The 5 Best VHS Board Games

In the 1980s toy companies came up with an innovative way to incorporate the home entertainment boom with the classic fun of board games and the burgeoning 'role- playing' games like Dungeons & Dragons. The idea was basically a VHS board game where a set video featuring a scary or fantastical 'guide' played out differently each time on the board based on the players choices and dice roles. It was a fun, niche idea that led to one popular ongoing series with Atmosfear which released 4 standalone games and various expansions from 1991 to 2016.

To coincide with the February release of the VHS game focused new horror movie Beyond the Gates, we look back at some of the scariest VHS board games of the mid 80s and early 90s. Press Play and Pray...

5. Doorways To Horror (1986)

Doorways to Horror was one of the earliest VHS games released and it opted to bring the classic horror movie world to life. In the game, the players move around the board and encounter different monsters like witches, zombies, vampires and werewolves who they need to defeat. Classic horror movie clips accompany the action which were taken from movies that existed in the public domain (e.g. outside of any rights issues). The object of the game was simply to reach the end of the board having defeated all the monsters, and the game is fondly remembered for its terrible puns and it's charmingly low-budget retro clips.

PRICE: Doorways to Horror is currently available online on VHS for £10-16.