Nightmare (a.k.a Atmosfear)

Nightmare (Atmosfear) – The VHS Board Game (1991)

Overview: This board game features a unique VHS-based narrator known as The Gatekeeper. Players take on the role of one of six characters from horror legend: Khufu the Mummy, Baron Samedi the Zombie, Elizabeth Bathory the Vampire, Gevaudan the Werewolf, Anne de Chantraine the Witch, and Hellen the Ghost. The premise is that The Gatekeeper is attempting to prevent your character from crossing over from “The Other Side” to the real world. Characters must collect six special keys, face their “greatest fear”, and make it through The Gate within 60 minutes in order to win.

Game play and memories: I originally played this game with a buddy of mine around the time this came out so that would put me at 12 or 13 years old. That’s pretty much the perfect age to play this game before putting it on the shelf for 10 or 15 years and picking it back up with your horror-loving friends. The pacing of the game is set by The Gatekeeper, a character that chimes in at certain intervals to provide game twists and taunt you to try to keep you from achieving your goal. Since you’re playing a monster, I think the Gatekeeper might actually be the “good guy” in this story, but he is trying to Gate-block you so screw him, right? Throughout the video, the Gatekeeper appears more frequently and his appearance is more ghoulish each time he pops up.

There’s a lot of dice rolling and working against the other characters to collect all the keys and make it to the center. The music picks up speed near the end and the Gatekeeper also starts popping up more frequently near the 60 minute mark, a feature that I find gives the game a fun, frantic pacing where all the players are trying to rush whoever has the dice. There is one game piece called the Fear Card that, before the game begins, all the players have to mark their greatest fear. That card gets put face down in the center of the board and when you finally land on that spot you have to draw that card; if the player draws their own Fear they immediately lose, if they draw another player’s Fear they win!

Does it hold up? Well, a VHS-based game is inherently dated but I still think it’s fun if you’re of the right mindset. Again, it’s fun and a little creepy if you’re a kid but there will be a lot of “in between” years where Nightmare would just be lame. The Gatekeeper videos are on YouTube so you might want to take a look although I would caution that watching them without actually playing the game takes away from the intended fun. The “scary” effects of the Gatekeeper becoming more evil-looking throughout the 60 minutes sure won’t hold up to horror movie standards but this is a game meant for 12 and up so I give it a pass for that. I’ll also say that it’s fun to set the ambiance when you set up the board. Turn out the lights and try playing just by the eerie glow of the TV. You might as well have fun with it!

Final thoughts: When I was 12 my greatest fear was drowning or suffocating. Looks like some things never change, thanks for the reminder Nightmare time capsule! I remember (and the internet confirmed) that there were also a few expansions for the core game, hosted by some of the other characters. I never got a chance to play those but they can still be found by resellers. It would be great to find these on DVD but I believe only the core set received a legitimate DVD re-release.

Game Media:

The Gatekeeper

• TV Commercial: