

The Shining, the boardgame. 1998



Yes, you heard me right. A board game based on Stanley Kubrick’s mind-fucking film The Shining actually exists!





The Shining board game counters and pieces (front and back images)



The two-player game was created back in 1998 along with assistance from Stephen King. Which makes this an extra cool find as King (as you probably know) wrote the 1977 novel on which the film is based. The prolific author even acted as the games very first tester. Best of all? You can download the game FOR FREE and put it together yourself.





The Shining board game pieces





The Shining board game gameplay with Jack Torrance and snowmobile



As far as gameplay is concerned, it all starts with the news of the approaching winter storm, which in turn enables the ghosts that inhabit the Overlook Hotel to get to work scaring the shit out of The Torrances’. One player gets to be the Torrance family, while the other player is the House (or the Overlook Hotel). According to a detailed review of the game via a Stephen King fan site, The Torrance family members are able to “engage in mental attacks on the ghosts” and there are even “implements of destruction” available to use such as a snowmobile, an ax in the garage (because, of course), a mallet, and a knife in the Overlook’s kitchen. Aparently the game isn’t a long, drawn out affair and can be completed in a relatively short period of time. The only gripe that I read about was that if players do not monitor the Overlook’s boiler pressure closely enough, the entire hotel gets blown to kingdom come.





The Shining board game map one







The Shining board game map two



If this sounds like a good time to you (and it should because all work and no play will make you a very dull boy), you can download the game here.