- Sally Face board game: A cooperative adventure for 1–5 players.
- Core objective: Solve each story before corruption overwhelms the group.
- Turn flow: Reveal cards, refresh charges, roll dice, act, then pass the dice.
- Main threats: Enemies, curses, sanity loss, ghost status, and rising corruption.
- Best habit: Coordinate movement and dice spending before committing progress.
Sally Face Board Game Overview and Setup
Sally Face: Strange Nightmares is a cooperative tabletop adventure based on the Sally Face universe. In the Sally Face board game, players investigate the Addison Apartments, solve mysteries, manage dangerous conditions, and progress through four stories. The game supports 1–5 players, is recommended for ages 13 and older, and usually takes 45–60 minutes per session.
Video Highlights:
- How to arrange the apartment floors and starting components
- The five phases of an active player’s turn
- Mystery resolution, enemy encounters, and corruption
- Solo mode setup using friend cards
The base setup uses five apartment boards placed in order, with the lower floor at the bottom and Floor 5 at the top. Each player selects a character, takes the matching character board and standee, and places their character on the elevator floor shown on the board. Set each character’s health and sanity to 15 before starting.
| Setup Element | Starting Arrangement | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment boards | Five floors in order | Defines movement locations and floor effects |
| Character boards | One per selected character | Tracks health, sanity, abilities, and objectives |
| Mystery deck | Face down beside the apartments | Supplies investigations and danger |
| Item deck | Face down beside the apartments | Provides useful equipment |
| Corruption track | Token begins at zero | Measures the group’s mounting threat |
| Story deck | Story cards in ascending order | Controls narrative progression |
| Dice and tokens | Within reach of all players | Supports actions, enemies, and status effects |
Choose the first player using the game’s thematic starting rule, then begin with Story One. Story cards should remain in ascending order rather than being shuffled. When a story introduces new mystery or item cards, shuffle only those additions into their matching base decks.
Story Cards
Read these aloud and follow their instructions from top to bottom. Arrows, stop symbols, and continuation conditions control the narrative.
Mystery Cards
These appear during play, occupy apartment locations, and require progress cubes or special effects to resolve.
Finale Cards
Keep these face down until the story directs the group to prepare or resolve a finale.
Keep story cards, mystery cards, and finale cards in separate areas. Clear card organization makes the story flow easier to follow.
Turn Structure and Dice Actions
Every active turn follows the same five-part rhythm. Learning this sequence prevents missed effects and helps the group plan around limited dice.
Reveal the Next Card
Draw the next story or mystery card as directed. Read story text aloud, check any matching rune effects, and place new mysteries at their listed locations.
Refresh Charge Tokens
Refresh available charge tokens on your character board. Charge tokens power certain items and character abilities, so track them before rolling.
Roll Ability Dice
Roll the six ability dice along with any applicable character die. Demons are locked immediately and cannot be rerolled. You may reroll non-demon dice up to three times.
Take Actions
Spend dice to defeat enemies, solve mysteries, move, activate items, or use floor abilities. These actions may be performed in any order.
Pass the Dice
End the turn when you are satisfied with your actions. Unspent dice and unused charges are allowed, then pass the ability dice clockwise.
The dice are the central resource in the Sally Face board game. Arcana, intellect, and might help solve mysteries and pay for abilities. A character’s specialty icon counts as that character’s matching result, while the Sally Face symbol works as a wild result.
| Result | Main Use | Important Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Arcana | Mysteries and abilities | Spend when a card requires the Arcana symbol |
| Intellect | Mysteries and abilities | Useful for investigation-focused requirements |
| Might | Mysteries and abilities | Often supports physical challenges |
| Character specialty | Matching character skill | Counts as the character’s listed specialty |
| Sally Face symbol | Wild result | Can represent any required result |
| Demon | Curse trigger and costs | Locked on the die; three demons trigger the active curse |
| Health or sanity icon | Restore or reduce a status | Resolve immediately when rolled |
| Movement result | Travel | Spend one die to move to another location |
Before placing progress cubes on a mystery, defeat enemies blocking the route. A mystery’s requirement shows which results must be spent. Each matching die usually adds one progress cube. When the number of cubes reaches the requirement, discard the solved mystery and return its cubes to the supply.
Demons cannot be rerolled. If three appear during a roll, resolve the active character’s curse before continuing with the rest of the turn.
Do not feel pressured to spend every die. Saving a useful result can be better than placing one progress cube if another player is positioned to finish the mystery next turn.
Mystery Management and Corruption Control
Mysteries are the main investigation system. When a mystery is revealed, first check the rune in the upper-left corner against other mysteries already in play. Matching runes can trigger effects across the apartment, including corruption, enemy placement, health loss, or movement of another mystery.
After resolving rune effects, place the new mystery in an empty space on its listed floor. A mystery showing question marks may be placed at a location of the active player’s choice. If the destination floor is full, one existing mystery must fail. Remove its progress cubes, apply its corruption penalty, discard it, and place the new card.
| Mystery Situation | Required Response | Strategic Concern |
|---|---|---|
| Matching rune appears | Resolve all matching rune effects | Several effects may chain across floors |
| Listed floor has space | Place the card in an empty location | Consider enemy access and player movement |
| Floor is full | Fail one current mystery | Choose the lower-priority penalty carefully |
| Mystery has question marks | Choose its location | Use placement to reduce travel costs |
| Progress meets requirement | Discard the solved mystery | Return progress cubes to the supply |
| Story condition is complete | Draw the next story card | Follow stop and continuation symbols |
Corruption is the group’s long-term danger. It can increase from rune effects, failed mysteries, curses, and other card instructions. Consecration offers temporary protection: place it over the corruption token, then remove it the next time a single source would cause corruption.
Players should coordinate around three questions before acting:
- Which mystery is closest to being solved?
- Which enemy is preventing access to a useful location?
- Can the group avoid triggering an additional rune or curse this turn?
Solve Efficiently
Combine wild results and character specialties with matching ability dice to complete high-value mysteries sooner.
Control Movement
Move only when the destination supports the current objective. Unnecessary travel consumes dice that could add progress.
Protect the Track
Use consecration when a large corruption penalty is likely, rather than spending it on a minor increase.
Before the active player rolls, discuss the priority mystery, the safest route, and which character can use the resulting dice most effectively.
Health, Sanity, Ghosts, and Solo Play
Health and sanity are separate survival tracks. When health reaches zero, the character becomes a ghost. When sanity reaches zero, the character becomes insane. A character may have both conditions at the same time.
The group loses if every player becomes either a ghost or insane. A ghost or insane character remains involved, but must roll the appropriate additional die on that character’s turn. If a ghost would lose health, that character suffers corruption instead. If an insane character would lose sanity, that character also suffers corruption instead.
| Status | Trigger | Ongoing Rule | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy and sane | Both tracks above zero | Use normal turn rules | Maintain both tracks |
| Ghost | Health reaches zero | Health loss becomes corruption; roll ghost die | Restore health above zero |
| Insane | Sanity reaches zero | Sanity loss becomes corruption; roll insanity die | Restore sanity above zero |
| Both conditions | Both tracks reach zero | Apply both status rules | Restore the relevant track above zero |
| Group defeat | All players are ghost or insane | The current game is lost | Avoid simultaneous collapse |
Solo play uses friend cards to represent additional support. After choosing a character, remove that character’s friend card from the game and place the other four friend cards nearby. Give each friend an exhausted charge token, then activate one friend at the beginning according to the solo rules.
A friend can be activated by rolling three Sally Face symbols or two symbols matching the friend card. Active friends can provide unique abilities and may offer one free movement per turn through the shoe icon. Rolling three demons can deactivate one active friend, while a friend may also be exhausted to prevent corruption.
Before You Start:
- Set every selected character's health and sanity to 15
- Place the apartment floors, corruption track, decks, dice, and tokens
- Keep story cards in ascending order and avoid shuffling them
- Review each character's specialty, curse, item, and objective
- For solo play, arrange the unused friend cards and charge tokens
Use friend activation as a timing tool, not merely emergency support. A free movement or unique charge ability can prevent several turns of inefficient travel.
Component Guide, Story Progression, and FAQ
The game includes four replayable stories and a large collection of cards, standees, dice, boards, and tokens. The upgraded Super Strange Nightmares edition adds enhanced components and additional content while retaining the same cooperative investigation foundation.
| Component Group | Included Quantity | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Story cards | 107 | Drives the four narrative scenarios |
| Mystery cards | 24 | Creates investigations and apartment threats |
| Finale cards | 35 | Provides story-ending challenges |
| Item cards | 25 | Gives players equipment and tactical options |
| Floor ability cards | 15 | Adds location-based actions |
| Character boards | 5 | Tracks player abilities and status |
| Character standees | 5 | Represents player positions |
| Enemy standees | 18 | Blocks movement and creates danger |
| Ability dice | 6 | Generates action and mystery results |
| Progress cubes | 40 | Tracks mystery advancement |
| Ghost and insanity dice | 2 total | Adds pressure after status collapse |
Play the stories in order during a first campaign. Each story can introduce additional setup instructions, new mysteries, enemies, floor abilities, or passive effects. Read every story card carefully, especially cards with a stop symbol. A stop symbol means the group pauses story-card draws until the listed continuation condition is met.
For the official product description and current edition details, visit the Sally Face: Super Strange Nightmares product page.
Q: How many players can play the Sally Face board game?
Sally Face: Strange Nightmares supports 1–5 players and includes solo rules using friend cards.
Q: How long does a game take?
The listed play time is approximately 45–60 minutes, although a first story may take longer while players learn the rules.
Q: What happens when a character reaches zero health?
The character becomes a ghost. Health loss is replaced by corruption, and the character must roll the ghost die on future turns.
Q: Can players solve mysteries in any order?
Players may choose which available mysteries to pursue, but enemies, locations, rune effects, story conditions, and required dice influence the best order.
Keep a short record of unresolved story conditions and recurring effects between sessions. This helps the group resume play without overlooking a stop symbol or passive rule.