Dark Moon Board Game

This is a really great hidden role game that fills in the gap between quick games like Resistance and One Night Ultimate Werewolf (10-20 minutes) and longer complex games like Dead of Winter and Battlestar Galactica (90-180 minutes). It takes about an hour to play. The whole time, space station scientists are attempting to fix their station which is being sabotaged by other scientists that are infected with an alien parasite. No one knows who is human and who is infected. You roll dice behind a screen and choose one of them to use in your action. If you are infected you will want to submit bad rolls, and if you are human you want to submit good ones, but there are times when the humans get all bad numbers and have to publicly submit a bad die. This makes them look like an infected person, and they have to argue for being uninfected. But you never know because they could be infected and just lying about rolling bad dice. As an action, you can call a vote to quarantine someone, limiting that character's effectiveness. The infected are trying to convince everyone to quarantine each other because this furthers their cause. If the infected ever get outed, they can "reveal" themselves and gain extra powers to help destroy all the humans. This game is great at driving up paranoia. Every dice roll seems like life or death, and if you are a human, you learn very quickly how important it is to identify the infected and quarantine them. But you never know if you are shooting yourself in the foot and quarantining an innocent. I cannot recommend this game enough. It is not as complicated as it seems, and in my experience, people are usually good to play at least a second time or even a third time in one night. Although at some point everyone is too stressed out and just want to play a light filler game to lighten the mood.

Dark Moon is a co-op game with a hidden traitor mechanic set in space. Originally a 'print and play' streamlined, dice-driven version of Battlestar Galactic that Fantasy Flight sued out of existence, the game designers re-themed it into "The Thing" in space. Without the IP of course! Now, Dark Moon is a GOOD game. Personally, I'd give it four (4) starts, but I have to be honest....the game has MANY facets that can turn players off. This is a game players will love or hate (hence the 3-star rating). And most of the negativity comes from the fact that, unusually for a co-op/hidden traitor game, Dark Moon is DRIVEN BY DICE. The dice in this game are unique in that they're made up of POSITIVE numbers (+1 to +3) and NEGATIVE numbers (-1 to -3). So far so good, right? Like many co-ops, you will have to solve various tasks (Called Events) to keep from losing the game (i.e. dying). The skill tests have a difficulty number. Through the course of the game the players will contribute dice (positive or negative) to a common pool to see if said actions succeed. So far so good, right? Well... For instance, the bases' life support fails! A a success number of "8" is need to fix it! Player 1 adds a +2 dice and a +1 die; Player 2 adds a +1 die; Player 3 adds a +2; but player four adds a -2 die. The total is 6-FAILURE! So, what's the big deal? It's obvious player 4 is the traitor, right? Well....no. Because you roll your dice behind a screen so the other players cannot see. Again, what's the big deal? Well, say you're NOT the traitor, in most Co-op games, if you're NOT the traitor, you want to do everything to help win the game, right? Well, in Dark Moon, if you roll REALLY BAD (say ALL negatives on your dice) your stuck (Traitor or not) tanking a game winning/losing event because you have only negative dice! Of course you can refuse to contribute any dice to solving an event....but that can also make you look like a traitor. Players who HATE to have their actions determined by RANDOM die rolls will want to flip the table over this game. They may feel trapped into suspicious actions simply because of bad die rolls. Players with thin skins (or who hate being FORCED to lie) may chaff at the idea of being singled out as the traitor (and being the traitor in this game can have MEAN things happen to you!) simply because the dice have dictated how they behave. When in most other traitor games, the player has greater choice on how they act, and sinking a game is based on clever deception and strategy. Dark Moon is all about how to act with what the dice have given you. Now... That randomness and not knowing what your dice will do to you is the HEART of the game! Dark Moon is all about PARANOIA! Players don't know who really has good dice and is not using them because they are the traitor; who only have bad dice and choose not to play them, because they really are NOT THE TRAITOR;, or who actually has positive and negative dice and is contributing negative dice because he/she ACTUALLY IS THE TRAITOR! Dark Moon is for players who LOVE to lie and are thick skinned. Role-playing is MUCH BIGGER in Dark Moon then other co-op/traitor games because everybody sees what dice you play. Nothing is hidden. It's all out in the open. It's how the player excuses (or outright LIES) the reason for dice he/she plays that makes Dark Moon so fun-at least for me! Players can play a single "+1" die, claiming, "It's the best I have, guys! Promise!"; or pensively play a mere "-1" die, claiming, "We can over come this single -1 die, right guys? It's the only die I have! Honest!" Or, a player, with nothing but positive dice, can choose not to play any, claiming, "Sorry, Guys, I only have negative dice, and I don't want to tank the game!" And of course they are lying through their teeth!! Personally, I love this mechanic. And so do most of my game group. But we have a significant minority who will NEVER play this game again. NEVER. And many of these players love co-op games with traitor mechanics! If you love to lie and screw over your loved ones and friends, then GET THIS GAME. For others, I recommend "try before you buy."

This is a clever, and intriguing game. If played with the right people, it will keep you guessing right up until the end. If you are one of the hidden infected players, you need to stay in the shadows and appear as though you are helping the mission. If you are uninfected, you just want to survive and get off the ship, but you'll need to ferret out the traitor(s) in the group. I've never played BSG so I can't compare it, but on it's own, it's a fantastic game. Takes a little time to teach to new players, but after starting, it doesn't take long to get the hang of it. Some people have complained about the 80's type artwork, but I love it. It scales well with whatever amount of people you play it with. I've played with 3 and 6 players and had a great time. Can't wait to play it again.

Great game! My playgroup went through two sessions in one night and had a blast. I would highly recommend having one person read through the rulebook thoroughly before bringing it to the table... once you're in the flow of the game it's pretty easy to pick up, but at first it can be intimidating.

Instructions are a little intimidating. All the tokens, cards, and game parts. After giving it a shot with my non-board gaming parents, I have to say it was easy to play and they enjoyed it.

This game is spectacular. The mechanics are perfect with a full group of people. Lying and deceiving people are the best part of this game. Definitely worth getting.

My group of friends loves the player-interaction-focused genre of hidden traitor games, and this game hots all the sweet spots for us. The length is never tedious, but long enough to build tension. The stakes of Tasks often feel high, and innocent players can get themselves accused by pure accident all the time. What's more, I love the Aliens/Thing setting. It's a great experience and I'm looking forward to the expansion.

I played this game multiple times with friends and loved it. However, my copy was missing pieces. I have contacted Stronghold Games multiple times about the issue and they have failed to return my emails. They have notoriously bad customer service and I cannot in good conscience recommend and of their products.