Week One: Arkham Horror Board Game

I have wanted to play Arkham Horror for months. Friends in my writing group regularly mentioned how fun it was. I've read a ton of great reviews online and in fact, it was one of the games I wanted to play this past Christmas when my friend, Matt, organized a day of yuletide gaming fun!

Unfortunately, I had still not played it. So, I decided this would be a great opportunity. Not only would I get to play the game I've been wanting to for months, but Amy and I would learn it together. Two birds, one stone, as they say (technically, three birds, as it also would count for Project: 52 Weeks!).

Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game that plays 1-8 players and runs from two to four hours to complete. Cooperative means the players are all on the same team and they play against the game, which means there are random events placed in card decks that brings the game to a climatic end.

One thing about Project: 52 Weeks is that even when I am having a bad day, knowing I've got fun plans for the evening keeps me in a good mood. I did get worried, though, as after dinner while the kids were getting ready for bed, Amy was really tired and didn't seem interested in doing anything. I later found out that she only had a couple of hours of sleep. She was running on fumes and wasn't really wanting to have to use her head and I hadn't clued her in on what we'd be doing. Whoops!

I will say, while she seemed disinterested at the beginning and much of the first half of the game, she stuck with it and by the end of the game, worked out strategies for our next turn and at the end, she discussed ways that we could have played things better.

We started punching out all the cardstock pieces and got the game board set up for play around 7:30PM and it took about thirty to forty-five minutes before we began play. That was rather long for a game, even for the first time playing, but we endured. I had to reference the rulebook for at least the first two hours, but we got the hang of things and didn't need the rule book much by the end of the game.

When all was said and done, Yig, the Ancient One (who I picked due to being the easiest), devoured me before the start of the final battle (I had the unfortunate state of being lost in time and space) and defeated Amy in a mathematically-impossible-to-win final fight (she resigned, blaming me for not being by her side). We went down in flames for our first game, which lasted a little over four hours, but we learned a lot. I think we will play much better and faster next time (hopefully, there will be a next time).

I knew going into it, a two player game would be rough. I had a lot of fun and got to learn a great game, plus we spent the night together doing something I picked. As I told Amy, I felt that a game like Arkham Horror has some fundamentals of roleplaying in it, so is a precursor to a full-fledged Dungeons & Dragons, i.e. roleplaying game. I continue to allude to playing one in a future Project: 52 Weeks night!

Things I Learned:

• Project: 52 Weeks doesn't have to be away from home. We can have a good time staying in and doing something different. Variety will be key and I will have to mix up some outings.


• It was a very good idea that I bought the game a couple weeks ago and read through the rules. If we had to figure it out completely from scratch, it might have taken a couple more hours. The more planning the better.


• Just because I have a bias on what Amy may like or not like, she's smart and learns quickly, even when out of her comfort zone. She was a good sport and besides the sluggish start, bought into Week One. By the middle of the game, she was asking about my thought process, detailed questions and suggested her own strategies. A big plus!


• Next time, I need to take some pictures.