The 7th Guest: The Board Game Review - with Tom Vasel

[@3MBG]

I guess it serves one purpose. So the power is out, it's deep winter, you are cold, and the fire is running low. You have to burn a game to keep warm. Now you don't have to worry about the decision of what one to burn first.

[@williamgarcia-medina9989]

3 Minute Board Games lol

[@HullzOSRS]

I can give a bit of insight behind the scenes of this catastrophic failure. I was part of the 5-man puzzle team, if you can call it that. We literally shared a Google Sheet where we'd dump ideas for cryptic puzzles and riddles and be given a yay or nay right there and then and that was the entirety of the process. If it was given a yay, it was put onto a card with a related picture grabbed from online and that was that, it would be printed. Also, don't ask me how they got around copyright, this was something I raised at the time and it fell on deaf ears. They straight up just went ahead and used images from films and copyrighted imagery from the internet. I shit you not, they were rated by originality and thematic quality (basically how spooky they were). I'm somewhat satisfied to say all of mine were original puzzles, as bland as they all were in general, but some were definitely just ripped off from classic puzzles. This wasn't discouraged and people were paid hansomedly for changing a few words. The overall approach was laziness and that shines through this monstrosity. I should add at this point none of us knew how the fuck the game worked, that was up to Rob and his assistants. We were just told to populate a spreadsheet with puzzles. The disconnect between the puzzles and the core game mechanics was obvious but we weren't able to voice any concerns about the overall game. We just had to sit on that spreadsheet and submit work. For me personally at the time, it was an opportunity to work with Rob directly so I couldn't pass it up. I'd just finished university and they paid well for the level of work involved too but man it was a graveyard creatively where charisma went to die. I don't regret taking the opportunity, but it's not a project I shout about. The team were also promised a copy of the game, which I never received. A blessing in disguise. Apologies to anyone who ended up buying this shit, it could've been so much more.

[@Sputnik34]

holy fuck

[@evansj18]

"Every time we play this game we laugh, laugh, laugh!" - Tom Vasel box quote

[@dessaaldred4836]

I love that on the corner of the box they put 1st edition as if there will be multiple editions of this game. lol

[@DanceSchoolification]

Oh man, I played this game with Tom at the retreat. I was so excited to play since I loved the 7th guest computer game but it was so bad we were all cracking up XD YES I completely agree with the MST3K idea

[@keel1701]

I still think this needs a live play. I can't truly grasp how this would play out.

[@gageparker]

Don't leave us hanging, are you putting it on your shelf or not?

[@TowerHyena]

The moment Tom said "Depending on how long you want to torture yourself" I knew how this review was going to end.

[@tbspaceship]

I'm only watching this review because I remember that Tom and Zee were laughing at how bad this game was in their top 10 gaming moments of the year video

[@MrJenssen]

Same!

[@d.aardent9382]

I watched this because Tom was just talking about a expansion for this game on one of the new Crowdfunding discussions vids. Sam and Zee had some remarks about how much Tom liked the base and that they were wondering why the game makers didn't have the review vid link on the Kickstarter page. Lol Now I see why all the sarcasm, I just couldn't wait to see how messed up it had to be for a rejection. Why would they waste time making a expansion? Lol Go check out the crowdfunding show they just did and see the segment.(I think it was a couple days ago)

[@randomjunk1977]

Clue 1: "The dashes represent missing letters" Oh my...

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

Yes... if that is a hint, then I fear the rulebook has things like "to roll the die, you put it in your hand, shake it about a bit, then toss it lightly onto the table."

[@Tomáš_Nithrania]

@@TorIverWilhelmsen and yet, some people dont know how to roll dice properly. So I would not be surprised.

[@hoodaguy]

You can tell they ran out of ideas with that one.

[@basieellington6493]

@@Tomáš_Nithrania the creators of this game for instance...

[@randym5824]

Any mechanism removed from this game would improve it, until there was nothing left.

[@joshlamar9319]

I backed this because the 7th Guest was probably my favorite PC game ever. That is ONE of the two things this game has going for it, and the nostalgia is probably the best aspect. The puzzles and trivia are silly, but fun. And as a fan of horror in general, it makes for some fun times. Two of us took a while to get through the short game of 5 cards, but it was silly and fun. Yes, I will house rule the crap out of this game to make it better. I agree with Tom that the movement is silly (though, if like me, you do know how to get to all the rooms from the PC game, you don't have to read the small letters) and the components are horrifically awful. I wish the designer took the 7th Guest-ness of the 7th Guest and really amped it up more. The destination cards could be full bleed to show more of the details of the locations. I want to immerse myself in the nostalgia of the game, not wish the photos were bigger.

[@BassForever]

I can’t believe this is a real game someone released in 2018/9

[@hanng1242]

"Remember when we played Clue but thought it was too good of a game? Well, let's fix that."

[@mr.business5370]

I think the size of the hammer/gavel is now a new rating for how good or bad the game is. Thanks, tom for helping me to avoid a boardgame landmine

[@MichaelB-jw5po]

I remember seeing that "DEADFACE" music riddle in a choose your own adventure Goosebumps book when I was kid, without the emoji of course.

[@TheTrienco]

Oh.. that's the player board. The whole time I thought "why didn't you punch out the room tiles". Glad nostalgia alone wasn't enough to make me back this.

[@junction34]

Right when I saw it was roll and move my expectations plummeted.

[@ko9]

@4:32 While the legs are definitely a clue, there's also zero snakes because otherwise a snake would've eaten those animals ;-)

[@Traumtheater0]

Should I wait for the 2nd edition then ? ;-)

[@TheErnieforss]

There is a 7th guest board game?! Wow. Can we get a phantasmagoria next?

[@godofzombi]

Now I want to see a playtrough of this.

[@vonwoolf9963]

"Dice tower judgement : SO BAD IT'S BAD !! " Ouch.

[@TheRetroViking]

That maze .... it's 20 something years later and i'm still stuck in it

[@tristramcox4615]

Never managed it without a walkthrough

[@easyqueenie]

@@tristramcox4615 There was a map in the pattern of a rug somewhere else in the house. I almost cried when I figured that out back in the day! I remember drawing it out on paper so I could follow it. :D

[@alexandrelaguna2725]

Feeling lonely?!

[@ironwolf56]

Just throwing this out there: I would 100% kickstart fund an MST3k style thing where Tom, Sam and Zee watch things like play sessions of bad board games and give funny commentary.

[@2401Jem1980]

I hope you guys will play this on some Maranthon :D "Everyone is a winner when this game is over" - Tom Vasel

[@ChrisOkelberry]

Thanks so much for the review Tom. I enjoyed 7th Guest as a kid and almost backed the Kickstarter just for nostalgia but couldn't justify it at the time. This week they put the game on Amazon and had a special half off code available to subscribers...I have it in my cart but decided to come check out some reviews first to get a feel for gameplay and components. I'm glad I did. Even at 50% off (plus existing credit on my Amazon account), I can't justify the cost for this thing. Maybe I'll consider it again if it gets to bargain basement pricing so that it's comparable to the other roll-and-move games I can get at Walmart. But at current pricing, I can't pay that kind of money for this kind of game. I'm all for supporting them as a brand, but if it's by purchasing something, I want that product to at least be a good representation and a worthwhile product. This seems like a bit of an embarrassment...even if it evokes some of the feel/theme of the video game, the production and entertainment value just seem too shallow to warrant investing. Sad.

[@XRay44]

When I first saw the Kickstarter, I thought "huh... this looks like MindTrap with a board." Now, it looks like that would have been a best case scenario situation. The puzzles in MindTrap are infinitely more clever and thought-provoking. This just looks horrible.

[@keel1701]

Okay new plan now - someone NEEDS to make a MST3K-style board game series.

[@seanmobley2610]

Check out the Flip the Table podcast, which was part of the Dice Tower Podcast Network for many years before they wrapped up their run.

[@Coastercinder]

“Depending on how long you want to torture yourself”. I already lost it at 1 minute and 20 seconds. 😂

[@jumpyg1258]

This should have got the Dice Tower Seal of Awfulness.

[@RetroMaticGamer]

THROW IT OFF THE ROOF, TOM!

[@YouNeekish]

Obviously we need a Dice Tower "Bad Games" playthrough of this game!!! :-) (do a MS3K playthrough)

[@camillelambert5474]

Damn that's a great idea!

[@sparetomato]

I must confess: when this came on Kickstarter, I backed it, on one of the higher levels. I loved T7G back in the day, and although the game ending was a bit hokey, I loved it nontheless. During the KS I started to realise how bad it was going to be, and I have no regrets about backing out. 3 years later while randomly browsing KZbin I find my concerns vindicated. While I don't always agree with The Dice Tower, in this case Tom appears to be spot on.

[@Nemspy]

I can't believe there's a KS up and running now for an expansion and that it's actually doing well....

[@Shot007]

Tom really put the hammer down on that one.

[@emilyz4104]

Redeeming qualities: neat box art, makes other games seem better by comparison, great for passive-aggressively convincing that one unpleasant guy not to keep coming back for board game night. Props to that game board for managing to orient words in two different directions so that no matter what, some of the words are upside down for every player (but it's not symmetrical, though), ensuring maximum tackiness. Also, asking random action movie trivia is almost artful in its ability to ruin the atmosphere of a 7th Guest game.

[@ripwolfe]

"Life give you choices" -- like not purchasing this game.

[@Blackrose459]

So..........I am getting just a faint vibe that you may not be all that fond of this game. I mean I could be wrong, but I am pretty intuitive 🤣😂🤣

[@pernellvaughan8535]

This made for one glorious board game roast. Well done, Tom!

[@theearlyresetband]

I revisit this review time to time for a chuckle

[@bloodrunsclear]

You can tell early sometimes when Tom likes or doesn’t like a game!

[@dddmmm21]

Oh my... I backed this...

[@ThielComedy]

Maybe they'll forget to ship it.

[@iveo83]

I'm sorry... try and unload it before everyone sees this review lol

[@dddmmm21]

@@iveo83 It hasnt delivered yet! hehe...

[@williamgarcia-medina9989]

DTM lol

[@solidmasterdante]

Yo this outro music is pretty sick though. What a jam.

[@Robin-ve7ck]

I almost backed it too! Phew

[@Andromedax01]

I wanted to pledge for it, I LOVE 7th guest and I want to support Trilobyte after the kickstarter for the third game of the series didnt reach it's goal. But the rules looked soooo bad. I couldnt do it. No matter how much I wanted the guests and Stauf minis.

[@eaglesight333]

Same.

[@crax83]

I did back it. You win some, you lose some. Will probably see if my friends and i can house rule the shit or if this game and make it, at least somewhat, playable.

[@godofzombi]

Tom, You really should do a MST3K riffing bad board games episode.

[@Zigadeezac]

It's a little like Root, minus the charm, quality design, good gaming mechanisms, . . . . . . and fun.

[@art8969]

Came here because I saw the new KickStarter campaign. Thanks Tom for saving me $100!!!

[@CosmicTavern]

They made a 7th Guest game, wow! This review made me laugh a lot.

[@Kindlesmith70]

2:34 I read Die Hard the moment you showed the card (after I saw the word Dead :D ). I didn't even read anything else. edit, wow that was a pretty crappy clue on the back of it

[@TheGameBoyGeeks]

You and I are on the same page on this one Tom! I loved the computer game, but sadly this didn't do it justice.

[@LookWhosBlogging]

Do you have a review coming out on this, Dan?

[@TheGameBoyGeeks]

@@LookWhosBlogging Not anytime soon as I tend to spend time on things I'm excited about.

[@mikeem09]

#1 Redeeming quality: This game would make great kindling....except for the plastic pieces of course.

[@SuperMenace11]

Actually thought Tom was gonna hit it twice with the Mallet and only watched it to listen how much he was going to dislike it . Ha Ha

[@ultramegamighty]

I hadn't even heard of this game until today. I really like the game series, and almost pulled the "shut up and take my money" thing, but decided to look up a review first. Thanks for saving me some cash. The 7th Guest is a few things, but a boring looking trivia and brain teaser game isn't one of them. If this had been a decent translation of the ACTUAL game, I could see getting behind it. First, screw the "ghost" piece entirely. Second, replace all the "puzzler" cards with some actual decent puzzles similar to what you might experience in the game. I know that would be more difficult to pull off, but I'm sure SOMETHING could be rigged up. Then, give the players 2 main ways to play, either the most number of puzzles completed (which would likely be faster), or have one player control the actual 7th Guest, Tad. First play type would just be going around the house and trying to solve more puzzles than the other players. Other rules would be involved, but not much more than that. Doesn't need to be complicated. The puzzles are there for that. Second play type would have the players still solving puzzles, but also hunting for Tad. The goal for that game would be to bring Tad to the room at the top. And hell, leave in the mystery spell cards. Make them more interesting, maybe, but leave them in, just for fun. I think THAT kind of game would've been worth the money. As it stands... maybe hit that thing with the hammer again.

[@ScrewtopReviews]

"I'm sure there are a tremendous amount of movie that start with the word Doe."

[@RuleBritannia1987]

But is it worse than Oneupmanship?

[@johna6108]

I'm sure there are 713 backers that will defend this....

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

At least there's a lot of them so they won't be feeling... lonely?

[@aaronbishop7752]

One of them just wants to know how Tom has his copy and they don't have theirs yet. XD

[@alexandrelaguna2725]

@@dapperghastmeowregard uh, I see what you did there ;)

[@RhinoBarbarian]

The plastic character minis look to be a decent quality. Does that count as a redeeming factor?

[@dant2933]

Playtime is 1-5 hours...

You need to do a "Bottom 10 games" list

[@danielhooper152]

"Depending on how long you want to torture yourself..." When you're hearing THAT barely a minute into the video, you know it's gonna be bad...

[@MichaelButlerC]

Can I expect this at dice tower con west?

[@zircon7634]

Use it for scraps 😂 They look like decent player pieces

[@toddwalden8533]

They should be ashamed for this terrible cash grab... and for the record, the quality of this game was obvious from the very start of the Kickstarter. They delivered exactly what they said they would. I can't believe this made its funding.

[@boardgameknight2791]

The MST3K bit made me laugh. :)

[@Mark-jagger]

If EVER a game deserved to be thrown off a roof it would be this one......

[@DrMcFly28]

Shy Tom, you seem to have had a slyly spryly tryst with the wrong game.

[@Sweetestsadist]

He should've just reviewed Mansions of Madness. It would be more accurate to the video's title.

[@odsonic4727]

it needs an app....its too bad because It was a good PC game back in the day ...if 11th hour comes out I hope it to gets an app

[@Rubberglass]

Hahah.. Your best review ever!

[@Myaora]

At least he didn't throw it off the roof.

[@stefanyordanov2885]

The '9' on the die not being underscored ruins the game for me.

[@Strid007]

I'm more curious as to which 5 people KS $1k for the Lord of the Mansion pledge for this game and what does that pledge look like?

[@arekkrolak6320]

Nice, looks like Cluedo!

[@thediceodyssey4690]

You missed the whole point of the game Tom.....it was to make us laugh at you ranting about how awful it is. I definitely got my chuckles in.

[@johansvanborg5870]

Loved the 7th Guest game and even wrote a rpg-scenario based on it. This looks like crap, sounds like crap and thank You for spelling out how crappy it is.

[@scottelam3726]

Give it away at Dice Tower Con as some kind of booby prize...

[@nahailyenvanakkor]

I wanted to see that box crushed.

[@bigticket5657]

Looks like the game did a quantum leap from the 80's. Where is the VHS tape? Just from seeing the unboxing from Zee, you could tell this was an abomination. I can't believe that people actually backed this on KS in 2018.

[@Bodyknock]

2:35 D_E _A_D blockbuster movie "puzzle". Oof, if most of the puzzles in this game are that dumb I can only imagine how bad this game is!

[@hambassist91]

This game can't be bad... It has miniatures!.....

[@XShrike0]

1:10 "Depending on how long you want to torture yourself..." Well that is a bad sign.

[@marcopaladino3305]

hilarious! I like it!

[@tienxero]

First off the box art looks nice. Secondly... I’d try to use the board and play a game or clue with it. Love the pc game. This is a hard pass.

[@tristramcox4615]

Only just found out this exists... Was excited (loved the game as a kid) Then looked at the Kickstarter video... Which was poo And this has fully confirmed... This is poo

[@TapCat]

I feel like this may have been designed to be bad as a way to poke fun at the video games of that era and the kind of ridiculous puzzles you would often see. When Tom says he was laughing at the game the whole time, I can't help feeling like that was exactly the purpose it was meant to serve. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but it seems too perfect in its awfulness to be accidental.

[@edwinbiggs8819]

If you are correct, I can think of a thousand better ways to experience satire than a purposefully bad game. If the designers did go to all the trouble to hit every wrong note perfectly in making this, you would think they would provide some winks and nods to let you know what they were doing.

[@TheMrE]

Only a select group of 713 backers understand that Tom is very very wrong. How wrong is he? Here’s a clue: v _ _ y.

[@jumpyg1258]

That's not a clue, its a puzzle. The clue for that puzzle is that the dashes represent letters.

[@iveo83]

the art for this game is so god awful it's insane this thing got made. The cover is okay and probably sucks people into nostalgia but seeing the inside components and board ... I just said the cover says 1st edition lol.

[@serge1050]

If 7 people in the comments section got together they could create a better game than this. Disclaimer: Playing this game blindfolded is highly recommended .

[@NecromancerFluffy]

I almost backed that on Kickstarter. I am so glad I did not.

[@edwinbiggs8819]

Well, we now know that 11 people work for Trilobyte, I can't imagine who else would dislike this video.

[@nickvandam1214]

A bad version of 221 b baker street.

[@voldosmith]

Looks like some unfinished project :S

[@DanGrossDrums]

Hmmm, I doubt Trilobyte games will be retweeting THIS review lol

[@Fergit_]

Best keep it in the closet with the skeletons

[@ChrisMasoner]

It was “only” $65... NIB any takers for $20? ...how about $5?

[@alcovitch]

lmao this review was hilarious

[@Redfoxe]

Stauf cursed this game.

[@UncleBuck327]

But not bad enough for a trashcan shot? 😉

[@argel1200]

Too much effort... ;)

[@randomjunk1977]

This looks so horrible it actually kind of makes me want to play it. I don't think I've ever had that happen with a board game before.

[@williamgarcia-medina9989]

Lol wow.