Betrayal at House on the Hill spins out into a standalone card game

Spooky cooperative board game Betrayal at House on the Hill will trade room tiles for embossed cards in the upcoming standalone spinoff, Betrayal Deck of Lost Souls.

Publisher Avalon Hill Games revealed the much smaller box of spooks on the company’s twitter account last week, explaining that more information would be released in February ahead of a full launch sometime in March.

Details are admittedly slim - Avalon Hill described Betrayal Deck of Lost Souls (will there be a colon somewhere in the title?) as a “cursed deck of cards” and a “speedrun of terror and chaos” condensed down into something that fits into a backpack or pocket.

Deck of Lost Souls might play like a quick and lightweight version of Betrayal at House on the Hill, where players explore a labyrinthine mansion and pick up clues, omen and items until one of their number is transformed into a traitor by supernatural forces. Now in its third edition, Betrayal is a favourite amongst cooperative board game fans and those who like thrills alongside their meeples and map tiles.

Box art posted alongside the announcement showed off a foil finished illustration of a gnarled tree, raven and skull in tarot card style, all imagery that definitely fits Betrayal’s spooky vibes. BoardGameGeek forum users first spotted Betrayal Deck of Lost Souls as a pre-purchase listing by Canadian tabletop retailer 401games, alongside something called the Pennywise Papers.

Users guessed that both would be eventual expansions for the game, so at least one of those mysteries is now solved. A werewolf-themed expansion called Werewolf’s Journey: Blood on the Moon launched in 2022, but Hasbro-owned Avalon Hill has been fairly quiet on the Betrayal front, of late. Perhaps Deck of Lost Souls marks a fresh era of haunts for the popular board game series.