Review: Scream the Game

Being a total Scream fan is about 90 percent of my personality. Everything about the 1996 slasher is perfection, and I can talk to you about it for hours if you let me. I didn't know anyone else felt like me until TikTok, and now my FYP is basically just fans theorizing new movies, horny Ghostface cosplay, and tangentially related #booktok recs (thank you, Molly Doyle). That's also where I saw a sneak peek of Scream the Game.

Adding a Scream board game to my life was an obvious necessity. Now I can trap my houseguests into talking about the movie without just forcing them to watch the entire franchise with me (though I would be happy if we did). Funko's release is aptly timed, with the fifth and sixth installments released in 2022 and March of this year, and the seventh in the works.

The game is fast-paced, with about 20 minutes of total gameplay. You're trying to be quick, so I often jumped at the phone calls that came through the app (more on that below), because I was so focused on finishing. That makes it feel a little more like you're actually in a Scream movie. You'll need at least three players—which I usually dislike, since most of the time it's just my husband and I looking for something to relieve our boredom. But this just isn't as fun with two people.

The mission is to have every player survive the movie by completing scenes. Players get scene cards, consisting of either the Macher house, high school, pool hall, or hospital. Each card has three to five items that you need to collect in order to finish the scene—keys, cell phones, popcorn, blood, and Stab DVDs. (Stab is the in-universe slasher film that first appears in Scream 2.) Each turn, you'll either draw a new item card or trade with others to collect your items. When you finish, draw a new scene card. Every scene card must be completed to end the game, and while there are 24 cards in total, some of them are only for four or more players, so you should remove them before you start the game if you don't have that many players. If one person dies, Ghostface wins. I like that you're working together to beat Ghostface instead of trying to beat each other.

No one visits a hospital until Scream 4, and the pool hall doesn't appear until Scream 5 (which is technically just called Scream), so if you're unfamiliar with the movies later in the franchise, some of the elements may be surprising to you. Though the franchise is newly expanding, I wish the scenes stayed true to the originals, with more from the OG films—maybe a Stab movie set?

One person needs the app (available on iOS and Google Play) open to play. You don't spend too much time in here, but you'll enter player names and start the game through it. While you're trying to complete scenes with your cards, the app will interrupt with a Ghostface call, doing one of three things: taunting, threatening, or stalking. These calls make it harder to complete your scenes. Sometimes he's calling the entire group, saying where he is, and ordering you to discard your hand if you have, say, three or more items with his mask on it. Other times he's targeting an individual player, instructing them that they need to have so many specific items by the next time he calls or else they die.

The app element is essential to a game like this, since phone calls are a major point in all the movies. I was hoping I would hear Ghostface say my actual name, but alas it just says the player's name on the screen—though I assume the process of getting the voice to learn an endless list of names would result in some interesting pronunciations.

In the app, you'll also find video instructions on how to play, which I greatly appreciate. We have a stack of board games here that I've failed to learn, because my brain seems to immediately turn off the second I try to understand directions. It's like I physically cannot compute. Seeing it in action makes a lot more sense. If you have new people playing, they can simply watch while you set up or put out some snacks.

The actual board is tiny, at just 7.5 by 4.5 inches, and it's used more to remember where Ghostface says he is—by placing the figurine over that area—than a necessity to play the game. This means you could play this in a lot of places you couldn't take an ordinary board game. But if you're planning on playing while traveling by public transportation, wear a headphone so you don't scare your fellow passengers with menacing phone calls.

The fast pace makes it fun, and there's even a hard mode you can select in the app to make it faster. But this is a pro and a con. I don't like games that seem to take days to finish, like Monopoly, but I do want at least most of a game night to be spent playing. I wish there could be a more in-depth version here.

Ghostface has popped up in video games like Call of Duty (Black Ops Cold War and Warzone) and as the unofficial, unlicensed “The Ghost Face” in Dead by Daylight. But fans of the franchise have only had one short-lived mobile game tied to 2011's movie. It looked cool, but the actual mechanics weren't advanced.

I think there's hope for more to come in the future, be it in board game form or for digital gamers. If you know anything about horror movies, there's always a possibility of a sequel, a prequel, or a remake. Maybe even one where Stu returns.