Second Look—Ghooost!

Ghooost! is a 2 – 6 player family card game designed by Richard Garfield, and published by Iello. The game has players trying to rid their mansion of ghosts by using bigger, scarier ghosts. The art is humorous, and very kid friendly. Nothing scary here.

In the game, each player has a pile of face down cards that makes up their mansion. To win, you must get rid of all the cards in your mansion and your hand. This isn’t that easy, though, as the crypt needs to be emptied of ghosts before you can try your hand at emptying your mansion. Also, if you find yourself unable to play a card, you’ll have to take all the current cards on the table into your hand.

Plays moves around the table with players playing cards from their hand to the table. The rules are simple. The card must have a higher value than the card currently showing. There’s a few exceptions. 1s can always be played, red cards can only be beaten by other red cards, and some cards have the ability to copy cards or reverse the turn order. You can also earn yourself an extra turn by playing 2 or more of the same card to the table. Play 4 of the same card for a Ghost Quartet that empties the table to the graveyard, thus removing those cards from play entirely.

The game isn’t super deep, but the kids and I had a lot of fun with it. I can’t see a group of adults playing this as a filler between heavier games, but it’s perfect for families looking to have a good time.

Ghooost! was provided free for review by Iello.