What do you look for in a great kid game? 

For us, it’s all about three things:

1. The game must engage our kids so that they want to play long enough to finish it. 
2. It must teach them how game mechanics work in a fun way so they learn and grow in their gaming ability while playing.
3. It has to be enjoyable enough so that we as parents don’t want to run for the hills when our kids bring it to the table. 

If you are looking for a great, dare I say perfect kid game, then Ghost Fighting Treasure Hunters is for you!

This game has it all. First off the table presence is fantastic. This game is just about the cutest, most striking game on our shelf. The components are so inviting. From the friendly looking little ghosts to the spunky kids with the jewel carrying backpacks, (yes! The backpacks actually work!) All you want to do when you see this game is pick up the pieces and play around with them a little bit and everything is perfectly sized so that kids can pick it up and place it around the house as the game demands.

Mechanic wise this game is not lacking. On their turn, players must roll a die, then they resolve the roll by first flipping a card that has a letter corresponding with a room on the board where then they must place a new ghost, then they are able to move their ghost fighting treasure hunter around the house the same number of spaces as the number rolled on the die so they can find treasure and/or manage the haunting situation. Enter a room with a jewel and you can pick it up and place it in your backpack where it’ll stay as you make your way out of the house on your next turn. If a player wants to fight a ghost, they must enter a room where a ghost is and roll a fighting die in an attempt to rid the house of the ghost. 

Strategy wise this game also brings it. Players must work together to explore the house looking for treasure and fighting ghosts. You only win by getting all of the jewels out of the house, but it can’t be all about finding the jewels. Everyone must balance their desire to get the treasure with the need to control the ghost population in the house. There can only be two ghosts in a room at a time, flip a card that tells you you need to add a third ghost to a room and that room becomes a haunt. Haunts require two players to fight and vanquish. If the house becomes too overrun by ghosts and there are no more ghosts or haunts left to be placed in the house the team loses.

I am truly not being hyperbolic when I say this is a pretty much perfect kid game. We have been playing this game with our kids for years now and haven’t gotten sick of it yet. Heck, we have even played it by ourselves without the kids. Why? Well, the game is that fun! Also the creators smartly added an “advanced rules” variant. There are eight jewels numbered 1 – 8 on the bottom. When playing with the advanced rules, you place the jewels in the rooms with the numbers hidden and instead of just picking up a jewel and removing it from the house, you now have to get them all out in numerical order starting with 1. Not only that, but there are cards that make some of the doors lock so that your players can’t enter or exit when the locked doors are in play. All of this adds just enough trickiness to the game to make an experienced ghost fighting treasure hunter stop and think a bit more. Movement is more restricted, jewels take longer to claim, so now working together and managing the haunting becomes even more important.

I love that this game is so easily scaled up in difficulty for kids so that it really makes them stop and think about what their strategy should be without becoming so difficult that they can’t play it anymore. When we play this with our six year old, we use these advanced rules and it is so fun to watch her think through her moves. When our 4 year old son wants to play we simply use the standard rules and everyone still has a great time! What more can you ask for?!

Everyone always talks about great gateway games for adults. Those perfect games to start with that will entice and encourage your adult friends to want to play more of the strategy board games that may not be as flashy or easy to learn but are still just as fun. In our opinion, Ghost Fighting Treasure Hunters is the perfect gateway game for kids, (and heck, maybe some adults too, you never know.) Everything works together so well and the mechanics really are teaching your players to be better gamers and are introducing them to a style of play that you will find in many other games of a more “meatier” variety such as Forbidden Island, Pandemic, or, the truly natural next step Flash Point: Fire Rescue. 

Honestly, if you have never played this game before, we highly recommend that you check this one out! No family board game collection is complete without it!

Board Game Credits
Ghost Fighting Treasure Hunters!
Designer: Brian Yu
Artist: Pierô
Publisher: Mattel

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