Last Updated on August 6, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

The Attic Monster is a cooperative adventure game where players take on the roles of brave Ghosts exploring a spooky mansion in search of keys and power crystals. Working together, your team must unlock rooms, find the attic key, and gather enough magical energy to banish the Monster lurking above. But beware—the longer you take, the stronger the Monster becomes. Can your team find the attic key in time and defeat the lurking menace? Or will the Monster claim the mansion for good?

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How to Play The Attic Monster

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Components

• Box-Mansion (game box doubles as a vertical mansion with multiple floors)
• 4 Ghost Meeples
• 14 Forest Tiles
• 14 Graveyard Tiles
• 4 Stone Tiles
• 4 Mansion Tokens
• 4 Key Tokens
• 2 Dice
• 9 Power Crystals
• 1 Frame (for tile layout)

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Objective of The Attic Monster

Attic Monster is a cooperative game. Your goal is to find the attic key hidden in one of the mansion’s rooms and work together to defeat the Monster. But before you can enter the attic, you’ll need to explore the graveyard and forest to locate the keys that unlock each room. Once the attic key is found, use your collected Power Crystals to weaken the Monster and reclaim your haunted home.

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Setup The Attic Monster

1. Assemble the Mansion:
   • Place the bottom half of the box inside the top, then stand the box upright to form a multi-level mansion with an attic at the top.
2. Sort and Shuffle Tiles:
   • Separate tiles into 3 face-down stacks: Forest, Graveyard, and Stone.
   • Shuffle each stack independently.
3. Build the Game Board:
   • Lay the Frame in front of the mansion box.
   • Arrange tiles face down in rows (3–4 per row) in the following order from front to back:
     • Forest Tiles
     • Graveyard Tiles
     • Stone Tiles (closest to the mansion)
4. Reveal Starting Tiles:
   • In 3-player games: flip 4 random Forest or Graveyard tiles.
   • In 2-player games: flip 6 random Forest or Graveyard tiles.
   • Do not flip Stone Tiles during setup.
5. Prepare Mansion Tokens:
   • Shuffle the 4 Mansion Tokens face down.
   • Place 1 token in each side room on both the lower and upper floors of the mansion (face down, unseen).
6. Place Ghost Meeples:
   • All Ghosts begin at the Start tile.
7. Choose the First Player:
   • Pick randomly, or let the youngest player or best ghost storyteller begin.

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Game Structure

The game has two distinct phases:

1. Search Phase – Explore the tiles, find keys, and collect Power Crystals.
2. Battle Phase – Use teamwork and magical energy to fight the Monster in the attic.

You must complete the Search Phase before moving on to the Battle Phase.

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Search Phase

Goal

• Explore tiles to find room keys, Power Crystals, and eventually the attic key.
• The longer you take, the stronger the Monster becomes in the final battle.

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Player Turn

Each player, in clockwise order, performs the following:

1. Roll both dice.
2. Choose which actions to perform (you may use both, one, or none).
3. Apply tile effects:
   • If you flip a tile or end on one, apply the appropriate effects.
4. Pass the turn to the next player.

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End of Round

After every player has taken a turn:

1. Choose one revealed tile without a Ghost (including the Start tile) and move it to the attic.
2. The number of tiles in the attic determines the Monster’s Strength.
3. If all revealed tiles have Ghosts, the Monster gains nothing this round. Good job!
4. Begin a new round with the same first player.

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Tile Effects

Tile Type	On Reveal	Stop (End Turn on Tile)
Key	Place matching Key Token on tile	Take Key Token (one-time use)
Power Crystal	Place matching crystal	Take Power Crystal (one-time use)
Flip	No effect	Flip any tile of your choice
Move	No effect	Move 1–2 tiles in any direction
Catapult	Set arrow direction	Move to farthest tile in that direction
Trap	No effect	Ghost is trapped – cannot move until Trap is flipped face down
Portal	No effect	Move to any other face-up Portal (if at least 2 are face-up)

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Dice Symbols Explained

Symbol	Effect
X	No action this turn
Flip	Flip the tile you’re on or an adjacent one
Flip & Move	Flip adjacent tile or move to it
Flip Any	Flip any tile on the board
Move	Move to any adjacent tile

Tip: Use flips strategically to deactivate traps or prevent the Monster from getting strong tiles!

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Entering and Exploring the Mansion

• From a Stone Tile, use a [Move] or [Flip & Move] action to enter the lower floor hallway of the Mansion.
• From the hallway, you may:
  • Move up or down floors using [Move] or [Flip & Move].
  • Enter any unlocked room on your floor during your turn (no action required to enter).
  • Exit the Mansion using the same tile movement rules.

Any Ghost can use any unlocked key; teamwork matters!

Searching Rooms

• Flip the Mansion Token in a room to see if it contains the attic key.
• The Search Phase ends immediately when the attic key is found.
• Do not place a tile in the attic at the end of the round in which the key is found.

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Battle Phase

Monster Strength

• Count the number of tiles in the attic. This is the Monster’s Strength.
• Remove one tile from the attic for each Power Crystal your team collected during the Search Phase.

Final Battle

• Starting with the first player, each player rolls both dice:
  • (X) = Miss (no effect)
  • Any other result = Remove 1 tile from the attic
• If all tiles are removed by the end of the round:
  (Check) The Monster is defeated — you win!
• If even 1 tile remains:
  (X)The Monster stays — you lose. Better luck next time!

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Increasing Difficulty (Advanced Mode)

• For a tougher challenge, treat each Mansion Token tile in the attic as 2 Strength instead of 1.

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Conclusion

Attic Monster is a thrilling cooperative experience that blends strategy, exploration, and teamwork in a haunted mansion setting. With every decision impacting your team’s success, you’ll need to balance risk and reward as you race to uncover the attic key and face the Monster. Whether you’re playing with friends or family, the suspense builds each round as the Monster grows stronger. Will your team rise to the challenge and banish the Monster once and for all? Gather your Ghosts and find out!

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