The Bloody Inn

Review: The Bloody Inn

The Bloody Inn

The sun has set and another 8 travelers have come to the Inn looking to rest for the night. As the guests sleep in their rooms, you and the other innkeepers are plotting their demise. Will you pay the local law enforcement to work for you? Will you murder the local newsboy for some quick cash? Or maybe you have bigger plans so you pay the mechanic to build a new annex to bury bodies.

In The Bloody Inn, players have to devise a plan to kill and take the money of travelers in France in 1831. The game can get pretty cutthroat, and that’s before the travelers walk through the door.

Devious Decisions

The Bloody Inn has one goal. You want to have more money than your fellow inn owners before the end of the game. How you get to that point is up to you!

Each round, new travelers will find a room at one of eight rooms. Each of these travelers have something that will benefit you in your devious endeavors. You can choose to bribe guests and have them on your payroll. You can choose to kill a traveler but if there’s a police officer around at the end of the night, the body will be found if it’s not buried.

The Bloody Inn board layout

The majority of your money will be made by killing and burying travelers. On the low end, you’ll bring in 8 francs and on the high end you can make 26 francs. You only get paid after the body is buried which can make things tough as you’re always looking out for law enforcement that is coming through the inn.

Players get two rounds of actions with each group of travelers. Making the right decision in the right round is crucial. You’ll have to pay the local grave digger 10 francs if you can’t properly dispose of a body when law enforcement is still around at the end of the night. This can really set you back and has literally made us sweat as the end of a round comes to a close.

Travelers that are bribed have to be paid 1 franc at the end of each night and any travelers in your specific room will pay out 1 franc. Getting this balance is something that can be tough as you start to see your hard earned stolen money go down the drain with a handful of travelers that you’ve bribed.

Come for the Art, Stay for the Game

When my wife Erin saw The Bloody Inn at our local game shop, the incredible art work from Weberson Santiago immediately jumped out at us. The game has a distinct style and it’s consistent in every component of this game. It has an eerie look that just adds to an already solid theme.

The Bloody Inn card art

The game mechanics work so well because it allows the player to change how they play each time it hits the table. There have been games where I spent time building a great crew and efficiently took out travelers. Other times I went for quick cash and just focused on bribing a few people. The game is so smooth and the more you play, the more you challenge yourself to try new strategies.

We’ve been able to teach this game to dozens of people with various backgrounds with gaming. The game is pretty simple to grasp and even new players can win their first time around. The Bloody Inn has a “short game” and “long game” option along with a solo play variant. I’m a big fan of games that give players this flexibility. Playing a short game will take you 30-45 minutes and the long game is about an hour. Personally, we found that the long game allows for a better strategy and players can really explore different options without the game suddenly ending.

The Bloody Inn cards

Final Thoughts

It’s so easy to recommend this game because this game has come to the table so often! The game has great replay-ability, is easy to pickup and has just the right “weight” to it. There is nothing in the game that is gross or gratuitous but I could definitely understand someone having hesitation about the goal of the game. It is a pretty morbid concept and this might be something that keeps you from playing with some people.

Nicolas Robert did a fantastic job developing a game that my wife and I absolutely love. Even after a dozen games, I’m still plotting new ways to become the most diabolical innkeeper at The Bloody Inn.

You can pick up The Bloody Inn at your local game shop or order it today through Amazon.

Highs

  • Beautiful artwork and a solid theme
  • Fun to explore new strategies
  • Simple enough for new gamers but tough enough for seasoned players

Lows

  • A pretty morbid theme
  • The end of the game easily sneaks up on players

Ryan Gutowski

I'm a huge fan of strategy games and pretty much anything that involves "city building". My love of board games goes back to my childhood and passion for building relationships with others.

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