- BGG rating
- 7.6
Evil High Priest: Blood Ceremony
- 2–5 players
- 40–90 min
- 2018
- BGG rank
- BGG #6,470
- BGG rating
- 7.0
Evil High Priest
2018
Rules assistance for Evil High Priest
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–5 players
- 40–90 min
- 14+
- Complexity 2.7/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for Evil High Priest
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Evil High Priest is a board game released in 2018 for 2–5 players, 40–90 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Sandy Petersen and Lincoln Petersen and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling and Worker Placement.
Expansions
- BGG rating
- 7.6
Evil High Priest: The Dark Ritual
- 2–5 players
- 40–90 min
- 2018
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About the game
Evil High Priest is a worker-placement game in which the players take the part of priests of a Lovecraftian entity. All players worship the same Great Old One, but they are emphatically not allies. When they awaken their Great Old One, he will decide which among them is the best (based on VPs) and appoint that priest, and that priest only, to be the High Priest, who wins. The game contains cards, cardboard tokens, and multiple different boards - each player has an inner sanctum, plus a priest board to manage his sect. In addition there is a town board, representing Lovecraft country; a ritual board, representing magic spells; and a cult board, representing the Great Old One you seek to release. The game is performed in Action phases. the players take turns moving their cultists to activate various sites on the different boards, gathering resources, summoning monsters, shattering Elder Signs, and launching investigator raids (which attack all players). When all players run out of cultists, the Action phase ends, and players recover their cultists, freeing up the board sites for the next Action phase. Victory is determined when the last Elder Sign blocking your Great Old One is shattered, and at this point everyone totes up points. Different resources are worth different amounts, but the most valuable are the Elder Signs. Driving the game are the player's need to recruit more cultists & gather more resources, balanced against his need to shatter Elder Signs and protect himself against the deadly investigator raids. Unusual among worker placement games, the cult board can be swapped out between games, for a different experience. The Cthulhu cult board does not play the same as the Black Goat cult board, and they require different tactics and planning. —description from the publisher
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Petersen Games
Questions and answers
Evil High Priest supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Evil High Priest is 40–90 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Evil High Priest for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Evil High Priest has a complexity rating of 2.7 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Evil High Priest belongs to these categories: Fantasy and Horror. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling and Worker Placement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Evil High Priest are: Sandy Petersen and Lincoln Petersen. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Evil High Priest as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.