Funko Games has lit the black flame candle and brought back the Sanderson Sisters in their new game, Hocus Pocus: Tricks & Wits! This release comes just in time for the new movie Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+. Returning for the game are the familiar faces of Binx, Billy, Max, Dani, Allison, and, of course, the witchy sisters themselves. Much like in the first movie, players of this 2-4 player card game will also split into teams as either the Witches or the Kids and race against the clock as they try to outwit and outmaneuver each other to not only find but keep Book from the other team. Time is short, however, as the game will only last as long as the spell: until the black flame candle snuffs out.

Before settling in to play, the players must split into two teams (Witches or Kids) as evenly as possible. Each team will receive their respective deck of Action cards, a player aid, and two Hocus Pocus cards. If playing in two teams of two, each player will receive one card each; any single-player team will receive two cards. The team playing as the children will also receive the Bink tokens. All remaining Hocus Pocus cards are placed face down in a 3×3 grid in the middle of the play area with the die and Black Flame Candle cards set up nearby. The game sets up quickly, and with only six rounds to reach their goals, players will find Hocus Pocus: Tricks & Wits plays as quick as a jump scare from your favorite scary movie.

At the beginning of each round every player will draw three cards from their team’s action deck and select one of those to play face down. If the deck is empty they can simply reshuffle their discard and create a new one. Communication is okay between players, but everything said must be audible to the other team as well. Each card will have an action, or choice of actions, and a number on the face. Once everyone has made their selection, remaining cards are discarded, then all chosen cards are revealed and resolved in order from the lowest number to the highest. Actions can include looking at a face down card, swapping two cards, or even rolling the dice for a series of different effects. There is also a mechanic for what are known as Shadow Actions if a team has only one member, and those will be different every round based on how far down the candle has burned. At the end of the night, it is the team in possession of Book who will claim victory, though that condition may be trumped if one player has both Special Cards. If neither of those win conditions are met, the game will end in a tie.

Hocus Pocus: Tricks & Wits was a pleasant surprise for us coming from Funko. Many of their small box games like this have been brought to the table maybe only once or twice and then were abandoned until the next holiday season, but Tricks & Wits is different. We honestly played quite a bit of it – and at different player counts! Though the game is still a light filler game aimed at a younger crowd, we took delight in carefully curating our stashes and holding our breath to see what random effect the die would throw our way once rolled. It was not only a great addition to our Hocus Pocus party night, but also to our shelf of kids’ games to be played year round!

All photos of Funko Games products were taken and edited by Krista.