Board Game Review: Ghostbusters

Who you gonna call? This board game.

I received the Ghostbusters Board Game for my birthday, and I’ve gotta say, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a cooperative game for 1-4 players, is packed with lots of minis, and a pretty straight-forward game mechanic. You play as the four Ghostbusters from the original films, busting ghosts and sealing up portals to the Spirit World.

There are three campaigns within the box, each one with three scenarios. Each scenario is contained on a single card, giving the board setup, the win conditions, and what way this scenario changes the rules to the game.

Players will move around the board, trying to capture ghosts with their proton packs while also moving to seal the open gates on the table. The three basic ghosts are ranked from Class 1 to 3. If a Class 1 ghost ever comes in contact with another Class 1 ghost, they combine into a Class 2 ghost. Same with class 2’s combining into Class 3’s. There’s a side board full of ghosts, The Spirit World, and if ever that board empties through ghosts emerging from the gates, the players lose. After capturing a ghost (Class 1’s require one hit, Class 2’s require 2, etc), players must release them back into the Spirit World by dropping them in the Ecto-1. Players can also drive the Ecto-1 around the board for faster movement, and to move all players together at once.

Ghosts will regularly slime the heroes with ectoplasm, slowing them down by removing actions from them. Cleaning yourself off requires one full turn, while another character can remove one slime from you as an action.

Each character also has their own card, providing special rules for them with further abilities being unlocked as they level up. Levels carry over from game to game, so you can see your characters improve as the campaign progresses.

At the end of every full turn, the ghost die is rolled. If the symbol matches an open portal, you’ll generally release a ghost from the Spirit World out of that portal (again, the rules can change depending on the scenario.) If the symbol matches a portal that has been closed, some other effect takes place, like releasing 3 ghosts through a portal, or causing any ghosts currently held by players in their traps to be released. There is also a chaos symbol, which causes any ghosts within line of sight to go crazy, moving around the board and generally sliming the players.

Each ghost has a difficulty needed to capture them, as well as what happens if you hit or miss them. Class 1 ghosts, for example, will be immediately captured if they’re hit, but will also slime every space surrounding them, so you should be careful to not be too close when you hit them. Class 2’s will race toward you. The difficulty needed to capture them is resolved via a dice roll. I’ve seen players upset because it feels to random, but for me, it really feels like the chaotic mess of an actual ghost busting.

I really enjoy this game. It’s pretty random, but still requires players to work together and problem solve how they can best utilize their actions to fulfill the scenario’s goal. I highly recommend it to any Ghostbusters fans and anyone else looking for a light board game with lots of great miniatures.