It’s time to go deep into the caves as we go explore an abandoned mineshaft and help some crazy monsters build a fun ghost train! So grab your tools, find the best monsters and see if you can coordinate and optimize their tracks as we jump into the game Ghosts Galore!
Ghosts Galore is a tile-laying board game for 2–5 players, designed by Michael Luu with art by Nele Diel, and published by Lookout Games and distributed by Asmodee. It is designed for ages 10 and up and has a playing time of approximately 20 minutes.
Overview
Players build their own ghost train inside an abandoned mineshaft by placing track tiles onto a 3×3 player board. The track tiles contain different types of railway sections as well as monsters and diamond symbols, and each element contributes to scoring in a specific way.
Gameplay
Each player begins with a two-sided player board, an overview card, and a minecart. The player boards contain nine spaces arranged in a 3×3 grid, with tunnel entrances around the edges. The 78 track tiles are shuffled, and each player receives one tile face down as a secret tile. This tile remains hidden during the game and is placed on the final empty space of the player’s board after the eight regular rounds have been completed. The remaining tiles are divided into eight face-down stacks.
Each round uses one of the prepared stacks. Beginning with the first player each person takes turns acquiring one track tile. On a turn, a player can reveal the top tile of the active stack and decide whether to claim that newly revealed tile. If the player wants it, they place their minecart on the tile to claim it. If they do not want the revealed tile, it remains face up beside the stack for another player to potentially claim later. When face-up tiles are available, a player may instead claim one of those tiles that has not already been claimed. A player who reveals a new tile can only claim the tile they just revealed during that action; they cannot reveal a new tile and then select an older face-up tile instead.
Players who have already claimed a tile are skipped for the remainder of that round. The process continues until every player has claimed one tile. When only one player remains without a tile, all remaining tiles in the active stack are revealed, and that player selects one of the available unclaimed face-up tiles.
After claiming a tile, players place it into an empty space on their 3×3 board. The tiles contain different track configurations, including straight sections, turns, double turns, and bridges, along with various monster types and diamond symbols. The track sections must be connected according to the layouts shown on the tiles and the entrances around the player board. Monster symbols occupy particular sections of the track, and their position can affect how they score at the end of the game.
The monsters have different scoring requirements. Diamonds contribute their printed values directly to the player’s score. These scoring categories mean that the monsters, track layouts, and symbols on the tiles all contribute to the final scoring calculation. The completed track also scores according to connections between the entrances around the edge of the player board. Uninterrupted tracks connecting certain matching entrance types provide points based on the number of track sections in the connection. Tracks connecting other entrance types provide a different amount per section, while tracks that do not connect two entrances do not receive these connection points. The final scoring therefore combines monster requirements, diamonds, and the completed railway connections.
After the eighth round, each player places their previously hidden tile into the final open space on their board. Players then calculate their scores using the game’s scoring categories, including the different monster types, diamonds, and track connections. The points from all applicable categories are added together, and the player with the highest total score wins the game!
Impressions:
I love a good tile-laying game and any that give easy to understand gameplay and choices are for me and my playgroup usually. This one had a smooth and easy to follow learning curve and we all enjoyed it as we jumped into gameplay. I was impressed with how family-friendly this game is for everyone at the table.
The game combines drafting and tile placement together, which are two of my favorite types of game mechanics. Building the ghost train with each tile is a fun and easy dynamic but the challenge of getting each of the tiles in the right place definitely made it a fun puzzle to figure out.
The art is cute, the characters are whimsical and fun and give each one its own little personality. I love the design of this one and I think it takes the game theme and keeps it fun and light which makes it a better game for most of the people I play with as opposed to a more scary game.
Overall this is a fun tile game that I will always play if the option is there. I look forward to getting it out in the fall as it just fits the spooky season really well. So grab your friends and head into the mineshaft and see how you do building your very own train at your next game night!
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