RETURN OF THE HEADLESS RIDER is a fun family game that isn’t too easy

by Funko Disney The return of the headless horseman game is a family game for ages 6 and up that is a lot of fun. You work together to help Ichabod Crane reach the safety of the covered bridge that takes Sleepy Hollow out before the Headless Horseman can scare him too much. They recently sent me a copy to play and it’s a really good game, the board is nice and the cards are of great quality. It also comes with some cute miniatures for Ichabod and the Knight.

The game is simple to play, but it’s a great introduction to strategy for kids. Each round you play a card face down. Each card has two numbers, one representing how many spaces Ichabod will move and how many the Knight will move. The goal is to have matching Ichabod numbers that allow him to move so many spaces. If no match is made with the top card, players will continue to play a card until a match has been made. The problem is that the Knight will shift the total movement he gains from all cards, so you want to try to match early and preferably a high number so that you can stay ahead. The board is littered with shortcuts, tree icons that will allow you to move additional points and points that will make you flip a scare token. There are 8 scare tokens in total, 4 will make an image of the Knight’s scary pumpkin head, if all 4 are flipped you lose. Whenever the Knight reaches you, he will also ask you to flip a scare token, and will take his turn on the same turn you get to the covered bridge, so be careful. The game is really simple to play, but complex and randomized enough that the two times I played it I didn’t win.

This game is great in part because it doesn’t require kids to be able to read, just to be able to recognize their numbers 1-6. Each card has a fun illustration with Disney movie art that my son was really delighted with even though he had never seen the movie. Another thing my kid loved is that when you only have one card, you yell “Ichabod” and then spin the tree wheel to draw more cards.

Even though my son is still too young to really understand strategy, they still had a lot of fun playing even though we lost. It can be frustrating to play with someone who knocks out cards based on how much they like the picture, but I think over time the strategy will become clearer. I actually really like the fact that this game isn’t too easy to win and it’s not that they have made it too difficult, a lot of things can simply come from chance. The first game I played the last scare token we threw was the last pumpkin and we were on the covered deck when it happened. The second game we were almost at the end when the 5th scare token completed the pumpkin.

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing with my son. We both love Halloween, so that made this game a breeze to try, but the simple game combined with the fact that it’s not too easy to win makes it a winner for me. I would give this game a 9/10.