RETURN OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN Is A Fun Family Game That Isn't Too Easy
Funko’s Disney Return of the Headless Horseman Game is a family game for ages 6+ that is actually really fun. You work together to help Ichabod Crane reach the safety of the covered bridge leading out of Sleepy Hollow before the Headless Horseman can scare him too much. They recently sent me a copy to play and it’s a really well made game, the board is nice and the cards are great quality. It even comes with some nice miniatures for Ichabod and the Horseman.
The game is simple to play, but is a great early introduction to strategy for kids. Each round you play a card face down. Each card has two numbers, one representing how many spaces Ichabod will move and how many the Horseman will move. The goal is to have matching Ichabod numbers that will allow him to move that many spaces. If no match is made with the first card, players will keep playing a card until a match has been made. The catch is, the Horseman will move the total movement he gains from all the cards, so you want to try and match early and preferably a high number so you can stay ahead. The board is littered with short cuts, tree icons which will allow you to move additional spots, and spots that make you flip over a scare token. There are 8 total scare tokens, 4 will make a picture of the Horseman’s scary pumpkin head, if all 4 of those get flipped over you lose. Whenever the Horseman catches up to you that will also prompt you to flip over a scare token, and he will take his turn the same turn you make it to the covered bridge so watch out for that. The game is really simple to play, but complex and randomized enough that the two times I’ve played I haven’t won.
This game is great partly because it doesn’t require kids to be able to read, just to be able to recognize their numbers 1-6. Each card has a fun illustration featuring art from the Disney movie that my kid was really delighted by despite never having watched the movie. Another thing my kid loved is when you are down to one card you shout “Ichabod” and then spin the tree spinner to draw more cards.
While my kid is still too young to really understand any of the strategy, they still had a ton of fun playing even though we lost. It can be frustrating to play with someone who just throws down cards based on how much they like the picture, but I think with time the strategy will become more clear. I actually really like that this game isn’t too easy to win and it’s not that they made it too difficult, a lot can just come down to chance. The first game I played the last scare token we flipped was the last pumpkin and we were on the covered bridge when it happened. The second game we were almost at the end when the 5th scare token completed the pumpkin.
Overall, I had a ton of fun playing this with my kid. We both love Halloween so that made this game a no-brainer to try out, but the simple game play mixed with it being not too easy to win makes it a winner for me. I would give this game a 9/10.
