Gather around the cauldron with up to five of your closest friends while working together to outwit the Sanderson Sisters and save the children of Salem. One of the newest games from Ravensburger, this 2-6 player cooperative card game is based on the 1993 Disney movie Hocus Pocus and brings players back to the old Sanderson house along with several beloved characters such as Binx and Billy Butcherson.

Disney’s Hocus Pocus: The Board Game was released in late Summer 2020. This quick-playing card game was designed by Prospero Hall, which is a collaborative design group from Seattle, Washington. They have also worked on such games as Jaws, Horrified, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Ninja Pizza Party, and Disney Villainous along with all of its expansions. All illustrations for the game were created by Ann Marcellino, an illustrator and concept artist with Hocus Pocus: The Board Game being the first game she has worked on.

To set up the game, players need to first place the Cauldron board in the middle of the play area with the Witch Board, four Trick tokens, and Binx Mover nearby. The Sun token should be on the lowest space of the Sunrise track of the Witch Board. The Spell and Ingredient Cards should then be shuffled into their respective decks and placed, as with everything else, next to the Cauldron. Each player is dealt a hand of Ingredient cards determined by the player count and the game is ready to begin; starting with the player who last lit a candle.

Hocus Pocus: The Board Game hinging on hidden information and restricted communication. Each player must keep their hand of cards a secret from all other players while working together to stun the witches and interfere with their spell until the sun rises. On their turn, a player gets to ask one question, play one Ingredient into the Cauldron, and end their turn by drawing one new Ingredient into their hand. Certain Ingredient Cards add so-called “Special Ingredients” to the brew during gameplay. These added ingredients can either help or hinder the players. However, should a player be unable to play an Ingredient, Winnie, Mary, and Sarah manage to cast a Spell of their own from their faithful Spellbook! The players may also use four available Tricks against the witches such as casting a Circle of Salt but must be strategic in their use as each is available only once per game. The game is played in rounds with a round only ending after any of the three Sanderson witches are stunned. During this race against the clock, the players can only win if they manage to stay in the game long enough to move the Sun token to the top of the Sunrise track. However, if at any point, a player must draw an Ingredient Card and there are none left in the deck, the game is over and the witches will prevail.

I want to start by saying this game…is deceptively hard! This trickery culminates in several factors; the cute illustrations; the book box (my favorite type of box!), that is quite a high quality with its construction and magnetic clasp; an easy to read and understand rulebook (thank you for this!); and its gameplay mechanics. All of this makes Disney’s Hocus Pocus: The Board Game seem like it would be a children’s game. The game itself is easy enough to learn and to teach, but there is definitely a learning curve tucked behind all these wonderful elements. Creating strategies that work to your advantage will require a bit of experience with the content as you learn the meta and press through the communication rules set forth on your quest to save the children. After several “learning games” even, there are still new tricks and tips to learn – especially when it comes to choosing the question to ask on your turn. While this may be a deterrent for some, I still found the game enjoyable and am pleased to find myself getting better at it every time I play. I do feel that the game plays better at higher player counts as there is more information available to all players and there is a better chance for the needed cards to hit the table faster so the odds of succeeding become higher.

At the end of the night, I highly recommend this game to any circle of friends looking for a challenge this Halloween season. Hocus Pocus was a horrifying movie to me as a child, since I’m not much for scary films, but I cannot deny its ability to capture the spirit of the holiday experience for me, and I’m sure for many others as well. My game group was enthusiastic to set up a movie night and watch the movie after playing the board game. If you happen to already own, or go grab a copy of Disney’s Hocus Pocus: The Board Game, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

All photos used in this review were taken and edited by Krista. Photos can be clicked on to enlarge them if needed.