Ok, write down your personal nightmare. Got it? Ok, good cause you better hope you don't draw it out of the center of the board if you wish to win.

And that's the basic premise of Nightmare.

Nightmare is a highly enjoyable video boardgame that's great to play around Halloween. Between 3-6 players are required. Select a tombstone to get the character you play (place them in a bag and each player takes a turn pulling them out) then a number to determine the order you'll each play in. Then write down your fear or nightmare on the card provided. These get shuffled and placed in the middle of the board. Once everything is ready you begin play, each taking turns in an attempt to collect the keys you'll require to reach the middle of the board. Watch out for fate cards as they may help or harm you, especially in your opponents hands. Once there, you pull the top Nightmare card. If it's not yours, then stop the tape and you win.

Wait, stop the tape? Ah, did I leave out the little twists in this game? That's right, the twists. Because it's not just 2-5 other players each player is worrying about. You're also racing the clock as it counts down from 60 minutes. And because of the clock you're also going to collect time cards. This makes things a little more challenging as the cards can only be activated at certain times so you gotta watch the clock. Time cards, just like fate cards, can help or hender you.

And then there's the biggest twist of all, there is actually 4-7 players. Though there are only 3-6 players, the extra player is the Gatekeeper, the host of Nightmare. The Gatekeeper can be a sadistic host or a kindly one. If time reaches zero without any winners, then he wins. Watchout for his appearances on the screen, he wants your attention and play may stop when he appears although the clock keeps going. If he stops play then it's usually because of some task he has going. It could be pointless or it could help you and harm others.

Even more intresting is that the Gatekeeper slowly changes as time progresses. It's intresting to see his visage become more and more gruesome as you go.

Nightmare is not a game to be played during the day. It's best played with the lights on low and the volume turned up. And as stated, it's a great Halloween game. This is in part due to the fact that you can have a themed Nightmare party. Rather than pick a tombstone at random, send players what their characters are or discuss it with them ahead of the party. Then all of you come to the party dressed as your character.

OK, I am used to the stuff from way back then, but before I had played Atmosfear Interactive Board Game with DVD, my friends had me play this with them one day.

Now let me go through all the stats:


GATEKEEPER: 3/10: Is he supposed to be scary? Because he is the exact opposite. The Gatekeeper is played by some actor who has the most annoying "creepy" voice ever. Whenever he yells "Stop!" He yells it like "Stooooooooaaaaahhhhllllllaugggggghp!", which is NOT scary. Maybe if he yelled "STOP!" really fast like in AtmosFEAR, it would be scarier.

TIME DURATION: 4/10: An hour is way too long and gets boring real fast. Not that I'm some kid with ADHD, but there's no real emotion or fun in it until the Gatekeeper appears.

MINI-GAMES, ETC.: 1/10: There is only one, and one worth mentioning: The Staring contest. It does have challenge, especially with it being video.

SCARE FACTOR: 0/10: Nope.

GATEKEEPER'S COMMENTS: 5/10: Could be improved, his insults are unoriginal but he does have SOME funny quotes. I hate how he says "I releeeaase you...from the black hole" when he releases someone:

OVERALL: 3/10

So if you want true scare, play AtmosFEAR. Otherwise, play this game of bores.

This is a really fun game for all ages. 2 to 6 players can play, but I think it works best with 4. You set up the board, then start playing the tape in the VCR (yes, the VHS tape; households did not have DVD players yet when this game came out). Crank the volume ALL THE WAY UP (those are the instructions!), dim the room lights, and play. The game can go on no later than the length of the tape, which is one hour.

Through most of the game play, you just make your way around the board, trying to collect six different keys. Most of the time the tape just shows a clock ticking away. But then every once in a while you'll hear thunder and the narrator yell "STOP!" as he appears on the screen. When that happens, you do whatever he says on the screen. The effect changes from play to play, as he might say something like "Whoever is closest to [some place on the board], move ahead 4 spaces...". There's also an area on the board that acts like the "Jail" space on monopoly, and once in a while the narrator will "release" whoever is in there at the time.

Along the way there are cards you can choose ("Time", "Fate", "Chance") that make the game play more interesting. For example, a card might say something like "At 26:03, try to scare the player to your left. If you succeed, then [receive some kind of bonus]".

I mentioned that you have to turn the volume on the TV all the way up. The reason you do this is because the audio actually starts off extrememly soft, so at first the sounds are heard at a normal volume. But then as the game goes on, things get louder and louder. Near the very end of the game, things get really chaotic, but it has a great effect.

My only complains about this game are
1) The tape has to be in good condition. At some point my friends couldn't play the game any more because the tape had become worn out. If the game didn't depend so much on the audio level, this wouldn't have been too much of a problem. But sound recorded at a very low volume is usually the first thing to go on a worn-out VHS tape.
2) The game gets really hard to follow as you get within the last few minutes. It's REALLY fast-paced near the end. If you're playing with anybody having an IQ under 100, they won't be able to keep track of things. Though it is all part of the fun.

If you ever get a hold of this game, I'd highly recommend making a dub of the VHS tape and using that copy, so that if it ever wears out you can just make a new copy from the original. Or even better, transfer the video to your hard drive and burn a DVD-R of it. All the more reason why they should release a DVD version!

I have this game and have played it several times. We always have a blast laughing at ourselves as we tangle with the "GateKeeper". Yes, it is a little dated as the VHS version is not thoroughly interactive, but it's fun just the same if you get together with some fun loving people.