Today we are going to be taking a look at the best known and most popular of the VCR board games: Nightmare, or Atmosfear as it was called outside of America, Australia and New Zealand. While I have been a fan of VCR games my whole life, this one managed to evade me until last year; that's quite surprising considering its popularity and cult status in the board gaming world. As fate would have it, about a month after I started looking into the game, my brother gave me a copy without knowing that I had started to form an interest in it! How's that for serendipitous circumstance? In any case, I now had a copy of the game to play... but my journey down "the black hole" had only just begun...
The game was created in 1991 by Australia-based A Couple of Cowboys (Philip Tanner & Brett Clements). It ended up spawning three sequels in the form of expansions, a revamped version with a sequel/expansion of its own, a video game version, a card game, a music video, and a DVD revamp with yet another sequel to that. The games are infamous for their difficulty due to unbalanced game-play and for the performance of the actors - mostly just mispronounced words.
The series has developed a world of its own throughout the years and sequels. Each of the characters have been fleshed out and the world of "The Other Side" has become more colorful. There was even a movie in the works at one point that ultimately fell through.
Nightmare is a very fun and immersive game which, when played correctly, can make for an excellent Halloween party experience. As the instructions suggest: "NIGHTMARE is best played at night. Dim the lights or design your own eerie ATMOSFEAR. The volume on your TV set MUST be turned up as loud as possible to maximize the game play."
Let's take an in-depth look at the video board game: Nightmare!
Nightmare: The Video Board Game
Nightmare combines a standard board game with a VHS tape that plays as you play the game. Up to six players would race the tape to win the game before the 60-min video ended. Prior to the game's start, players would write their worst fear on the back of one of the Nightmare cards with a grease pencil included with the game (this is so it could be wiped off for re-use). Players then put all of the playing pieces and number tokens into the included bag and take turns picking a piece and number token. That would be their character and number for the game. Each of the characters (except one: Hellin) are based on popular mythical creatures/legends: (click on a plaque to learn more)
These characters (referred to as "The Harbingers" in later versions), are described in the mythos as so:
These creatures represent the things that we fear the most, are the stuff of our nightmares, and each has a name and a history so frightening that they have been isolated and imprisoned in their own separate terror-tories. Barred from the corporeal world, the Vampire, Witch, Werewolf, Zombie, Mummy and Poltergeist, must wait, impatiently, for a chance to escape their bad-tempered warden, and return to this earthly dimension to once again wreak havoc on us mortals.
I was impressed right away when I opened the box. The board has the logo screened onto it in
silver so right when you open the box it's the first thing you see. Underneath it and the instruction sheet is a tray with slots for everything. The first thing I was drawn to was the bag included with the logo screened onto it in silver. The keys are printed on thick cardboard, and I mean thick, which is nice since you can't play the game without them. Most games that have cardboard pieces use half the thickness of these. As far as the presentation and packaging go, I have to give this a 5/5. They really took extra steps to raise the bar of expectation before you even start to play. I think, however, that this hurts the game in the long run as you will soon see.
The game board is a representation of a graveyard. There are spots for the card decks as well as starting spaces for each player. There are also two "Black Hole" spaces in which players can become trapped until released. The nightmare cards are placed in the center and players move clockwise around the outer track. The goal is to collect all of your character's keys (given out by the Gatekeeper or by cards) and make it to the center of the board by exact roll. You then draw the top nightmare card and read it out loud. If it is the nightmare you wrote at the start of the game, you lose. If it is another player's nightmare, you win!
The game is hosted by The Gatekeeper: master of "The Other Side" who is intent on making your attempt to win a difficult one. He pops in throughout the video with a loud thunder clap, screaming at the players calling them "maggots", and when he does the player currently taking their turn must stop and say, "Yes, my Gatekeeper!" Failing to do so will bring penalties, which is the least of your troubles. He will also give out keys, throw players into "The Black Hole", and totally fuck up your turn. Over the course of the video, his appearance changes, becoming more dark and sinister. He is described as "... the guardian of the graveyard, [and] can manifest himself at any time, in any form - although he prefers his comfortable, tattered, old shroud. He is ugly, cranky and mean spirited; but with good reason. As sentinel of The Other Side, The Gatekeeper’s determined duty is to keep six creatures of doom imprisoned beneath a crypt."
Seems simple, right? Well if you've played this game you're probably shaking your head right about now. Here's where it all goes to shit. The way to advance in this game is to collect Time, Fate, and Chance cards. Normally collecting cards in a game is no big deal, but in Nightmare it is made difficult by the Gatekeeper interfering with the flow of game-play and the fact that some spaces only let you take a card or an extra turn if you are an exact character AND number. It is further complicated by the cards themselves as they are often unbalanced and demand highly improbable dice rolls. There are many times where you have to roll a 6 on a single die to play again. This is problematic in a game where you are racing against the clock to win.
The Time cards allow you to perform specific actions at the time listed in the card. Sometimes it will let you screw over another player or perform a task to win a key. The problem is, these are time specific and most of the time you will pull a card that has already past - particularly toward the end of the game. So these can be great if you get them in the beginning but they become more and more useless as the game goes on.
Don't let the commercial fool you. Time cards NEVER get this reaction...
...unless you draw this one right at 59:59...
Fate cards are almost the same as Time cards except they are not tied to a specific time on the video. Instead, they tend to target specific characters that can use them. This means that unless the card applies to the character you are playing, its worthless to you. Some cards target not only a specific player, but also a specific condition (such as a player landing on your gravestone). So, not only would that card have to apply to your character in order for you to use it, but an opponent would need to land on that exact space as well.
Chance cards are pretty much the same nonsense as the Time and Fate cards. They are only useful if you are the correct character and are a specific number. The shitty part is this is the primary way of getting keys. If you are the character named on the card AND you are the player number listed then you get to toss the coin for a chance to take a key... That's right: you already have a 1:36 chance of drawing a card that you can actually use and that only gets you a 50/50 chance at getting a key. Not only that, Chance cards also can be a half of a key. Collect both halves and you get the key. BUT... this is Nightmare and NOTHING it that easy in Nightmare. There are ten top halves of the key in the Chance deck BUT ONLY ONE BOTTOM HALF.
All things considered, this is a REALLY fun game to play with a close group of friends. If you do as they suggest by turning down the lights and cranking up the volume, it makes the game a lot of fun. Even when you are expecting the loud thunder claps it still jerks you out of your seat since you're trying to focus on the game board. Unbalanced as it may be, it was made to be a party game. You'll so much fun trying to screw your friends over and win challenges that you'll hardly notice how unfair the game is. A complete copy will run you anywhere from $40-$60 on eBay depending on condition and shipping charges; not bad for a game of this cult status. The only real issue I have is the replay value. After you play the first time, the game doesn't offer very much that's new. It is pretty much the same each time you play. After a while, if you play frequently enough, you'll know what time indexes the Gatekeeper pops in at which makes it all that less fun. It is best played once a year around Halloween. Still, I would recommend this game if you are into VCR games and have Halloween parties every year with your closest friends.
But wait! What's this??!!
Stay tuned, maggots! I'll be reviewing the entire Nightmare/Atmosfear series!