• Ghost Stories
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Repos Production

Ghost Stories

Out of stock
$69.00
$69.00 RRP $140.00

Ghost Stories is a punishing cooperative board game for 1–4 players, aged 10 and up, in which Taoist monks exorcise waves of ghosts with colour-matched dice to defeat Wu-Feng before their village falls. A typical game runs about 60 minutes at medium complexity.

Players
1–4 players
Play time
1h
Age
Teens
Complexity
Hard
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About the Game

Ghost Stories casts your group as Taoist monks standing between a village and the legions of Wu-Feng, lord of hell. A typical game is a desperate, often doomed scramble: ghosts pour onto the board every turn, haunting village tiles and shutting down their powers, while you race to exorcise them with colour-matched dice and precious Tao tokens before Wu-Feng's final incarnation arrives. Victory means defeating that incarnation; defeat comes if three tiles are haunted, the ghost deck runs dry, or every monk falls.

Ghost Stories plays with 1–4 players in about 60 minutes. It is a medium-complexity cooperative game recommended for ages 10 and up, built around dice rolling, action points, variable player powers and a modular village board.

Designed by Antoine Bauza and first published by Repos Production in 2008, Ghost Stories earned a lasting reputation as one of the toughest cooperative games ever made, later inspiring expansions and the fantasy reimagining Last Bastion.

History

Designed by Antoine Bauza and first published by Repos Production in 2008, Ghost Stories quickly earned a reputation as one of the most challenging cooperative games available. Its success led to expansions and, in 2019, Last Bastion, a fantasy reimagining of the same core system.

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Watch: How to play

Rules of Ghost Stories

  • Setup: Arrange the nine village tiles in a random 3x3 grid, place each monk on the centre tile, and give players their starting Qi and Tao tokens.
  • Build the ghost deck with one Wu-Feng incarnation shuffled into the bottom section, so the final boss only appears late in the game.
  • Each turn has two phases: first resolve ghost effects (hauntings, advances and curses), then draw a new ghost and place it on the board matching its colour.
  • On your action, move your monk one space, then either use the village tile you stand on or attempt an exorcism on an adjacent ghost.
  • Exorcism: roll the three dice and match the ghost's colour symbols; spend Tao tokens to cover any shortfall, or the ghost stays in play.
  • Haunted tiles lose their powers, so clear haunters quickly to keep the village working for you.
  • Win by exorcising Wu-Feng's incarnation when it appears.
  • Lose if three village tiles are haunted, the ghost deck runs out, or every monk is killed.

Strategy

  • Treat Tao tokens as precious: spend them to finish off dangerous ghosts rather than hoping for perfect dice rolls.
  • Prioritise ghosts that haunt tiles or advance towards the village over ghosts that merely sit and wait.
  • Spread the monks out so each player's board edge stays manageable; one overwhelmed side can snowball quickly.
  • Use village tile powers deliberately; the right tile at the right moment is often stronger than a risky exorcism.
  • Coordinate before acting: sometimes moving to support a teammate's board next turn beats chasing your own target.
  • Take wounds when the alternative is losing a tile or letting a haunter advance; Qi is a resource, not a trophy.
  • Expect to lose some games while learning; Ghost Stories is famously punishing, so treat early defeats as practice.