The Shining Gets a Board Game

The classic horror movie The Shining is getting a tabletop board game adaptation. Last week, Mixlore announced they were making a tabletop board game based on The Shining, the 1980 classic directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson. The game is a co-op game with a traitor mechanic, in which players explore the Overlook Hotel while trying to fend off the hotel’s corrupting influence. One player will act as the traitor, who has already succumbed to the terrible forces of the hotel and secretly works to keep players imprisoned there. The game will be released later this year, and is made for three to five players. Estimated playtime for the game is 45-60 minutes.

The Shining is designed by the Prospero Hall design team, which has a great record with licensed work. Prospero Hall designed Jaws, Horrified, Disney Villainous, and the Choose Your Own Adventure games, all of which has received tons of acclaim from both casual and dedicated tabletop fans. Prospero Hall’s games also have a tendency to get released in big box retailers like Target, so we’ll see if The Shining will get a wide release outside of board game stores.

Surprisingly, this isn’t the first The Shining board game. In 1998, Matthew Nadelhaft released a web-published board game made with the knowledge and assistance of Stephen King, who playtested an early version of the game. That version was a two person game in which one player controlled the Overlook Hotel and the other controlled the Torrence family, and is still available to download for free.

Expect to hear more about The Shining board game later this year.