had by all. Midnight Party is out of print in the English version but Funagain Games sells the German version with a printout of an English translation of the rules. No components of the game are language dependent.

Lego Batman toys are not included.

** I'm hoping to post more session videos, video reviews and other fun stuff on my game blog http://www.nonstoptabletop.com. Feel free to let me know what kinds of multimedia content concerning our hobby you'd like to see.

Thread: counter help

leandros — 2008-10-04T05:45:38+00:00

Give anyone one counter (even two,to younger ones)
Once in his turn,and when Hugo is up for hunting,before your roll you may play the counter.That means,if you roll Hugo dont move him 3 spaces but move your pawn 3 spaces.After the hunting is over and do the score,take back your counter-you may use it to the next round.

Thread: Candlelight Hurricane Party

inkcat — 2008-09-26T14:17:52+00:00

We have been anxious to play this game ever since we found an incomplete copy at a thrift store months ago. Sadly, that one was missing it's Hugo and a number of the walkers.

Then we found another thrift copy. We were excited to hopefully complete our first one. But lucky for us, the newest thrift copy was brand new, with all the lovely bits still in baggies - score!

We hadn't played it yet, but wanted to.
Then Hurricane Ike blew through Houston. We had little damage, but spent the "day after" cleaning up the huge piles of limbs in the yard. After getting cleaned up and eating our hurricane meal cooked on the propane stove, it was still early. What to do to pass our time?
Well, tv was out since there was NO power.

How about a game? Great. Let's play one that doesn't require a lot of reading of tiny bits. Midnight Party was perfect.
We set up the board and readied our candlelight illumination.

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The first round was sort of a learning round. No real strategy yet (not that there's a ton of strategy anyway). The scores were fairly close with myself and DS in the lead.

Round 2: Dad started to "try something". He lined up 3 of his people just to the back side of Hugo's staircase with one walker left to move around till Hugo emerged. Then the rest of his people waited till Hugo came out to move. He was trying to get into those bonus point rooms. He succeeded for the most part. In the meantime, Hugo enjoyed gobbling up Son's pieces quickly.

Round 3: Dad's strategy failed him this time as Hugo gobbled up 2 of his walkers in one move. That happened a few times throughout the game and it was very fun to watch.

Daughter ended up winning despite a bad 2nd round. We liked the fun bits and chanting HUGO HUGO HUGO every time the dice showed the little ghost.
We liked how easy it was to learn and play.

And we could have our hands free of cards to wave our handmade fans. Cause in early September in Houston with no power (and no A/C), it gets HOT!
It was a great way to pass a post-hurricane night. The theme fit perfectly and it was a great one to play by candlelight!

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inkcat — 2008-09-26T14:04:53+00:00

Midnight Hurricane Party

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jsper — 2008-09-11T13:22:41+00:00

Promotional sheet in german

Thread: Re: Replacing dice with movement cards

Acoriano3 — 2008-09-03T03:45:34+00:00

That's an interesting idea, John. I think it would work, but it would drastically change the gameplay experience. I've often been frustrated myself when I not only move Hugo one step closer, but have to wait for another 5 people to roll before I even get a chance...but I wonder if the chaotic, unpredictable feel of the game (which is what makes it an excellent, fast filler) would be lost by adding the tactics as such. People would plan out their moves and I don't think many would get "spooked" by Hugo himself, but by running out of empty rooms. I would be curious to see how it plays, though. If you try it out, do post your findings!

Thread: Replacing dice with movement cards

reapersaurus — 2008-09-02T22:02:26+00:00

First off - I love dice in games and the Midnight Party game (see my microbadges and ratings to prove).

But after playing a 7-player game this weekend (and having fun with it), I ended up not being able to move in either of the last 2 rounds.
I think I rolled 3 or 4 Hugos and both rounds (and the game) were over.

So an obvious variant came to mind:
I'm wondering if anyone's played this by using movement cards instead of relying on the dice to move?

You'd use the dice in the beginning part of the round as normal, but once Hugo makes it to the top railing, each player has 6 movement cards: 1, 2, Hugo, 4, 5, and Hugo.
They could use one each turn, and couldn't use the same card again until all had been used.

You'd be substituting tactics for luck, but it still has the beginning section which features luck, and it would really ramp up the importance of the placement of the characters (it would allow for some nasty opening moves if players didn't have a piece near the beginning) and it retains the same probability/distribution as the die.

Thoughts?

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Meat — 2008-08-04T15:30:14+00:00

...boo...

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Carrotteer — 2008-06-22T20:13:10+00:00

Boxback of Dutch edition "Hugo het slotspook" by Ravensburger

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Carrotteer — 2008-06-22T20:10:51+00:00

The inside of the Dutch edition by Ravensburger

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Gibbo — 2008-05-10T04:25:39+00:00

Hugo on a dark night

Thread: Re: Progress with the 5 and 8 year old.

cdunc123 — 2008-03-19T19:15:12+00:00

Yep -- I'd say, definitely try Bohnanza with the 5 year old too. Mine caught on to the play real quick. I did do two things to help. First and most importantly, I made a card holder, by taking a foot-long 2x2 piece of scrap wood (a 1x2 would work too) and with power saw (though a regular hand saw would work) cutting a footlong 1/4 inch deep slot it in (I put the slot at a slight angle so the cards are inclined a bit when resting in the slot, though that is not really necessary). It took about 2 minutes to make, and it is key to helping the five year old keep the cards in proper order. (We also just purchased Frank's Zoo and we find it handy for helping the five year old play that game too, since each hand is 15 cards to begin with).

Secondly, I printed out the helpful Bohnanza player mats from here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/11967

The kids love 'em. They had the rules down pat after the first game and so didn't really need the mats after that, but they still enjoy playing with them, two dozen games or so later. I put some cheap no-heat peel-off-place-on laminating film (get it at any craft store) over them to make them look more mat-like.

The game is fun (though I for some reason ALWAYS lose). The kids just LOVE the cards. I'm sure the game is different from what it is like with all adults (I've never done that) since my wife and I aren't sharky with the kids, and sometimes the whole game turns into a cooperative-love-fest ("you need a wax bean? here take this one of mine for free!"). But that has its own appeal, especially when we've gone through a string of plays of other games in which over-competitiveness / sibling rivalry has been a problem.

Thread: Re: Progress with the 5 and 8 year old.

JimF — 2008-03-19T17:25:30+00:00

Wow, Bohnanza with a 5 and 8 year old. I have it, but have never considered trying it with the kids. Maybe my eldest is ready for it.

They both like Gulo Gulo - possibly because they can see their small fingers give them an advantage over the adults and they win more often than not. Unfortunately when playing with some freinds my 5 year old decided the game would be easier with a shorter egg-alarm and snapped the stick in half - Bless

Thread: Re: Progress with the 5 and 8 year old.

cdunc123 — 2008-03-19T17:15:06+00:00

The Amazing Labyrinth and Rat-a-Tat-Cat are staples in my family too. We own Blokus, but it doesn't come out that much. I think I'm learning that theme is important to family gaming success in my family. But... I'll certainly try Blokus again.

We did own Gulo Gulo but for some bizarre reason it never caught on in my family. I liked it but my kids said it was boring. So I traded it for a "two-fer" of Midnight Party and Counting ZZZs (which everyone has enjoyed so far, but I do wonder about its replayability over time....)

FWIW, Bohnanza and Snorta have been huge hits in our household....

Thread: Re: Progress with the 5 and 8 year old.

JimF — 2008-03-19T15:07:06+00:00

Coincidentally we also have an 8 year old son and a 5 year old daughter and enjoy Midnight Party as a family game. I picked a copy up from ebay for about £3 a few years ago and we have certainly had our money’s worth.

With respect to losing with grace, my son seemed to pick this up at an early age but my daughter has so far not done likewise. She is still prone to walking off in a huff or tears if things don’t go her way.

Other family games we have enjoyed:
Amazing Labyrinth
Blokus
Gulo Gulo
Rat-a-tat-Cat

With a bit of help for the 5 year old we have also managed to play:
Bucket King
Carcassonne
Pickomino

Thread: Re: Progress with the 5 and 8 year old.

Sagrilarus — 2008-03-19T15:01:05+00:00

    M&Ms placed on each of the steps can help ease the pain, but it appears you're mostly past the issue.

    I had a similar experience this past week with Burg Appenzel, with my two five-year-olds. Five seems to be the magic age to turn the corner on the "losing is worthy of crying" issue.

             Sag.

Thread: Progress with the 5 and 8 year old.

cdunc123 — 2008-03-19T13:30:47+00:00

I really enjoy the theme and play of Midnight Party. It's easy to get in the spirit of things (pun intended) and shout HUGO! HUGO! HUGO! before the roll of the die.

My kids (ages 5 and 8) enjoy the game too -- though we have only had about 3 plays of it, so it is too soon to say how long the game will keep their interest.

I say the kids enjoy it, but it's also true there is a downside: they get too into the game at times, and the 5 year old sometimes will cry when her tokens get caught by Hugo. There aren't tears from the 8 year old when his tokens are caught, but it's obvious he's struggling not to get upset, and the first two plays he'd be sullen for a stretch after losing a token.

This made me worry "Uh-oh, we're not going to be playing this game much if it ends in tears regularly."

BUT... last night we made progress. The 8 year old had the most unbelievable string of bad luck. He positioned his figures at the start of the game at the far end of the mansion, hoping to creep up toward the top of the mansion as Hugo advanced up the stairs, and be just behind Hugo when Hugo entered the mansion. This would leave him safe from Hugo, and also well positioned to dash into the +3 rooms. Not a bad strategy; my son is a pretty clever gamer for an 8 year old. However, the die loved Hugo this game, and Hugo raced up the cellar stairs into the mansion. What is more, my son rolled Hugo 4 times out of 5 rolls, and so couldn't move his players much at all! Suffice it to say Hugo gobbled up his players without a single one of them making it safely to a room.

He was disappointed of course, and we could see him struggling not to get upset. He pulled through OK. In the following rounds, his bad luck stayed with him, alas. But this time he cheerfully put his players on the cellar stairs as they were captured. Even the 5 year old noticed the change in his behavior. It proved contagious. She began to take it in stride when her players were captured. Breakthrough!

Final scores: Son -68(!), Daughter -29, Mom -26, Dad -22 (I got a couple of lucky rolls to land in the +3 rooms).

This session just underscored to me how educational playing games can be, even games with a lot of luck like Midnight Party. It's true such games are not as intellectually educational as more strategic games. But they're good training for emotional maturity. Being a gracious loser (and a gracious winner) is an important life lesson, as is the (related) lesson of taking adversity and bad luck in stride. Hooray for family games!

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potajacion — 2008-03-16T20:06:37+00:00

Trying a Porta Gayola play......

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potajacion — 2008-03-16T19:53:04+00:00

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DavidNorman99 — 2007-11-21T01:57:58+00:00

Back of Box - German edition

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DavidNorman99 — 2007-11-21T01:55:23+00:00

Box Front - German Edition

Thread: Re: Halloween warm-up

dbucak — 2007-10-30T18:48:31+00:00

I don't know the difference between Ghost Party and Midnight Party. They're both listed under the same BGG entry, which suggests they are the same game under two different names.

Thread: Re: Halloween warm-up

Acoriano3 — 2007-10-30T15:54:06+00:00

I think Midnight Party is quite possibly more fun for adults than for kids! My wife and I find this one popular amongst our college friends. It's still way fun, not a ton of rules involved, and it's SHORT, which is always a plus for non-gamers.

I had a question for you, too. You called your version of the game Ghost Party, while my copy is Midnight Party. Can you explain the differences between the two? Is one of them an updated/reprinted version?

Thread: Re: Halloween warm-up

josgeerkin — 2007-10-30T04:50:24+00:00

Thanks for the report. Hugo rocks!

I try to get my group to play this one every Halloween without much luck. It's a short fun game, even if you have a group of adults.

Thread: Halloween warm-up

dbucak — 2007-10-30T02:49:46+00:00

We started the evening with my daughter requesting to play Anima. Anima is much like Candyland, but quicker and hence more tolerable. Plus it's bamboo with cute little ghosts. Audrey raced out ahead at first but stalled right before the final spot. I came up from behind and would have won, if it wasn't for a little parental cheating to help Audrey out. I figured she took a hard loss at Kid's of Catan the previous night, so she deserved it. She was pleased to win.

My son finished his bath about then, so he and my wife joined us. I decided to continue the ghostly theme (it's going to be Halloween in two days) and pulled out Ghost Party. I got this in a trade a while back and figured now was the time to try it out.

In the game you try to get party-goers safely into rooms before the ghost catches them. Some rooms are worth more than others and only one person can fit in each room.

Audrey started the game by rolling a ghost. Audrey would continue to be queen of the ghosts throughout the game, moving the ghost frequently. The ghost quickly got up the stairs and gobbled up my piece I was hoping to get into the high value playroom. Meanwhile Audrey grabbed the playroom and Devin grabbed the trophy room. Mommy and Audrey were a team and guided by her suggestions, Audrey did pretty well. Her frequent ghost rolls hindered her though. I ended the round with three guys on the stairs and one in the -1 library for a score of -25. Audrey ended up with -13 and Devin with -10.

The second round Audrey and I grabbed the trophy room and the playroom. This left Devin with a piece pretty much right in front of the ghost. Every turn Devin would move this piece, but the rooms ahead of it kept filling up, so he was unable to scurry to safety. We suggested he give it up and move some of his other pieces to safety, but he kept moving that piece just ahead of the ghost. Eventually rooms ran out and he ending up with several pieces on the stairs. I got -16 for the round, Devin -25 and Audrey -7.

Audrey was getting grumpy, so we decided to end the game after two rounds. This left Audrey and Mommy in first, Devin in second and myself bringing up the rear.

Devin was upset at not playing a third round but eventually calmed down and set up a silly Anima track while Audrey went to bed. His track had no yellow or orange, so if you rolled those colors you automatically won. We played at that for a while, then went for a bedtime book.

I enjoyed Ghost Party quite a bit. There's enough strategy to keep it interesting and enough luck to allow the kids to win. I was glad that I traded for it.

Thread: Re: Dice question?

Walt Mulder — 2007-09-18T01:57:46+00:00

I have a nice wooden die in my collection with the numbers 0-5. I don't know what game I got if from but it should work to move the ghost on 0 and 3.

Thread: Re: Dice question?

Acoriano3 — 2007-09-17T22:38:31+00:00

If you wanna get technical, though, I believe the numbers were on different facets of the dice. It's not in front of me right now, but if my memory serves me well the 2 ghosts are on opposite sides of the dice. Regular d6s have 1 and 6 as opposites...but if you don't care that much then it should work fine. Also, it's a nice touch having a rounded, wooden dice. It seems lighter and has rounded edges, which makes it tend to "just barely roll off that 5 you needed" onto a ghost instead. If you can get ahold of a wooden d6 all the better.

Thread: Re: Dice question?

Walt Mulder — 2007-09-17T05:08:48+00:00

Thanks.

Thread: Re: Dice question?

chockle — 2007-09-17T02:24:03+00:00

The die is:
1 2 4 5 G G

So, you could use a normal die where 3 & 6 = Ghost

Thread: Dice question?

Walt Mulder — 2007-09-17T02:14:16+00:00

I just picked up a copy that was missing the die. It looks like there's a ghost on one face of it. Can someone tell me what is on all the faces of the die? Can a d6 be used? Thanks.

Thread: Re: Out of print?

noisycrow — 2007-04-24T20:36:40+00:00

I just bought one new from Boulder Games, arrived yesterday.

Thread: Re: Out of print?

TheCat — 2007-04-18T02:37:25+00:00

I paid less than $20 on eBay about three years ago.

Thread: Re: Out of print?

fmoros — 2007-04-17T03:58:02+00:00

Easy to get on ebay. 2 years ago it was expensive to get, but these days they go on lower prices.

Both are the same, Midnight party, or the german version does not make any difference.

I own one copy of each and they are the same.

Thread: Re: Out of print?

booned — 2007-04-15T06:53:58+00:00

The 2004 Amigo edition hasn't been hard to find at online Canadian retailers. I've seen it recently in stock at germangames.com and levalet.com, though not at this very moment, and both ship to the U.S. I don't know about American retailers, but it'd be very unusual for a game to be harder to find in the U.S. than in Canada (Mr. Jack excepted).

Be sure you're looking for not Midnight Party, but Mitternachtsparty.

Thread: Re: Out of print?

Sprydle — 2007-04-15T05:59:12+00:00

yes, for awhile now too. Even a year ago I had to get mine via a trade. It's fun with kids!

Thread: Out of print?

cull — 2007-04-14T22:57:41+00:00

Is this game out of print in the US?

Thread: Re: Ghost Party with kids

cagriggs — 2007-02-03T16:01:07+00:00

I found my copy on ebay and the price ended up not being that high. I've recently discovered that you can save your searches on ebay and have the site email you when an item that matches your search becomes available. That how I found this game and a few others.

Thread: Re: Ghost Party with kids

kuhrusty — 2007-02-03T05:16:33+00:00

At the moment there are 20 people offering to trade it; that's how I got mine.

Thread: Re: Ghost Party with kids

BrewB — 2007-02-03T02:33:23+00:00

I was able to pick up a copy from Boards and Bits a few months ago, but sadly, they don't seem to carry it anymore. They should - even if you do have to download the translated rules (which I did).

Thread: Re: Ghost Party with kids

Bigspoon816 — 2007-02-03T00:59:51+00:00

When my children were small (and they are now in their twenties and gamers) this was a favorite. Thanks for bringing it up. I have fond memories of playing this game with them. They liked walking around the board and going into rooms. It was alot of fun. I reccommend this game to all families.It's a chase game that has some strategy to it. When we would play other games we sometimes used the people figures for our markers.

Thread: Re: Ghost Party with kids

berserkley — 2007-02-02T23:48:16+00:00

It's the best kind of kids game: the kids love it, but it has enough depth to make it enjoyable for adults as well.

Thread: Re: Ghost Party with kids

TheGameCzar — 2007-02-02T23:03:58+00:00

Where did you find a copy. My kids played at my gaming group's family event and my kids loved it.

Thread: Ghost Party with kids

cagriggs — 2007-02-02T20:36:06+00:00

This past Christmas, trying to encourage my sons in their development as gamers, I gave each of my sons a new game. My five-year-old received a copy of Ghost Party. After reading the review on boardgamegeek, this sounded like the kind of game he would enjoy. As it turned out, I was correct. This has been a big hit with my son and he asks to play it often and always enjoys the game, even if he doesn't win.

The game has a very simple premise. A party is being held in mansion and a ghost, named Hugo, is going to come interrupt the party. Once Hugo makes it to the main floor from the cellar, the partygoers must try to hide so that Hugo will not catch them.

Gameplay is equally simple. Players get a various number of colored character pawns, from 6 to 2, depending on the number of players in the game. Taking turns, players then place their pawns in the main hallway of the mansion. After everyone has placed all their pieces, the game begins. At the start of a player's turn, he or she simply rolls a die. The die will either roll a number, which is the spaces a player may move any of his or her pieces, or a picture of Hugo. When Hugo is rolled, the player must move Hugo three spaces. Players continue to move around the hallway until Hugo has made it all the way up the stairs. In other words, no character can enter a safe room until the chase has begun.

Once Hugo is out of the cellar (after only 3 rolls of Hugo on the die), players may escape by going into rooms. Only one pawn may be in each room. However, if a player's pawn is overtaken by Hugo, it gets placed on the stairs leading to the cellar, which scores negative points for the player. The first person caught gets -10, the second -9, and so forth. Once all the pawns are caught or are safely in rooms, the round ends and scores are tallied. A total of three rounds are played and the person with the highest score at the end wins.

The game has been a success in our home for a number of reasons. It has a great theme for young boys. My sons love being scared and while this is not a scary game, the idea behind it certainly is. Players get to run away from a ghost or move a ghost to catch their opponents (or themselves). The game is also easy to understand and play. My sons have had no problem knowing what to do on their turns. The game is also rather exciting. When Hugo is sitting right behind you and an open room is two spaces away, there can be quite a bit of tension before you roll the die, at least for younger players. This is definately a game that my wife and I don't mind playing with our sons. It may not have any deep strategies but it is a fun, simple game for families.

Thread: TVB - 3P - You go to move HUGO - you lose.

RPardoe — 2006-09-01T04:53:37+00:00

Our final game of the evening is the old Wolfgang Kramer game: Midnight Party. Guests arrive to stroll the promenade in a house. But at the same time, a ghost is coming up from the wine cellar. When the ghost reaces the promenade, the guests all run to the rooms attempting to hide and gain points. Any guest caught by the ghost is sent into the wine cellar to lose points. But all of this movement is controlled by a single die. 2 faces have Hugo the Ghost. When rolled, the ghost advances 3 spaces. The other 4 sides have 1,2,4, or 5 pips and indicate the number of spaces a guest may move. The nice thing about this game is that it plays up to 8 people. With 3 players, each person will have 5 guests on the board. With 8 players, each person will have only 2 guests - so the total number of guests stays fairly constant around 12~16 guests. (Yes, the game includes 8 different colours of people, but the number declines - so the colours playing per number of players is fixed.)

In our first game, it didn't take long for Hugo (that's the ghost) to move. In fact, he was out of the cellar after just 3 turns apiece by all the players. Rich needed to move a couple of his guests, but could only roll Hugo just bringing the ghost even closer. While Sabrina and Dave were hiding in the rooms, Rich rolled a 1 and couldn't move out of Hugo's 3 space range. And Rich was the first to lose a guest. No problem, next move just move your guests to a room. Nope, Rich moves Hugo instead and more guests are in the cellar. Dave is the first to protect all his guests (so only rolls to see if Hugo moves), but the game ends in a flurry of 3 consecutive Hugo moves as the remaining guests are spirited to the cellar.

Looking at the tally - 36 moves (12 turns per player), Hugo moved 11 times - right on average. Not so average, Rich had nearly half (5) of those moves while Dave and Sabrina moved Hugo 3 times each. Hard to protect your guests if all your are moving is Hugo half the time (5 out of 12 for Rich)
[c]
Rich: -10, -9, -6, -5, +1 = -29
Dave: -8, +3, +1, +1, +1 = - 2
Sabrina: -7, -7, +3, +1, +1 = - 9[/c]

For the next round, the guests in rooms step out to the promenade. The guests in the cellar are placed on the promenade and the ghostly dance begins once more. This time, Hugo was even faster - emerging from the cellar on Dave's second turn. The mad scramble begins. This time it is Dave that falls victim to the ghost first. And again for second. And again for third. But Dave does protect his other two guests. Sabrina is the next to fall victim but she also protects 2 guests, including one in the bonus room. Rich loses 2 guests, but as they fall last, they are penalized least.

Looking at the tally - 31 moves (10 turns per player), Hugo moved 11 times - right on average. This time it is Dave with the 5 Hugo moves while Rich and Sabrina have 3 each. Dave is the one moving Hugo half the time (5 out of 11 moves) and pays the price this round.
[c]
Rich: -4, -3, +1, +1, +1 = - 4 (Total -33)
Dave: -10, -9, -8, +1, +1 = -25 (Total -27)
Sabrina: -7, -6, -5, +3, +1 = -14 (Total -23)[/c]

We enter the final round and Hugo is all warmed up from the first two rounds. He emerges early and moves often. This time the final guests duck into rooms, so the game ends that way instead of by the final guest being spirited into cellar. Dave did take a chance and duck into on of the modest penalty rooms (worth -1 instead of risking staying on the promenade for the chance to gain +1 or be spirited for more negative points).

Looking at the tally - 24 moves (8 per player), Hugo moves 11 times - higher than average. Sabrina moves Hugo only 2 times (moving her guests the other 6 moves). While Rich and Dave move Hugo 4 and 5 times respectively - again having a hard time harboring guests in the rooms.
[c]
Rich: -10, -8, -5, -3, +1 = -25 (Total -58)
Dave: -9, -6, -4, -1, +1 = -19 (Total -46)
Sabrina: -9, -8, -7, +1, +1 = -22 (Total -45)[/c]

Sabrina just edges out Dave for the win. Just goes to show - he who moves Hugo least is penalized the least. But the fun in this game is as a light filler fare. It is most fun late at night with a large group as everyone starts to chant for Hugo to capture their opponent's guests. As a light diversion that can handle a large group of people, a decent enough game.

Thread: Re: Church's Game Night with wandering kids

daniinnc — 2006-05-06T02:51:06+00:00

Thanks for posting this session report. I'm the gamer in my family and I am dragging everyone along with me We usually invite couples from church for dinner and then spring games on them afterwards. The first few times I got odd looks, but now people sit around the table after dinner and turn to me with an expectant face because they know I have something new for them to try.

Thread: Church's Game Night with wandering kids

Jatoha — 2006-03-20T02:58:54+00:00

Our church had its second game night. The first game night I brought a bunch of board games with high hopes, but the evening ended up with all the people playing euchre and me with my family playing Carcassonne. People would wander by and look, but we had no takers.

So, I decided to try again this month. As we pulled up into the parking lot a group of young kids are standing by the back door and they take off as soon as they see us. My husband and I look at each other, hmmm?

Next thing we know here comes Iva, one of the sweet, older women at our church, "I thought I unlocked this door." she says. Ah, I believe we have some neighborhood kids playing Ding-Dong Ditch. On another night, I would have been really irritated at these kids for making Iva come all the way downstairs to open the door, but tonight I tried to remember that I ought to have a Christian attitude since I'm at the dang church for goodness sake!

As we walked up the stairs, we spy the kids out one of the windows and I wave and smile at them. I'm thinking, "hey, I'm on to you, I know you're out there."

Game night looked to be a repeat of last month's, everyone was pairing up with partners for euchre. I decide to get out all of my games and spread them out on the table. Maybe someone will be curious enough to want to try one. That's when my hubby and I hear a little scurrying near the handicap elevator. We look to see the back of one boy running down the stairs while another is getting out of the elevator. *Deep Breathe* I have to think to myself, "remember, you're supposed to have a Christian attitude."

This is when my hubby steps up to plate, "Hey, boys, we're having a game night, if you want to play, come on in!"

My eldest daughter is horrified. I ain't seein' no Christian attitude on her face.

The slowest boy out of the elevator tentatively steps into the room at my husband's invitation, he spies the plate of cookies and asks for one, we give him one and he takes off.

Well, of course it isn't long before the other three boys are back upstairs looking for cookies. I hand out the cookies, but I say, "Now, I think if you guys are going to eat cookies, you have to play a game!"

They can't tell if I'm serious. I decide to let them think that I am.

At this moment, my eldest daughter wanders to the other end of the large room and happens to find an old prayer book extremely facinating.

Well, now I had to find a game to play with these boys. Here's what I had:

Carcassonne
Pick Picknic
Transamerica
Gulo Gulo
Frank's Zoo
Midnight Party

I go for the Midnight Party. I get the boy's names: Anton, Anthony, Tanner, and Ro-Ro (yeah, he told me to call him, Ro-Ro). They are fifth and sixth graders. So, I explain the rules, they were a little confused by the fact that there was no starting square.

Then, we were off and running, Hugo made his move early and I've never had so many Hugos in a row. Before too long the first boy was out, he had no one left to move, so he passes the die and says, "I'm out." "Wait," I tell him, "You can still roll and hopefully get Hugo." He was thrilled with this prospect and sure enough, he rolls a Hugo capturing his brother.

It isn't long before we are down to the last pawn in the game and everyone is chanting "Hugo, Hugo, Hugo!" The last guy managed to get into a room.

I figured that we would only play one round, but they immediately want to play again. Well, by immediately, I mean, after more cookies. This time my daughter joins in, too. Another round of many Hugos makes for a quick game which was probably a good thing. Ro-Ro says, "Man, that game is fun!" But, then they decide to leave.

However, in the meantime, another regular church family showed up and was so intriqued by the boy commotion that they ask to play.

So, this game night didn't end up with me playing only with my immediate family, by the end of the night we had games with eight new people! Not bad! ---thanks, boys!

Thread: Re: Here is the wine cellar?

fmoros — 2006-01-14T04:22:45+00:00

Mazinger is right

Thread: Re: Here is the wine cellar?

Gecko23 — 2006-01-13T15:27:54+00:00

leoesu wrote:
I have three questions for this game and was hoping someone could help:

On a player's turn, you just roll the die once and then it is someone else's turn, right?

Yep. Roll, move your bits, pass them on.

I also read the translated instructions and it says that after all staps are filled with captured guests, the next captured character must go to the wine cellar. Where is it? How does it look like?

Its the archway below the bottom step. (At leasy on the older ravensberger board)

Another question: Let's say I'm the only person who still has a character free in the gallery and there are still places to hide. Does that mean I can roll the die more then one time in a roll? Let's say I am in a situation in which there is still an open room, but I am located on the opposite side of the gallery and am the ony person with a free player. DO I keep rolling the die?

No, all the players continue to roll the die in order, whether they still have moveable pieces or not. If they get a Hugo, they move him.

Thread: Here is the wine cellar?

leoesu — 2006-01-13T15:01:57+00:00

I have three questions for this game and was hoping someone could help:

On a player's turn, you just roll the die once and then it is someone else's turn, right?

I also read the translated instructions and it says that after all staps are filled with captured guests, the next captured character must go to the wine cellar. Where is it? How does it look like?

Another question: Let's say I'm the only person who still has a character free in the gallery and there are still places to hide. Does that mean I can roll the die more then one time in a roll? Let's say I am in a situation in which there is still an open room, but I am located on the opposite side of the gallery and am the ony person with a free player. DO I keep rolling the die?

Many Thanks

Thread: Midnight Party After Midnight!

jollypirate — 2005-11-05T16:09:43+00:00

Nikki really wanted to play this game though it was quite late--pushing 1 a.m. Michelle had to work in the morning and perhaps wanted to leave a winner (having just shot enough of us in the face, to take the Spree! victory, so it was just down to four of us (we had applied all due peer pressure to keep Andrea from leaving as well--in fact, had we any illegal drugs, we were going to try and have her do those as well).

We've always enjoyed this simple, fun game, but it is better with more players.

Marty won, with Andrea sucking ass big time.

These pieces by the way are lovely, and quite nice in using with the cheapass line. We had used them with the wonderful Spree, earlier that night--our mall robbing, gun toting maniacs dressed in tophats and gowns.

Quick game. Still fun.

We play with mandatory ghost sounds.

Thread: First session with Midnight Party

beezwax — 2005-10-28T02:00:32+00:00

Just picked this up in trade and wanted to give it a try so I pulled it out for a late game with the kids (6, 4 and 4).

The board isn't terribly exciting but definitely works well with the theme. The colors were reasonably distinct and everyone found a color that worked. The rules are quite simple and straightforward so explaining the game was fairly easy. To simplify things a bit, we chose to play without the rule that requires an exact count to get into the +3 rooms.

Repetitiveness of actions makes it easier to understand.

To keep the atmosphere fairly light (my kids can be quite competitive) we chose to play without keeping actual scores, though we did hint at scores to see who had "won".

The first round went quite well, with everyone learning how to move their pieces, when its OK to move into a room and how to move Hugo. We had minor counting and moving issues for the 4 year olds, but otherwise everything went great.

In the second match the play went well; but the understanding of the consequences of the ghost catching you was a bit more traumatic for the 4 year olds. We managed to finish the game without any tears but I knew that we were getting close to the edge.

Despite that fact that it was getting late and the 4 year olds were on edge, I tempted fate and tried a third game. The play actually went really well, with all kids making very good choices. Unfortunately, we ended with 4 year olds in tears. Despite this less than desirable ending, I think that we had a decent intro to the game.

I'll have to break this back out in an earlier timeslot. It was definitely a hit with our 6 year old (and me too).

Thread: Re: User Review

Gecko23 — 2005-09-11T03:34:11+00:00

And if you are playing with kids, they enjoy getting to move Hugo around to capture the people more than they do winning. Every time the ghost comes up on the dice its a big 'Hugooo!'

Thread: Midnight Party

britchey — 2005-05-20T02:50:06+00:00

We played a 3 player game. It was a first for all of us as I just got the game in the mail today. We had a lot of fun with it and played a full game of 3 rounds. It's geared for kids, and one of us is 3 years old, so I liked it for what it is-- a game I can play with the little guy and enjoy. It gets high marks in that regard. So on to the report:

The first round caught many of the partygoers off guard, as in "Yeah, Hugo is on his way, but he takes a long time to get up here. Oh wait, he's right behind you." Hugo hit the red and blue teams hard, while turquoise slipped around the bannister. In the second round red was nailed right off the bat, sending 2 of it's revellers to the -10 square-- ouch. Once again, turquoise snuck quietly into rooms, snagging a game high -3 for the round. She had a solid lead going into the final round. Looking to make up points, blue lined up his people near the top step, ready to jump into the +3 rooms when Hugo appeared. Poorly timed, the whole thing blew up in my face, and I was saddled with the bottom 3 steps. I never recovered. Turquoise won the round, again.

Final score:
Ben -78
Amanda -28
Brent -75

Thread: Re:User Review

Tycho — 2005-04-29T12:27:01+00:00

Shawn_Solo (#482836),

This is a wonderful game for playing at midnight at a games convention. At least some of the good ratings (certainly mine) are from adults who know this a great social game when you have a large group in a silly mood.