I love a good jump scare as much as the next player, but let's be honest, all that frantic running from a serial killer is exhausting. Tis the season for blankets, hot cider and the smell of cinnamon. Why stress about a haunted house when you can relax with friends?
If you're ready to embrace the perfect combination of creepy aesthetics and real comfort, these are the board games you need to trade in for a copy of Betrayal at House on the Hill with permanent liability.
A mystery
The definitive Ouija board meeting
This is the co-op game to end all co-op games, and it absolutely taints the ghost story atmosphere. One player is a silent spirit who tries to communicate clues to mediums (other players) using abstract, beautiful dream cards. The setting looks like a Victorian séance, complete with a crystal ball and all these cool, surreal vision cards that make you feel like you're actually communicating with the great beyond.
While the theme is spectral, the gameplay is pure, low deduction. The biggest stress is trying to figure out how the floating kettle card is supposed to mean “the butler in the library did it”.
Everdell
A forest creature city builder
If you could fulfill the aesthetic of an autumn day in a fantastical forest, it would be Everdell. You collect raw materials and place workers, build a city of small forest animals. The cards are absolutely gorgeous, with illustrations that belong framed on a cottage wall.
It's a resource management game, but it's so damn charming you won't even notice the mechanical grinding. Sure, the competition is real, but when you look down at your cute squirrel civilization, you're just glad you're there.
Funky
Fight classic movie monsters
This game is a love letter to the classic Universal Monsters and you and your friends work together to defeat them. Each monster has a unique, themed way to be defeated (eg you have to collect items to bring Frankenstein's monster to his senses).
It's co-op, so you're never actually against your friends, and it's a great puzzle game. It delivers the perfect amount of creepy without actually being scary. It's light enough that a new player can pick it up quickly, but challenging enough that you'll feel like a certified monster hunter when you finally take out the Wolfman.
Betrayal in the House on the Hill
Build your own haunted house
Betrayal is a classic, the gold standard for “spooky but not scary” nights. You and your friends explore the haunted tiled mansion, room by room, until an event is triggered and one of you suddenly turns into a villain.
But the rules for individual Haunts are sometimes a total mess. I spent more time looking for explanations online than actually playing the last half of the game, a mechanical flaw of the highest order. However, the sheer joy of exploring the house and exclaiming “I found the Oubliette!” is unmatched.
Takenoko
The Taming of the Panda
Okay, this one has nothing to do with the spooky season, but sometimes you just need to cleanse your palate with pure aesthetic bliss. You are an imperial gardener tending a bamboo bed and trying to keep a cute hungry panda happy.
The pieces are colorful, the mini-panda is adorable, and the game is basically a low-conflict, goal-oriented game. It's the gaming equivalent of a warm hug. When it gets too dark, the antidote is Takenoko. It's an essential, non-spooky inclusion that proves Cozy Season is just as important as Spooky Season.
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
An engaging, Lovecraftian mystery
This is my definitive recommendation for a two player deep dive on a rainy night. You play as investigators trying to solve terrifying mysteries in the Lovecraftian world of New England. It's a living card game, meaning you can build your deck and play entire story-driven campaigns that feel like actual chapters in a book.
The learning curve is steep and setup time can be a barrier. You spend a night or two just learning the rhythm of madness.
Mysterious park
A simplified ghost hunting experience
If the original Mysterium sounds like too much of a fight, pick up its smaller, punchier sibling. This version keeps the core mechanics but cuts all the fat. It takes place in an abandoned carnival, which honestly enhances the inherent creepiness.
It's faster, more direct and easier to pack. It removes the overly complicated board from the original and gives you a tight, repeatable social deduction puzzle. It's a great interlude, perfect for a mid-week slump when you only have 30 minutes to play, not an entire evening.
The Quacks of Quendlinburg
Push-Your-Luck potion crafting potion
This is a bag building game where you compete against quack doctors who brew potions with crazy ingredients. You blindly pull ingredient tokens from your bag, trying to get the highest score possible without your potion exploding and burning your reputation.
The witch theme is there, but the stress comes from the gambling element, not any real horror. It's an easy-to-learn, gritty good time that turns “creepy” into “silly.”
Patchwork
An intimate quilt making puzzle for two players
Sometimes “cozy” means “just the two of us.” Patchwork is a great abstract tiling game for two players, competing to create the most complete button quilt.
Zero ghosts. Zero monsters. All you get is a quiet, intense spatial puzzle. It's a simple game, but the tension of capturing the perfect patch before your partner does is surprisingly high. It's the ultimate relaxing game because it forces you to focus on the puzzle in front of you and forget about the real world.
Calico
Cats + blankets
If the patchwork is too simple, intensify it with Calico. You're not just making a quilt here; you try to attract the most adorable cats to sleep on it by placing the tiles of colors and patterns just right. It's a beautiful, gentle, tile puzzle.
The difficulty curve is a tricky ongoing liability. Although the rules are simple, achieving all three cat-attracting objectives while completing your pattern's objectives is harder than defeating most final bosses.
