Overview

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a semi-cooperative exploration and horror game. Players explore a haunted house by laying room tiles, discovering items, omens, and events as they go. At some point during exploration, an omen card triggers the “haunt,” and one explorer becomes a traitor. The game then becomes a battle between the traitor (with possible monster allies) and the remaining heroes. There are 50 unique haunt scenarios, each with different objectives and win conditions.

Components

• 1 rulebook
• 2 haunt books (Traitor’s Tome and Secrets of Survival)
• 44 room tiles
• 1 Entrance Hall tile (3 rooms: Entrance Hall, Foyer, Grand Staircase)
• 6 plastic character figures
• 6 two-sided character cards (12 total explorers)
• 30 plastic clips (for tracking traits)
• 8 dice (custom: 0, 1, or 2 per die)
• 1 Turn/Damage Track
• 13 omen cards
• 22 item cards
• 45 event cards
• 291 tokens (monster tokens, event/room tokens, item tokens, trait roll tokens)

Setup

1. Set aside the Traitor’s Tome and Secrets of Survival books.
2. Each player chooses a character card (one explorer per side; pick one side).
3. Attach 4 plastic clips to the character card, each pointing to the green starting numbers for Speed, Might, Knowledge, and Sanity.
4. Shuffle and place omen, item, and event card decks face-down.
5. Place the Basement Landing, Entrance Hall/Foyer/Grand Staircase, and Upper Landing tiles from left to right.
6. Shuffle remaining room tiles face-down in a stack.
7. Place all explorer figures in the Entrance Hall.
8. The explorer with the nearest upcoming birthday goes first; play proceeds clockwise.

Turn Structure

On your turn, you may do the following actions in any order:

1. Move up to your current Speed in spaces.
2. Discover new rooms by entering empty doorways.
3. Use items or omen cards (once each per turn).
4. Attempt die rolls as required.
5. Attack (once per turn, only after the haunt starts).

After drawing an omen card, you must make a haunt roll at the end of your turn.

Actions

Moving

• Move up to a number of spaces equal to your current Speed.
• When you draw a card (from discovering a room), you must stop moving for the rest of your turn.

Discovering Rooms

• When entering an empty doorway, draw the top room tile.
• If the tile matches your current floor (ground, basement, upper), place it connecting to the doorway.
• If it doesn’t match, discard it and keep drawing until you find a matching tile.
• Rooms with card symbols require you to draw the appropriate card.

Drawing Cards

• Event (spiral symbol): Read aloud, follow instructions, discard unless ongoing.
• Item (bull’s head symbol): Read aloud, keep face-up. Use once per turn.
• Omen (raven symbol): Read aloud, keep face-up. Make a haunt roll at end of turn.

Using Items

• Use each item once per turn.
• Give items to explorers in the same room (both agree).
• Drop items (place Item Pile token in room).
• Pick up items from a pile.
• Companions (Dog, Girl, Madman) follow their explorer and cannot be traded.

Making a Haunt Roll

• Roll 6 dice at the end of any turn where you drew an omen card.
• If the total is less than the number of omen cards that have been drawn by all players, the haunt begins.
• If equal to or greater, no haunt occurs yet.

Attacking (After Haunt)

• Attack once per turn against an opponent in the same room.
• Both sides roll dice: attacker rolls Might dice; defender rolls Might dice (or as specified by the haunt).
• If attacker’s total > defender’s: defender takes physical damage equal to the difference.
• If defender’s total >= attacker’s: no damage.
• Physical damage: Defender chooses to reduce Speed or Might.
• Mental damage: Defender chooses to reduce Knowledge or Sanity.
• If any trait reaches the skull symbol, the explorer dies.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

• After the haunt begins, consult the haunt chart to determine which haunt scenario plays out and who becomes the traitor.
• The traitor reads their scenario in the Traitor’s Tome.
• The heroes read their scenario in Secrets of Survival.
• Each side has a unique victory condition specific to the haunt scenario.
• The game ends when one side completes their victory condition.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Special Rooms

• Entrance Hall: Three rooms on one tile (Entrance Hall, Foyer, Grand Staircase). The front door is always locked unless a haunt says otherwise.
• Grand Staircase: Always connects to the Upper Landing.
• Stairs from Basement: Leads to/from the Foyer via a secret door.
• Mystic Elevator: Roll 2 dice when entering; move the elevator to a connecting door on the rolled floor.
• Coal Chute: Moving in and sliding to Basement Landing counts as 1 space. A turn cannot end on the Coal Chute.
• Collapsed Room: Only the discovering explorer must make the Speed roll.

Trait Damage

• Explorers have 4 traits: Speed, Might, Knowledge, Sanity.
• Traits go up and down during the game via cards and events.
• Traits cannot go above the maximum value shown on the character card.
• If any trait reaches the skull symbol, the explorer dies.

After an Explorer Dies

• If a hero dies, the explorer’s items are dropped in their room.
• If the traitor dies, the haunt may end or the traitor’s monsters may continue.

Monster Movement

• Monsters are controlled by the traitor.
• Most monsters move and attack but cannot carry items.
• Monsters are not stopped by room effects that stop explorer movement.

Player Reference

Phase	Before Haunt	After Haunt
Move	Up to Speed spaces	Up to Speed spaces
Discover rooms	Yes	Yes (if applicable)
Draw cards	Yes (triggers haunt roll for omens)	Varies by haunt
Use items	Once per turn each	Once per turn each
Attack	No	Once per turn
Haunt roll	After drawing omen	N/A (haunt already started)

Dice	Values: 0, 1, or 2 per die
Damage	Attacker total - Defender total = damage
Death	Any trait reaches skull symbol

| Haunt Trigger | Roll 6 dice < number of omen cards drawn | |————-|—————————————-|