PAX East 2012 Hands-On: ‘Miskatonic School for Girls’

Tim Schafer’s Doublefine Adventure Kickstarter fund seemed to revolutionize videogame development forever- but with the success of Miskatonic School for Girls, it seems that tabletop gaming had already figured out how great Kickstarter can be. The project, which raised $52,000 dollars more than the creators asked for it, was available for purchase in the tabletop area of PAX East last weekend, and I sat down with some friends to check it out.

The Miskatonic School for Girls is a very unique institution of higher learning for women, set in the universe of H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulu. Players take on the role of the students at the school, as they attempt to defeat their teachers and survive the day without losing all their sanity.

What makes Miskatonic School for Girls unique in the scheme of deckbuilding games is rather than just using friendship points to assemble new classmate cards to make your own deck powerful, you can use your nightmare points to buy faculty cards that are forced into your opponent’s decks and pin them against difficult foes. But, concentrate too much on messing with other people’s decks without arming your own with friendly cards, and you may go crazy before you manage to defeat your fellow players.

The art style for Miskatonic School for Girls is impressive, and even more impressive when you find out that the girl behind it, Betsy Peterschmidt, is the daughter of the game’s creator and is still in school. These characters really come to life on the cards.

After just one game this weekend, Miskatonic School for Girls has quickly become one of my favorite tabletop and deck building games. If you didn’t get a chance to pick it up at PAX East, it’s available for purchase online.