Horrified: American Monsters

How to play Horrified: American Monsters

Your group wins by completing the unique tasks for every selected monster and then defeating them all. A normal round consists of one Investigator Phase followed by one Monster Phase. In the first phase, the active player moves, picks up or shares items, escorts citizens, uses a unique investigator power and makes progress on monster objectives. In the second, a Monster card places new items and resolves attacks or events.

The challenge is that every investigator turn consumes time: unless an exception changes the procedure, you reveal another card from a Monster deck with a fixed size. You must complete the monster tasks before the Terror marker reaches the skull or there is no Monster card left to draw. Your group wins immediately upon defeating its last monster.

Although the game looks like a monster battle, much of it is about routing and exact requirements. The right-colored items must arrive at the right location in the right order. A Chupacabra game benefits from delivering goats; a Bigfoot game asks investigators to collect footprints and solve a picture puzzle. These are not simply alternate attack strengths.

The official first-game pairing is Banshee of the Badlands plus Chupacabra. The rules call any two monsters Novice, three Standard and four Challenging. Starting with this pairing lets newcomers learn escorting, item collection and the normal turn sequence before tackling the special-card procedures of the Jersey Devil.

Setup: Cross Creek, 30 Monster cards and 12 starting items

Unfold the town board and place the Terror marker on zero for normal multiplayer play. Shuffle the Monster card deck and place the dice and 13 Citizen standees nearby. Choose the active cryptids, find their Monster mats and arrange them in increasing Frenzy Order. Follow each monster’s own setup text, adding only its figure, tokens and any special location overlay. Put the Frenzy marker on the active monster with the lowest order.

Assign every player a randomly chosen Investigator ID tile, the matching standee and a reference card. Put their standee in the location printed on the ID. Shuffle the Perk cards, give each investigator one face-up Perk and place the remaining deck beside the board.

Mix all 60 item tokens in the bag. Draw twelve and place them at the locations printed on the tokens. Further items enter town through Monster cards. Yellow, green and brown item types have different uses in this edition; do not assume they correspond to the original Universal Monsters game’s item colors.

Check the reverse of the active Monster mats before beginning. The Banshee needs violin tokens matching the investigators, Chupacabra needs its Farm overlay, Mothman uses traps, Bigfoot uses footprints and photo pieces, Ozark Howler uses its tracker, and Jersey Devil changes part of the deck itself. Return all unused monster components to the box so unrelated powers cannot accidentally enter play.

Investigator actions: what you can do on your turn

Take up to the number of actions printed on your Investigator ID. You may repeat actions, take them in any order and finish without using every available action. In general, the choices are:

1. Move: travel along a road to an adjacent location; you may take any number of citizens from your location with you.
2. Guide: move one citizen from your location to an adjacent location, or from an adjacent location into your current one.
3. Pick Up: collect any number of item tokens at your location in a single action. Some monster-specific tokens can also be collected through this action.
4. Share: let investigators gathered at your location exchange any number of items; your own character does not necessarily have to participate.
5. Advance: use the specific monster mat’s instructed action at the required place to progress toward defeating it.
6. Defeat: once a monster’s task has been completed, perform its required final action at the correct location.
7. Special Action: use the ability printed on your Investigator ID when it is available, paying the normal action cost.

Monster-specific rules may add a special action. In particular, the Mothman’s traps and the Jersey Devil’s citizen cards use Activate actions according to their mat. Do not replace those instructions with the normal Advance wording when the mat says otherwise.

Perk cards do not use your normal action allowance. Any player may play Perks during any Investigator Phase, even when it is not that player’s turn. After resolving a Perk, discard it. Coordinating who holds a relevant movement or rescue Perk can save several actions near the end of the game.

Items, citizens and rescuing people

An item carries three different properties: its color, its strength value and its printed location. The three groups are yellow (physical), green (survival), and brown (animals). A requirement for a brown goat is different from a requirement for any brown item, and a requirement for one item is different from a total strength threshold.

For example, defeating the Chupacabra requires yellow items totaling at least six strength after the goats have been saved. Defeating Bigfoot instead requires three green items of any strength after the photo puzzle is completed. The exact distinction matters: three weak green items count for Bigfoot, while a single green item worth ten does not replace the requirement for three items.

When a Citizen enters the board, its standee shows where it needs to be taken. Use Move to carry citizens with your investigator or Guide to bring one from a neighboring space. As soon as a citizen reaches its safe destination, remove it and draw a Perk card for the active player.

Rescuing Citizens is not merely a thematic side goal. A successful rescue removes someone who could be defeated during future attacks and provides a potentially turn-saving Perk. However, going out of your way to save a distant citizen can consume actions needed for urgent monster-specific tasks.

The Monster Phase: items, event, movement and attack

After the active investigator finishes their actions and the group has played any Perks it wants, draw one Monster card. Resolve its three parts in order. First, add the number of new item tokens printed on the card. If the bag is empty when items must be drawn, return the item discard pile to the bag and continue.

Second, resolve its Event. A card can refer to a citizen or a monster. Ignore a monster-specific Event if that monster is not currently active or has been defeated. An Event can be dangerous even when it produces no direct monster attack, so read the text rather than relying solely on the strike icons.

Third, resolve the Monster Strike symbols from left to right. Each indicated monster moves toward the nearest investigator or citizen and stops when it shares a location with a person. If a monster starts with someone, it does not move before attacking. On equal distances, investigators are preferred to citizens; the active player makes any remaining tie choices.

If a monster ends up with somebody, roll the number of attack dice printed on the card. Each Hit threatens its target. An investigator may discard one item per hit to ignore it, regardless of the item’s printed value. A hit that is not blocked defeats the investigator, increases Terror by one and removes their standee temporarily. At the start of that person’s next turn, they return at the Hospital with their items and Perks intact.

A hit defeats a citizen immediately because citizens carry no items and nearby investigators cannot shield them by discarding their own items. A Power icon may trigger extra effects printed on the attacking monster’s mat; treat it separately from an ordinary Hit.

All six Horrified: American Monsters — challenge comparison

Each monster presents two parts: advance its challenge, then perform its final defeat. The official rulebook uses different difficulty labels for the monsters and encourages starting with the two simplest.

These summaries describe the objectives, not every monster’s movement or Power rule. Below are the distinctions that tend to cause the greatest misunderstandings, especially for Bigfoot and the Jersey Devil. Read each chosen Monster mat before the game begins and consult the official manual for the timing of its powers.

Banshee of the Badlands: violin tokens and the safe zone

Set the Banshee figure at the Cemetery. Every participating investigator has a matching violin token placed on the starting note of the Banshee mat. The Banshee’s Power can push all the tokens toward the skeleton. Reaching the skeleton defeats that investigator; they cannot discard an item to cancel this special defeat.

To advance the task, an investigator at the Banshee’s location may spend a brown item to roll one die, or a yellow item to roll two dice. Each Hit or Power symbol on those dice lets them move any investigator’s violin token two spaces toward the safe zone. Misses have no effect. You may help someone else’s token rather than only yours.

Once every violin token is in the safe zone, a hero sharing the Banshee’s location may spend two yellow items of any strength to defeat her. Do not confuse the items used during the roll with the final payment: you still need two yellow items available for the finishing action.

This is a low-complexity challenge but it scales with player count because there are more violin tokens to safeguard. The Banshee is a suitable teaching monster when paired with the Chupacabra, as Ravensburger recommends.

Chupacabra: why any brown item is not enough

The Chupacabra begins at the Farm with its special overlay. The task is not simply to collect six animal-colored objects. You must deliver six Goat item tokens to the Farm. When an investigator stands there holding a brown Goat token, one Advance action adds that goat to an open space of the Chupacabra mat. Each goat requires a separate action.

Once the sixth goat has been placed, an investigator in the Chupacabra’s location may spend yellow items worth a combined six or more to defeat the monster. Goats that have already been secured on the mat do not disappear merely because the monster activates a later attack.

The Chupacabra’s monster Power can remove a brown item still on the game board—not a saved goat on the mat. Its movement also tends to prioritize an investigator holding a brown item when otherwise choosing between equal targets. Those rules make carrying animals a tactical danger, not just a collection task.

Editorial tip: allocate someone to the Farm route early, and protect a small yellow finishing reserve. A player who spends all their yellow items blocking hits may save one Terror step but delay the final defeat.

Bigfoot: footprints, photo pieces and unusual movement

Bigfoot is one of the most unusual monsters because it does not behave like a normal monster during its strike. Set its figure at the Cabin, add the High School overlay and arrange the five photo tiles as directed by the mat. Bigfoot produces footprint tokens as it moves across town.

When Bigfoot is activated for a strike, it rolls dice before moving, but only if no investigator shares its starting location. The relevant results are the Power symbols. Bigfoot then moves, generally without stopping when it passes a person, and avoids ending in a location with an investigator. It may gain extra movement when passing through spaces containing investigators.

Collect footprint tokens using Pick Up. Each recovered footprint reveals one photo tile. At the High School, spend one item for an Advance action to manipulate the photo puzzle: you may swap photo tiles, or use the discarded item’s strength as the number of permitted sliding steps. Once the photo is aligned, the investigators have proof.

The official finishing condition is three green items, of any values, at Bigfoot’s location. It is not a strength-ten green-item requirement. Because Bigfoot’s Power can raise Terror and flip revealed photo tiles face down, consider dealing with its puzzle before its special attacks create too much lost time.

Mothman: all four traps, then a yellow-strength finish

Place Mothman at the Motel. Draw four items with distinct printed locations and use those locations to position four trap tokens, initially on their closed sides. The corresponding items sit on the Monster mat as references. Mothman’s challenge involves visiting each trap’s location and arming it with the designated Activate action, rather than picking up a trap.

After arming all four, reach the Mothman and perform the Defeat action in a location that still contains an armed trap. The investigator must spend yellow items with combined strength 10 or more. Sharing the space with Mothman somewhere else does not meet the finishing location condition.

Mothman stops its movement when it enters a space with a trap. Its Power also interacts with the Eye of the Mothman token, sometimes sending the monster rapidly across town and endangering everyone along the route. Traps can buy time, but do not assume Mothman is permanently immobilized after triggering one.

There is a straightforward strategy tension: should you spend an investigator’s last movement to arm a distant trap, or hold back to line up the final yellow-item attack? Consider where Mothman can travel during the next Monster Phase before committing.

Ozark Howler: following the trail and surviving Death Omens

The Ozark Howler starts at the Trailhead and uses an Abandoned Mine overlay. Prepare its face-down tracker tokens, putting the required three on its mat while keeping the others available as the setup instructs. An investigator at the Mine uses an Advance action to reveal the next tracker in the sequence.

Each revealed tracker shows an item cost that must be paid before the next one can be revealed. Paying the cost and revealing the next token require the actions set out on the mat; do not reveal the entire trail at once and then pay a pooled cost.

After the trail tokens have been resolved, an investigator sharing the Howler’s location may spend one item each of yellow, green and brown for the Defeat action. Strengths do not substitute for missing colors. Reserving a complete color set ahead of time can make the final meeting much easier.

The Ozark Howler’s Death Omen Power gives investigators extra marks. Each mark creates an automatic hit the next time a monster attacks that investigator, even if the dice roll misses. Discarding items can block those hits normally, and a defeated investigator returns their Death Omen tokens to supply. This can make the Howler threatening even when it is far from its own final confrontation.

Jersey Devil: Citizen cards, clues and the thirteenth child

The Jersey Devil changes a rule that is otherwise central to Horrified: its monster setup removes the 13 Citizen cards from the 30-card Monster deck, leaving 17 ordinary Monster cards in the main deck. Place the Citizen cards face up for everyone to examine, and prepare the clue tokens and City Hall overlay.

While at City Hall, an investigator can use the Jersey Devil’s special Activate action to choose and play one of those face-up Citizen cards. Resolve the card’s items, Event and Monster Strike as instructed, and put that citizen into play. You may activate only one such Citizen card in a single Investigator Phase. Crucially, after using the special action you do not draw a second Monster card at the end of that turn. You may still take remaining Investigator actions.

Every time an investigator escorts a citizen to their safe destination, reveal one clue token from the Jersey Devil mat in addition to receiving a Perk. After uncovering all three, use the pictured clues to identify which citizen is the thirteenth child. You are identifying a person through evidence, not choosing one at random by guessing.

To win, bring the Jersey Devil and an investigator to the identified citizen’s starting location. Spend items of any color totaling 14 or more strength. The citizen’s standee does not have to be present in that location. Following the defeat, unplayed Citizen cards are returned to the regular Monster deck as the rules direct.

This is rated a high-complexity monster. The strategic challenge is both timing the special Citizen-card activations and arranging enough escorts to reveal clues. Check its specific card rules before combining it with Bigfoot or other high-complexity objectives.

Frenzy, movement exceptions and turn timing

At least one selected monster is always Frenzied. At setup the marker begins with the active monster having the lowest Frenzy Order, and named events can move it to the next eligible monster in ascending order. When a Monster card shows the Frenzy symbol, that monster takes the corresponding strike even if it already acted from an earlier symbol on the same card.

The normal monster targeting rules favor the nearest person, preferring investigators over citizens at equal distance and allowing the active player to settle remaining ties. But individual monster powers can override parts of that process. Bigfoot’s roll-before-moving sequence and the Chupacabra’s priority for brown-item holders are examples.

Jersey Devil timing is a major exception: activating a Citizen card substitutes for the Monster card draw otherwise made that turn. That does not mean the Citizen card is harmless; it brings its own item, Event and Monster Strike procedure, and it cannot be repeatedly activated without the required City Hall action.

For new players, resolve each Monster Strike completely before the next symbol, including its movement and attack. If a hero is defeated, remove them from the board immediately so another monster later on the card cannot target that absent hero.

Winning, losing, Terror and the final Monster card

The investigators win immediately when they have defeated every selected monster. The team loses if the Terror marker reaches the skull or if an investigator’s turn reaches the Monster Phase but there is no Monster card available to draw. The special Jersey Devil Citizen action changes some turns but does not remove the basic out-of-time danger.

Each time an investigator or a citizen is defeated, the Terror marker rises one space for that defeat. It does not rise once for each unblocked hit when multiple hits defeat the same person at once. Likewise, a specific monster Power may raise Terror under its own instructions, even without defeating a person.

Important last-card edge case: if you draw and finish resolving the last ordinary Monster card, the game does not instantly end. There is one more Investigator Phase to win. The loss occurs only when it is time to draw a further Monster card and none is available.

Use a shared plan that accounts for this deadline. If the group has to perform two separate Advance actions plus a Defeat action and only one investigator turn remains, rearrange priorities; a beautiful route to a nearly completed task cannot win after the deck expires.

Solo mode: which investigator and Perks are restricted?

Ravensburger includes a single-player mode in the box. Start the Terror marker at level three instead of zero. You otherwise follow the normal one-Investigator turn sequence, then resolve the Monster Phase each turn.

The Psychic Investigator is not permitted in solo play because its special ability cannot function in that mode. Before dealing Perk cards, remove Swap and Signal Flare from the Perk deck, as the rulebook directs. These restrictions are specific to American Monsters: do not use the Courier and Special Delivery exceptions from the 2019 Universal Monsters edition instead.

Solo play is still about defeating every chosen monster before the same two loss conditions, but the higher Terror starting level means the player has less room for attacks that defeat a character. For a first attempt, the official Banshee plus Chupacabra pairing is more approachable than mixing Bigfoot with the Jersey Devil.

Beginner strategy: plan around your monsters, not the box theme

1. Assign an item priority by monster. Brown Goats are vital for Chupacabra, three separate green items finish Bigfoot, and the Howler needs one of every color. Do not discard a hard-to-replace finishing item unless defense demands it.
2. Use one Pick Up action to collect several items. Visiting a site with multiple tokens can save actions compared with taking one at a time.
3. Turn citizen rescues into Perks. Completing safe routes both clears vulnerable targets and gives powerful free-to-play cards.
4. Account for Power effects. Bigfoot can raise Terror by its special roll, Banshee can shift violin tokens and Ozark Howler makes future attacks more dangerous.
5. Finish what is close to completion. Removing a monster can eliminate its later Events and strikes, reducing the group’s workload.
6. Consider Frenzy order. A monster activated by its own icon and Frenzy symbol may effectively act twice. That threat can justify defensive item spending this turn.
7. Do not spend your last turn only collecting. When the Monster deck is thin, identify which investigator can make the final Defeat action before more collection is useful.

These are original editorial interpretations of the mechanisms, not additional official rules or claims of hands-on playtests. Monster mixes, investigators and item distribution can change which tactic is best.

American Monsters vs Universal Monsters: what actually changes?

Horrified: American Monsters is a standalone 2021 game, not an expansion that adds six figures to the Universal Monsters board. It moves the setting to Cross Creek, introduces new Investigator IDs and item colors, and supplies six fully new monster mats with different victory puzzles.

The familiar outline remains: Investigators move, collect items, rescue citizens and advance monster tasks; Monster cards generate escalating attacks and Terror. But the finer rules are different. The 2019 Universal Monsters edition uses red, yellow and blue item groups and includes iconic film monsters. American Monsters uses yellow, green and brown, different encounter symbols and certain special cards that alter the Monster deck.

Ravensburger also publishes Horrified: Greek Monsters and Horrified: World of Monsters. Those later standalone boxes introduce lair-based challenges and other edition-specific systems; World of Monsters is specifically described as compatible with Greek Monsters under its own mixing instructions. Do not assume the original and American Monsters monster mats can automatically be combined with those two boxes.

For a detailed comparison of the original challenges, see our Horrified: Universal Monsters rules guide. We also cover the different Dungeons & Dragons implementation in Horrified: D&D Ravenloft. For other cooperative games with a shared loss clock, read Pandemic or Forbidden Island.

Horrified: American Monsters FAQ

Is Horrified: American Monsters an expansion?

No. It is a separate complete game with its own town board, Monster deck, six monster mats and Investigator pieces.

How many players can play American Monsters?

One to five. The dedicated solo exceptions change the Terror start, Investigator availability and two Perks.

Which monsters should beginners choose?

The publisher recommends the Banshee of the Badlands and the Chupacabra. Standard difficulty uses three monsters; the challenging variant uses four.

What are the six cryptids in the box?

Banshee of the Badlands, Chupacabra, Bigfoot, Mothman, Ozark Howler and Jersey Devil.

Are brown, green and yellow items interchangeable?

No. Brown are animal items, green are survival items and yellow are physical items. Different monster tasks demand specific colors, counts, strengths or item names.

Can any brown animal replace a Goat when facing Chupacabra?

No. The Advance action requires an actual brown Goat item token delivered to the Farm; six must be secured before the final defeat.

Does Bigfoot need green items totaling strength ten?

No. The official rules require three separate green items of any strength at Bigfoot’s location after the photo puzzle is aligned.

Does Mothman need all four traps armed?

Yes. The final Defeat action must happen with Mothman at an armed-trap location, spending yellow items totaling at least ten strength.

Can you reveal every Ozark Howler tracker before paying?

No. Resolve each revealed tracker and its cost before revealing the next tracker in the sequence at the Abandoned Mine.

How do you reveal the Jersey Devil’s identity?

Rescue Citizens to reveal the three clues. Those clues let players identify which citizen is the thirteenth child.

Does activating the Jersey Devil Citizen card cause another Monster draw?

No. Resolve that Citizen card’s instructions, but do not also draw the normal Monster card at the end of the same turn.

When exactly do you lose when the Monster deck runs out?

When a Monster card must be drawn and none is available. You still get the final Investigator Phase after the last card is resolved.

Can an investigator block a hit with a low-strength item?

Yes. For ordinary attack hits, each discarded item blocks one Hit symbol regardless of its value or color.

What is different in the solo game?

Start Terror at level three, do not use the Psychic Investigator, and remove the Swap and Signal Flare Perks.

Official sources, edition scope and disclosure

Ravensburger — Horrified: American Monsters publisher page, contents and player count.

Ravensburger — original English Horrified: American Monsters rules PDF.

Searchable transcription of the 16-page English rules (manual text).

Ravensburger Games — original rules upload to BoardGameGeek.

BoardGameGeek — Horrified: American Monsters 2021 edition and credits.

Research reviewed 16 October 2026. Content concerns the 2021 American Monsters edition exclusively and distinguishes special systems from the 2019 original. Explanations, comparisons and strategy are independently written; they are not copied from the manual and do not claim hands-on playtesting. Trademarked monster names identify the game; no publisher art or card scans are reproduced.