Don’t Go In There Review

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m a sucker for a gimmick in games. Sometimes they fall short and really are nothing more than a gimmick, but other times they really are unique and bring something new to the game. So a couple of years ago when I was perusing Kickstarter, I came across Don’t Go In There – a game in which the box doubles as a dice tower for use during the game, and it has glow-in-the-dark dice?! I was sold. The gameplay seemed intriguing (set collection, baby!) and the theme was fun and spooky. The box/dice tower is what initially drew me in, but the gameplay is what keeps me bringing it to the table!

Don’t Go In There is a spooky game of dice rolling, card drafting, and set collection in which players are exploring a haunted house, collecting cursed items, and being haunted by ghosts along the way. At the end of the game, the player with the fewest number of curses is declared the winner! To setup for a game, each player receives a Screen and Meeples in their chosen color. Place the dice tower, dice, Planchette, and Ghost Tokens in a pile nearby. Create the deck of Curse Cards as described in the rules per player count. Take the Room Boards, randomly choosing a side to be the starting side, and place them in a line in the center of the play area. Deal 3 Curse Cards to the slots above each Room Board, and set the remaining Curse Cards in a deck nearby. Choose a starting player, and the game is ready to begin! Pictured below is the setup for a 3-player game.

The gameplay is simple, and each turn is broken down into 2 steps: Place a Meeple and Resolve the Room. On your turn, you will first take a Meeple from your supply and place it onto a Room. All Rooms have 4 spaces for Meeples, and you must choose any one available space in any Room to place your Meeple. The slot in which you choose to place a Meeple can affect you in the Resolve the Room step, but I’ll talk about that more in depth next. Which leads us to step 2: Resolve the Room. If the Meeple you just placed is the 1st or 2nd Meeple in that Room, your turn ends and the game moves to the next player. If the Meeple you just placed is the 3rd Meeple in that Room, you will Resolve the Room.

To Resolve the Room, first take the Planchette to serve as a reminder that you are the active player. Next, count up all the dice icons on the 3 Curse Cards of that Room, and roll that many dice in the dice tower. For any Ghost Faces that show on the rolled dice, all players who have a Meeple in the Room will collect that number of Ghost Tokens. On the Rooms, some of the Meeple spaces have Flashlight icons next to them, and each Flashlight can negate 1 Ghost token. So depending on your Meeple’s placement, you may be able to negate some/all of the Ghosts! After dealing with the Ghost dice, it’s time to take Curse Cards. Starting with the player whose Meeple is in the highest space in the Room, each player will draft one of the available Curse Cards to their tableau. You may have more than 1 Meeple in the room, so you might get to draft more than 1 card. But all cards are drafted in order of Meeple placement, so that’s another area in which placement is key.

When you draft a Curse Card, check its text, as each different kind of Curse Card has different requirements in order to be triggered. Collecting sets of Curse Cards may allow you to ‘Dispel’ cards. When a card(s) is Dispelled, it is turned face-down, and its Curse-value won’t count towards your end-game total. And since you want to end the game with the fewest Curses, you really want to be Dispelling as many cards as possible. The final step of Resolving the Room is for each player to take back their Meeple, and reveal a new Room. Simply flip the Room Board over to the other side and deal 3 new Curse Cards to its open slots. Play now moves to the next player.

The game continues in this fashion until all Curse Cards have been taken. No Curse Cards will remain in the deck or in any of the Rooms. Players will now count up their total Curse number. Count up the Curse value on every face-up Curse Card in your tableau. Some Curse Cards effects are triggered at the end of the game, so these are resolved now. And remember, Dispelled cards don’t count! Now count up Ghost Tokens. The player with the most Ghost Tokens will receive an additional Curse for every 2 Ghosts. So collecting Ghosts throughout the game is fine, as long as you don’t end up with the most at the end of the game! The player with the lowest total number of Curses is named the winner!

Overall, the gameplay is pretty simple – all you have to do is place a Meeple and Resolve the Room if applicable. But it’s the strategic options that really elevate the gameplay for me. For starters, as I mentioned above, your Meeple placement can really affect your strategy. Since cards are drafted in order from high to low, placing your Meeple in the highest slot is advantageous to ensure you get the card that you want. But the highest slot in each room has no Flashlight icons, meaning that you will collect any and all Ghosts that are rolled when resolving the room. On the flip-side, placing your Meeple in the slot with 3 Flashlights can protect you from the Ghosts better, but it also means that you are stuck taking whatever card has been left by the other players. There’s a delicate balance that has to be taken into account on your turn.

The actual drafting of cards and set collecting is another strategic element that has to remain adaptable throughout the game. Each kind of Curse Card can Dispel in a different way. For some Curses, you need only collect 2 of the same Curse Card to trigger its ability, but others require more complicated sets before you can Dispel. And the number of cards Dispelled varies by Curse as well, with some only Dispelling single cards while others Dispel all cards of one type, etc. It’s not just a race to complete as many sets as possible. You have to complete sets at the perfect time to maximize the Dispel ability. And since your tableau is public information, you and your opponents can see what everyone is working with and you can potentially throw a wrench in their strategy by getting a Curse Card they may need to complete a set before they do. Honestly though, in all my plays, I have rarely ever looked to see what my opponents have. I’m focused on what I’ve got and how to best deal with it. And if someone takes a Curse Card I want, it’s on me to react and adapt.

Components. As I mentioned at the top, the dice tower box and glow-in-the-dark dice are really what initially drew me in. And they’re cool components! The box is sturdy, and the plastic insert that doubles as part of the dice tower is well made. Do you need a dice tower to play this game? Ultimately, no. But it’s a neat addition. The glow-in-the-dark dice? Also neat! But I don’t really ever play in a dark area, so that’s kind of not really come into play for me. It’s neat that they glow, but again, definitely not necessary. The cards, screens, and Ghost Tokens are nice and sturdy as well. The artwork is spooky, but not scary, and the text and iconography are clear. The Meeples are cute little dudes with hats and flashlights, and it’s neat to see thematic Meeples added to a game. Overall, great production quality by R2i Games.

Although I don’t think this game will ever break into my Top 10 of All Time, it’s one that I think will stay in my collection for a long time. It utilizes several mechanics that I love – drafting, set collection, and dice rolling. And there’s a lot more strategy involved than you might initially think. It’s not a super heavy game, but it keeps players actively engaged throughout the game, even when it’s not their turn. The variability offered by the game is vast, as the base game has 12 different types of Curse Cards (even more types if you have the KS version like me) and you can mix and match the types you use, so you will probably never play the same game twice. It is fast to learn and teach, and the gameplay is relatively fast-paced as well, so it’s easy to bring to the table with your veteran gamers or newer gamers alike. I love this game as a good filler game between bigger/longer games – it’s light and fast but will still get your brain working as you try to parse out the best strategy. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a haunted 9 / 12. Grab your flashlight and prepare to be spooked!