Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Although billed as a children's game, Escape from the Hidden Castle, a.k.a. Midnight Party or Hugo, is actually quite enjoyable by adults as a light, fun game.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Push Your Luck
Choose whether to secure current gains or risk them for a larger reward.
Race
Compete to reach a destination, threshold, or objective before opponents.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Roll-and-Move
Roll dice or spin a dial to determine how far a piece moves.
Track Movement
Advance pieces along a defined linear or branching track.
Read the full game description
Although billed as a children's game, Escape from the Hidden Castle, a.k.a. Midnight Party or Hugo, is actually quite enjoyable by adults as a light, fun game. Each player controls a number of guests at a party, with the number of guests dependent on the number of players. These guests start the round in the spaces of the gallery on the game board, one guest per space; this initial placement is a large part of a player's strategy. The Phantom (or "Hugo the ghost" in earlier versions) starts in the cellar, then climbs the stairs towards the gallery where the guests circle. The mechanism for the Phantom's movement is simple: On a player's turn, he rolls a special die. If he gets a number, he moves his pieces; if he gets a Phantom, the Phantom moves. This means that with more players in the game, the Phantom moves a lot more frequently, so you must adjust your strategy accordingly. Once the Phantom has reached the gallery, the guests can start ducking into rooms adjoining the gallery to avoid him, with only one guest per room! A couple of rooms are special in that they add or subtract extra "fright points" from your score. As the Phantom catches up with the remaining guests, they are sequestered on the stair steps, then in the cellar. The first guest caught "earns" the most fright points, with those caught later in the round earning less and less. Once all the guests have been caught, the fright points are tallied. After playing a predetermined number of rounds, the player with the fewest fright points wins!