
Semi-cooperative haunted-house adventure game where exploration triggers a hidden haunt, then heroes and a traitor race to complete opposing objectives.
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Turn timer
Keep turns moving with a per-player clock for Betrayal at House on the Hill.
Explore a haunted house by placing room tiles, collecting items, and triggering omens. When the Haunt begins, one player typically becomes the traitor with a secret objective while the remaining heroes must accomplish their own survival goal. One side wins.
Betrayal at House on the Hill is a semi-cooperative horror board game for 3 to 6 players. The game has two phases. In the Exploration phase, all players cooperate to explore a haunted mansion by drawing and placing room tiles, discovering items, events, and omens. When enough omens have been revealed, a Haunt is triggered -- one of 50 unique scenarios. Typically one player becomes the Traitor with secret win conditions, while the other players become Heroes with their own objective. The two sides then play against each other until one side wins.
Games last about 60 minutes. The modular tile-laying means the house is different every time, and the 50 haunt scenarios provide enormous variety.
Room tiles: placed to build the house across three floors (ground, upper, basement).
Character cards: 6 double-sided cards (12 characters total) with 4 stats each: Might, Speed, Knowledge, Sanity.
Stat clips: track current values on character cards.
Item, Event, and Omen cards: drawn when entering certain rooms.
Dice: custom dice showing 0, 1, or 2 pips.
Traitor's Tome and Secrets of Survival: two separate booklets with haunt scenarios.
Place the three starting tiles (Entrance Hall/Foyer/Grand Staircase) in the center.
Each player selects a character card and sets all four stats to their starting values using clips.
Shuffle the room tile stack, item cards, event cards, and omen cards separately.
All characters start in the Entrance Hall.
Players take turns in order. On your turn:
Move up to a number of spaces equal to your current Speed stat. Each room is one space.
When you move through a doorway with no room, draw a room tile and place it (matching the current floor). Some rooms have symbols indicating you must draw a card:
Item symbol (bull's head): draw an Item card. Items give stat boosts, special abilities, or weapons.
Event symbol (spiral): draw an Event card. Events may help or harm you and are usually resolved immediately.
Omen symbol (raven): draw an Omen card. Omens are items or companions, but drawing one also triggers a Haunt Roll.
After drawing an Omen card, roll 6 dice. If the total is less than the number of Omen cards revealed so far, the Haunt begins. Otherwise, exploration continues.
Some events and effects reduce your stats. If any stat drops to the skull symbol, your character dies (during the Haunt phase; during exploration you typically cannot die).
When the Haunt is triggered, consult the Haunt chart (cross-reference the Omen card and the room where it was found) to determine which of the 50 haunt scenarios plays out. Usually:
One player is designated the Traitor (the player who triggered the Haunt, or as specified by the scenario). The Traitor takes the Traitor's Tome and reads their scenario privately.
The Heroes read their scenario from Secrets of Survival (also privately). The two sides have different information about their win conditions.
The Traitor leaves the room briefly while heroes strategize, and vice versa.
Play then alternates between the Hero team and the Traitor. Turns follow the same movement and action structure, but now combat and special haunt rules apply:
When a character attacks another character or monster:
Attacker rolls dice equal to their relevant stat (usually Might).
Defender rolls dice equal to their relevant stat.
Higher total wins. The difference is dealt as stat damage to the loser. Ties mean no damage.
Each scenario has specific win conditions for both sides. Once either the Traitor or the Heroes complete their objective, that side wins the game. All players on the winning side share the victory; all players on the losing side share the loss.
Victory is determined by the haunt scenario's conditions. It is always one side (Heroes or Traitor) that wins, and the other side that loses.
Betrayal is a team-based win/loss game. One side wins and the other loses. There are no individual scores.
Winning side: Heroes or Traitor.
Player assignments: who was on each side.
Winning side (Heroes or Traitor).
Haunt number (1-50) that was played.
Which player was the Traitor.
Characters used by each player.
Survivors: which heroes survived (useful for tracking individual performance).
Because the game is semi-cooperative with asymmetric sides, rankings can track:
Win rate as a Hero vs. as the Traitor.
Overall win rate across all sessions.
Individual survival rate.
Select the Standard Haunt Session variant.
Add all players (3 to 6).
Assign players to sides: Heroes or Traitor.
Record the winning side (Heroes or Traitor).
All players on the winning side get a Win; all on the losing side get a Loss.
Optional fields worth recording:
Haunt number (1-50).
Which player was the Traitor.
Characters played.