One game I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is definitely the favorite of the group: Betrayal at House on the Hill. My group plays a lot of co-op style games, so I can give my impressions on those, for what it's worth. It still takes a great deal of time, but we played through an entire game with 8 people in less than 4 hours at Gencon this past year. That said, I've only played it all the way through three times, and of those times we've never lost (granted, one of them was my wife and I on our initial playthrough and we weren't playing it right, so we were making it too easy unknowingly). So, if you like a game you can win at, play Elder sign.ДЄrkham horror, on the other hand, is much more difficult. The last 10+ games or so, we've even tried to make it harder via randomly picking our adventurers, and it still is too easy. We've never failed to defeat the Old One du jour. The three of us have played it together at least once. NotContinuum and I have probably played 20+ games, I've probably played it 5+ times with my wife.

Unfortunately, when I say easier, I don't mean it's just easy to play, I mean it's easy to win. Elder sign plays significantly faster and easier. And since the objectives are hidden and often neigh-unobtainable by the time both sides figure them out, I recommend having a group that isn't going to mind no clear winner. Generally, I really enjoy the atmosphere and concept, but depending on the scenario you can get punished very hard for not rushing the objectives as fast as possible. The more combat-y scenarios are more fun, but still have their frustrations. The limited toolset and ambigious time limit makes the haunted houses a bit frustrating IMO.

The scenarios seemed (roughly speaking) to break down into either 'haunted house' scenarios or 'fighty' scenarios. I need to give it some more time (and maybe try being the gamekeeper instead of some of the adventurers) but I often found it a little bit frustrating. I really like the concept, but I'm personally lukewarm about it. I played a 4 player game last week with an experienced group (and no expansions, which also helps) and we held off Yog Sothoth in about 90 minutes, including setup and breakdown.ДЄs for myself, I'm way behind the curve on classics- while I own Dominion, Arkham Horror, and a few others, I don't own Settlers of Catan or Carcassone.Д®DIT: Re: Mansions of Madness. While it does take a relatively long time, after a few games, you'll play much quicker.

I haven't played Elder Sign yet- I expect Delor will be checking in with this thread shortly to share his words of wisdom- but I personally highly recommend Arkham Horror, and it might not be as daunting time-wise as you might think. but we don't have 8 hours of game time at a shot, so Elder Sign it is) Elder Sign (torn between this and Arkham Horror.

Daedalus gloomhaven organizer