Pennywise Just Blew a Hole in Our Tabletop Reality – And It's Terrifyingly Good!
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Step back into the horrifying world of Stephen King's Pennywise with the new *Betrayal at House on the Hill* expansion, *The Evil of Pennywise*, offering challenging gameplay and terrifying new Haunts for tabletop veterans, directly inspired by *Welcome to Derry*.
Right, so you've probably been soaking up the spooky vibes from HBO Max's *It: Welcome to Derry*, yeah? It’s one of those shows that just dives straight into the nightmare fuel, no faffing about with exposition, assuming you’ve already been thoroughly traumatized by Stephen King’s original tome or Andy Muschietti’s cinematic adaptations. And honestly, I love that energy. It’s like a wizard just yells a spell, rips a hole in reality, and expects you to jump through it without asking too many questions.
But what happens when the credits roll on that prequel season, and you’re still itching for more Pennywise-induced dread? You've got that gnawing feeling in your gut, the one that says, 'I could take him this time!' – or more likely, 'I could probably run faster than *that* guy.' Well, my curious comrades, it seems Avalon Hill has been listening to our collective screams, because they’ve just dropped *Betrayal at Neibolt House: The Evil of Pennywise*, a rather challenging, yet oh-so-rewarding expansion for the legendary board game *Betrayal at House on the Hill*.
Now, if you're a tabletop veteran, you'll know *Betrayal* has been gleefully offing intrepid explorers in its procedurally generated haunted mansions since 2004. It’s a classic for a reason – that creeping dread, the sudden reveal of a 'Haunt' where one of your mates suddenly becomes the evil entity hunting everyone else. It’s pure chaotic magic, and frankly, a bit of a wizard's duel in itself. This Pennywise expansion, set to fully terrorize your tabletops in 2025, channels that same chaotic energy, but injects it with a healthy dose of pure, unadulterated Kingian terror.
Here’s the rub, though: it’s not for the faint of heart, or indeed, for Betrayal newbies. This bad boy, as detailed by Tasha Robinson over at Polygon (whose initial insights sparked my own deep dive into this dread-filled realm), is apparently aimed at the seasoned adventurers, the ones who’ve seen a few too many eldritch horrors and still come back for more. It's difficult, mate, genuinely difficult. But isn't that just *perfectly* on brand for anything involving Pennywise? You’re *supposed* to feel overmatched and overwhelmed, right? Like you’ve accidentally stumbled into a dimension where reality has a nasty bite.
The premise is brilliant: three to six players take on the roles of adults who, as children, were hunted by It in Derry, Maine. They fought back, they won, and now, 27 years later (sound familiar?), It has reawakened. So, naturally, they’ve all trekked back to Derry to face their childhood nightmare again, this time within the confines of the haunted Neibolt House. The game even throws in a cheeky little rule that lets you imagine your existing Betrayal characters as either their current adult selves or their kid-selves from 27 years ago. It’s a nice touch, connecting the dots of the narrative and allowing for some fun role-playing within the confines of the established *Betrayal* lore.
Mechanically, it’s still very much *Betrayal*. You need the base game (ideally the third edition, I reckon). The expansion swaps out the standard Omen cards for 10 'Pennywise Encounter' cards and adds four new location tiles. You're still exploring a decrepit, illogical house, drawing cards, gathering items, boosting or draining your stats, and eventually, a Haunt is triggered. And here’s where the real magic – or rather, the real horror – happens.
*The Evil of Pennywise* brings five new Haunts to the table, all ripped straight from King’s chilling narrative. Three of these turn one player into the 'Traitor,' hunting the others. Two are co-op, where the players face off against a mechanically controlled attacker. All five are unsettlingly appropriate, but some, frankly, dial the dread up to eleven. Imagine being chased by a knife-wielding, adult Henry Bowers, slowly self-destructing if he can’t catch you. Pretty grim, right? But then you come face-to-face with a mutant spider-clown version of Pennywise – complete with a legitimately creepy mini and significantly higher damage stats – and suddenly Henry seems like a mild inconvenience. I tell you, that spider-clown mini looked like it might actually scuttle off the board and tap dance on my soul.
My own tinkering (or ‘playtesting’ as the muggles call it) with this expansion confirmed one thing: the thematic dread lands hardest when everyone’s steeped in the *It* lore. As Robinson observed in her original piece, when I had players unfamiliar with the books or films, Henry’s Haunt just didn’t pack the same gut-punch as the monstrous spider-clown. It just goes to show how much atmosphere and pre-existing emotional connection contribute to a truly terrifying board game experience. The text does a grand job of setting the scene, but nothing beats knowing the source material for pure, unadulterated panic.
Our biggest challenge, however, was a Haunt called 'All Living Things Must Abide,' where Pennywise manifests as various monstrous forms. Winning meant meticulously researching incredibly specific weaknesses and then scrambling to find the right tools to fight each monster, all while being physically and psychically assaulted. It felt utterly appropriate to be overmatched and overwhelmed, much like the kids in Derry. Pennywise, after all, *is* an existential threat. But here’s the rub: this overwhelming difficulty often means characters get wiped out early, leaving those players twiddling their thumbs while their mates finish the Haunt. It's a common gripe with *Betrayal* generally, and while it adds to the terror, it doesn't always make for the most engaging tabletop session for everyone involved.
Now, for a bit of Jeff’s gentle skepticism: the expansion feels a tad... lean, compared to some of its predecessors. Five new Haunts for $25 is fair enough for the components – the four new tiles, 10 Encounter cards, scenario card, and three fantastic minis (Pennywise, Henry, and the Spider-Clown, naturally), plus new rulebooks. But when you look at something like *Widow’s Walk* with its 50 new Haunts or even the *Scooby-Doo!* spin-off with 25, you can't help but wonder if more Haunts might have been a better use of resources than elaborate minis. Personally, I’m all about replayability, and more Haunts just mean more chaotic fun. Still, the Haunts we *did* get were incredibly intense, pushing my playtest group to the absolute brink, with every victory feeling like a miraculous, razor-thin escape from certain doom. That sense of hard-won victory? Absolutely priceless.
Thankfully, the board game version spares us the truly grotesque visions from *Welcome to Derry*'s opening episodes – no flying demon-babies or pregnant-stomach-monsters on the tabletop (phew!). But the sheer sense of danger and difficulty that *The Evil of Pennywise* brings to *Betrayal at House on the Hill* is genuinely impressive. Pennywise is a villain that just keeps on giving, and it turns out he's just as terrifying when he's lurking beneath a stack of cards and a carefully placed mini. So if you're looking to extend your Derry nightmares, or just fancy a board game that'll genuinely make you sweat, this expansion is a bloody good shout.
*This article is inspired by and expands upon a piece originally published by Polygon, written by Tasha Robinson.*
Tags: Board Games, Horror Games, Tabletop Games, Stephen King, Betrayal at House on the Hill
Original article: Polygon