Ghost Stories: What the Name Actually Refers To (Board Game, Not a Slot)

Editor's Comment

Ghost Stories is one of those names that sounds like it could belong to a horror slot, and that is probably why people end up searching for it alongside slot terms. The documented product, though, is a board game. It is a co-operative title for one to four players, designed by Antoine Bauza and published by Repos Production, and it has a reputation for being brutally difficult. If you came here expecting reels, paylines and an RTP figure, this page will tell you what the name actually refers to and where the slot confusion likely comes from.

What We Liked

• The theme is specific and well executed: Taoist monks defending a village from Wu-Feng and his ghosts.
• It is genuinely co-operative, with players sharing pain, panic and planning rather than competing.
• The production quality is high, with colourful art on every tile, card and token.
• It works as a solo game as well as a group game.
• The end-of-game boss mechanic creates a dramatic last stand.

What is Ghost Stories?

Ghost Stories is a co-operative board game for one to four players, designed by Antoine Bauza and published by Repos Production. In the game, players take control of Chinese Taoist monks trying to survive the longest night of their lives. Wu-Feng, described as the Lord of the Nine Hells, has returned to haunt the realm of the living, and the players must defend a town against wave after wave of vengeful ghosts until Wu-Feng himself appears. The players win if they exorcise him. They lose if the village becomes too haunted to handle, or if they are all eliminated by ghosts.

The game is set in mythic China and plays in around 60 minutes. It is widely regarded as a demanding, rules-heavy co-operative game with little margin for error from the very first turn.

Ghost Stories At A Glance

These details reflect the published board game as shown in the supplied video overview. No supplied source identifies a slot machine, provider, RTP, payline count or release date for a game called Ghost Stories.

How Ghost Stories Plays

The core loop is straightforward to describe but hard to survive. On your turn you get to move one space around the village and perform one of two actions. You can either ask the villager whose tile you are on for help, or you can try to exorcise any ghosts you are stood next to by rolling a handful of chunky, coloured dice. If you are lucky, you banish a ghost from the board.

The pressure never lets up: on a good turn you will exorcise a ghost, but on every single turn a new one appears, so the board tends to fill faster than you can clear it.

To banish a ghost you must roll an equal number of coloured icons as shown on the ghost card. White icons can count as any colour, and you can spend Tao tokens to cover successes. Location abilities include things like getting extra Tao tokens, banishing any ghost on the board, or placing a Buddha token to prevent a ghost from spawning.

Difficulty and the Wu-Feng Boss

Ghost Stories has a reputation for being punishing. The supplied overview notes it is regarded as notoriously hard, with no gentle ramp: it is hard from turn one.

The endgame is built around Wu-Feng. At the start of the game you randomly select one of ten possible incarnations and put it in the bottom ten cards of the deck. Once it is defeated, you win the game. You lose if every player is eliminated, if three of the village tiles become haunted, or if Wu-Feng is still active when the deck runs out.

When Wu-Feng finally appears, the game shifts into a tense last stand. You effectively get one shot at defeating him; if you all ignore your regular duties to attack and fail, the board can be overrun before you get a second chance.

Expansions: White Moon and Black Secret

Ghost Stories has two documented expansions. White Moon builds on the idea that you are defending a village by filling it with villagers. Villagers can die in a number of ways, and when they die they curse you. Each family has a unique curse, such as haunting a tile, which causes all the villagers on it to die, causing more curses that might kill more villagers. You can get individual villagers to follow your monk as you travel the board, and saving an entire family earns a reward such as a magical breastplate, a taoist sword or a bag of moondust.

White Moon adds significant complexity, pushing Ghost Stories towards more hardcore territory. It is best suited to players who are already comfortable banishing Wu-Feng and want a tougher challenge.

Black Secret is a documented expansion for Ghost Stories. It changes the game by introducing a player-controlled antagonist role, adding a competitive layer to the co-operative base game.

Why the Name Gets Confused With Slots

The confusion is understandable. Ghost Stories sounds like a horror-themed slot title, and horror is a common slot theme. However, no supplied source provides verifiable details for a slot called Ghost Stories.

If you are looking for a slot with a ghost or horror theme, the honest position is that this review has not established a slot titled Ghost Stories from any reliable source. The documented Ghost Stories is the board game. If a slot with that name exists, its provider, RTP, paylines and features are not established by the sources supplied here, and you should check the game's own information screen or the provider's official site before playing.

Where to Play Ghost Stories

Ghost Stories is a physical board game, so 'where to play' means where to buy or play the tabletop version. It is published by Repos Production and is widely available through board game retailers.

For more information on the game, the BoardGameGeek page for Ghost Stories is the most reliable starting point for rules, editions and community discussion.

Other Games You Might Enjoy

If you like the sound of a hard co-operative game, similar titles with adjustable difficulty include The Captain Is Dead, while Pandemic offers a co-op experience that is far more friendly to new players.

If you were actually looking for a horror-themed slot rather than a board game, our horror themed slots guide covers scary slots, features and where to play. You can also browse all online slot reviews or start with Haunted House and Ghostbusters for ghost-adjacent slot themes.