Ghostbusters: The Board Game review | Board Game Reviews

Is there something troubles you in the middle of the night? Noises, screams and all that stuff? Have you experienced feelings of cold fear in your house? Have you or your family ever seen a ghost or poltergeist? If the answer is “yes”, then don’t spend any moment! Pick up the phone and call the Ghostbusters!

Ghostbusters was developed by the Cryptozoic Entertainment. Main designers are Matt Hyra, Adam Sblendorio and Mataio Wilson. The artist’s team includes Samuel H. Greenwell, Robb Mommaerts and Dan Schoening.

This game has gathered an enormous amount of 1.5$ out of 250,000$ and now it’s time to buy it because it has been released November 11, 2015!

Game Contents

Box size: 12.125″W * 12.125″H * 4″D
48 Custom Mini-Figures
Double-Sided Game Board Tiles (10)
Six Dice (5 D6 & 1 D8)
Tokens (Streams, Slimes, Gates, XP Trackers)
PKE Meter
4 Player Cards
6 Ghost Cards
Ghostbusters Operations & Field Manual

Gameplay

Ghostbusters: The Board Game is an adventure board game for 1 – 4 players. They are the professionals in busting ghosts and closing gates to the Spirit World! This game is customizable, cooperative and it has high re-playability. It provides unique illustrations and figures based on the original work and designs of Dan Schoening, who is the artist of Ghostbusters comic book original series. Each Ghostbuster has his own role and unique abilities which can be gained by getting experience. The game has modes for different levels of players. Now it is your move to save the world from creepy ghosts!

Game Setup

Scenarios will determine the board setup. The starting position of the Ghosts, Gates, and other stuff will be also shown in the scenario information. Scenarios are also show where the Ghostbusters and Ecto-1 start the game. For example:

Scenario #3: Living in Harmony

Scenario Success: Close all the Gates.

Scenario Fail: If you need to summon a Ghost from the Spirit World (off Map) and you can’t do this, your team loses the scenario.

On Map: (6) Class 1 Galloping Ghouls, (6) Class 2 Gruesome Twosomes, and (2) Class 3 Boogaloo Manifestations

Spirit World: The following Ghosts start the game off map: (3) Class 1 Galloping Ghouls, (2) Class 2 Gruesome Twosomes, and (1) Class 3 Boogaloo Manifestation

Rules

At the start of each round of play, the Event Die is rolled. Each scenario dictates different effects based on which Gate symbol you roll. There is also a Ghost Movement result that will cause nearby Ghosts to run wild. Standard Actions Actions are used during your turn to control your Ghostbuster. Each Ghostbuster starts with two “Standard” Actions and one “Free” Action.

Standard Actions include:

Move Action

Move up to 2 spaces in any direction, even diagonally.
You can move through friendly spaces, but not Ghost or Gate spaces.
If you occupy the Ecto-1, move up to 6 spaces instead (with passengers), but not diagonally.

Combat Action

Fire a Proton Stream at a Ghost or Gate within 3 spaces, even diagonally.
Gates react differently in combat based upon the scenario.

Deposit Traps Action

Transfer any number of trapped Ghosts through the Ecto-1 and into the Spirit World.

Remove Slime from a Ghostbuster

Remove 1 Slime from yourself or an adjacent Ghostbuster
If you remove Slime from yourself, your turn ends immediately.

Use a Free Action

You may spend a Standard Action to use a Free Action instead. Free Actions You may perform one “Free Action” at any time during your turn. With Free Actions, you can:

Give or Take Trapped Ghosts

Transfer any number of trapped Ghosts to or from an adjacent Ghostbuster.

Enter or Exit the Ecto-1 from an adjacent space (sides only)

Also, there is a PDF-manual, but it’s not complete yet because this game is not officially published.

Solo mode

The mechanics in solo mode in Ghostbusters are carried well, so you can play your own campaign and roll dices for each of the Ghostbusters. Try it!

Expansions

This game has 4 expansions at the moment. Let’s have a look at them!

Ghostbusters: The Board Game – Impossible Mode Ghosts

Provides new models, ghost cards and rules for the three classes of ghosts included in the core game. It is offered as a Kickstarter exclusive add-on during the initial campaign.

There are a number of bundles:

10 Galloping Ghouls
10 Gruesome Twosomes
4 Boogoalloo Manifestations
Impossible Mode Bundle (5 Galloping Ghouls, 3 Gruesome Twosomes, Boogaloo Manifestation)
Bosses (Slimer and Idulnas)

Ghostbusters: The Board Game – Kickstarter exclusives

Bonus characters like bosses, ghosts, tiles, and etc. Consists of:

5 characters (Janine Melnitz, Kylie Griffin, Ron Alexander, Melanie Ortiz, and the Rookie)
2 Tilesets (Library/Bookstacks and Shandor Building rooftop/interior)
2 Giant [100mm] Bosses (Cathulhu and Boogaloo)
2 Minion sets (Spawn of Cathulhu and Fearsome Flushes)
7 individual entities (Zuul, Vinz Clortho, Gozer, Grey Lady, Boogieman, Samhain and Ivo Shandor)
Walter Peck
Tobin’s Spirit Guide tuckbox

Ghostbusters: The Board Game – Mass Hysteria exclusives

Exclusive for Kickstarter backers of the Deluxe Edition of the core game!

Contains:

The Sandman ghost miniature and ghost card
The “impossible mode” big-sized (100mm) angry Stay Puft Marshmallow Man figure and ghost card
Four double-sided Sedgewick Hotel game board tiles
12″ * 12″ Giclee print of the game’s characters and logo
Glowing in the dark versions of the 6 game dice

Ghostbusters: The Board Game – Spectral Ghostbusters

Includes four new (glow-in-the-dark models) Class 3 ghosts.

Also ypu may buy exclusive version with Glow in the Dark Slimer on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Errata

There are some problems with kickstarter campaign with retailers. It is said, that retailers must confirm their status when they back the game, but this information was added a bit later. So, a lot of retailers are a bit upset by this fact, but developers are going to give back their money. We’ll keep you informed about that!

Similar Games

The gameplay seems to be similar to another multi-millionaire board game called Zombicide. Also, it gets the expansions quite regularly like Ghostbusters. Also, it has some familiar characters from The Real Ghostbusters Board Game by Milton Bradley.

YouTube

FAQ

Q: Does the loss of action from slime tokens are effecting immediately? This came up dealing with a low-level Ghostbuster. E.g., Venkman uses his first action to shoot a ghost and he gets slimed. Usually he would have another action left. But now that he’s slimed and he’s down one action. So, does the loss of action occur immediately or does he still get one more action on his turn?

A: Since leveling up to 3 in the middle of your turn immediately gives you an additional action for that turn!

Q: As for the Ecto-1… So, you may pass through the sides of Ecto-1 to the other side in one movement action. So, you could start the adjacent on the left side and finish adjacent on the right side, is that correct? And normally getting in and out of the car costs a maneuver if you’re adjacent… but if you end your movement on top of the car, it doesn’t take a maneuver to enter?

A: All seems correct.

Q: Boogaloo movement. When missed, the boogaloo moves two spaces towards a Ghostbuster. What happens when he’s adjacent? Does he move through the character and then get back sliming him twice? Also, a ghost will keep moving through players until they get to an empty tile. So, imagine this scenario: in a straight line I have a boogaloo, Peter and Ray. Peter shoots the boogaloo and he misses. The ghost moves to the Peter but he must continue through Ray and into an empty square sliming both of them. Does that only count as a one movement? Would he still turn around and slime both characters, returning to his starting point?

A: As I read it a ghost can’t occupy the same space as a ghostbuster at the end of its movement segment. When he’s adjacent he would move two spaces toward the ghostbuster which puts him on the opposite side of the ghostbuster and slimes him. At the end of this move the boogaloo isn’t take the same space as a ghostbuster, so he completes his move normally.

Conclusion

Spooky games are one of the favorite ones among the board game players… So, if you like to destroy ghosts or ghouls – this game is for you! Buy it on Amazon! Who you gonna call? Yes, you know the answer!