- Sally Face strange nightmares is a cooperative tabletop adventure for one to five players.
- Explore the apartments by moving between floors, solving mysteries, and managing story effects.
- Protect health and sanity because reaching zero can turn a character into a ghost or make them insane.
- Control corruption with consecration, careful dice use, and efficient mystery progression.
- Start with Story One and play the four stories in order during a first session.
Sally Face strange nightmares: Core Game Overview
Sally Face: Strange Nightmares is a cooperative adventure board game inspired by the Sally Face universe. Players take the roles of Sal and his friends while exploring the Addison Apartments, investigating mysteries, defeating enemies, and progressing through a linked story campaign.
The game supports one to five players. A standard session uses character boards, apartment floor boards, story cards, mystery cards, item cards, enemies, dice, progress cubes, and corruption markers. The campaign is divided into four stories, and playing them in order provides the clearest introduction to the rules and narrative structure.
Video Highlights:
- Learn the basic board setup and character preparation.
- Follow the five-part active player turn.
- See how story cards, mystery cards, runes, and progress cubes interact.
- Review movement, enemy encounters, items, and floor abilities.
| Game Feature | What It Means | Practical Advice |
|---|---|---|
| Player count | One to five players | Use solo rules when playing alone |
| Campaign structure | Four stories played in order | Avoid shuffling story cards |
| Main location | Addison Apartments and connected spaces | Track floors and mystery capacity |
| Primary objective | Complete the story before corruption overwhelms the group | Prioritize urgent mysteries |
| Character resources | Health, sanity, charge tokens, and abilities | Spend resources with a plan |
For a first playthrough, use Story One and avoid adding optional allies until everyone understands movement, dice, curses, and corruption.
Mystery Solving
Spend matching ability dice to place progress cubes on mysteries. Complete the required progress before effects create additional pressure.
Apartment Exploration
Move between locations and floors by spending a die. Your position determines which enemies, curses, and floor abilities affect the group.
Corruption Control
Corruption is a central danger. Consecration can cancel one corruption gain from a single source and buys the group time.
Setup Guide for the Apartment Board
A clean setup makes the first round easier to manage. Place the five apartment boards in order, with the lower floor at the bottom and Floor Five at the top. Each player chooses a character, takes the matching board and standee, and places that character on the elevator shown on the board.
Set both health and sanity to 15 at the start. Place the base mystery and item decks near the apartments, then prepare the corruption track, progress cubes, enemies, ghost die, and insanity die within reach of all players.
| Setup Element | Placement or Starting Value | Reminder |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment boards | Floors arranged from bottom to top | Keep all locations visible |
| Character health | 15 | Health reaching zero causes ghost status |
| Character sanity | 15 | Sanity reaching zero causes insanity |
| Corruption token | Zero on the corruption track | Move it whenever corruption is suffered |
| Consecration token | Designated space near the track | It can prevent one corruption gain |
| Story deck | Face down beside the apartments | Keep cards in ascending order |
| Mystery deck | Base deck near the board | Shuffle new mystery cards into it |
| Item deck | Base deck near the board | Shuffle new item cards into it |
Build the Apartment Layout
Arrange the five apartment boards in floor order. Add the elevator and any connected spaces required by the current story. Leave room beside the apartments for decks, enemies, and story cards.
Prepare Characters
Each player chooses a character and takes the matching character board, standee, starting item, curse charge token, and character die. Set health and sanity to 15, then place the character on the listed elevator floor.
Prepare the Decks
Place the base mystery and item decks face down. Keep finale cards separate. Do not shuffle story cards; they must remain in ascending order.
Set Global Tracks
Put the corruption token at zero and place the consecration token in its marked position. Put progress cubes, enemies, the ghost die, and the insanity die where everyone can reach them.
Apply Story-Specific Setup
Read the current story card and follow its instructions in order. Some stories add enemies, rooms, finale cards, passive effects, or special mystery cards.
Story-specific setup is important because the opening card may place enemies on several floors, add special rooms, or deal mysteries to indicated locations. Some story cards also introduce a passive effect that remains active until a condition is met. Read each card from top to bottom and stop drawing story cards when a stop symbol appears.
Story cards are designed to be read in ascending order. Shuffling them can break the intended campaign sequence and cause setup instructions to appear at the wrong time.
Turn Structure, Dice, and Actions
Each active turn follows five broad steps: reveal the next card, refresh charge tokens, roll ability dice, perform actions, and pass the dice clockwise. The goal is not to spend every die; saving a useful result can be better than forcing an inefficient action.
At the start of the campaign, the active player reveals the first story card and reads it aloud. On later turns, draw a mystery card when the current story condition has not been met, or draw the next story card when its condition has been completed.
| Turn Step | Main Function | Key Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Reveal | Draw a story or mystery card | Check conditions and card effects |
| Refresh | Refresh available charge tokens | Identify which charged items may matter |
| Roll | Roll six ability dice and applicable character dice | Lock demons before rerolling |
| Act | Solve, move, fight, or activate abilities | Spend dice efficiently |
| End | Pass the ability dice clockwise | Leave useful positioning for the next player |
Ability dice can produce Arcana, Intellect, Might, character specialties, Sally Face wild results, health or sanity changes, and demons. A Sally Face icon works as a wild result, while a character specialty counts as the matching result shown on that character’s board.
Demons are locked and cannot be rerolled. Rolling at least three demons triggers the active player’s curse. A curse may cause health or sanity loss, remove mystery progress, or create another disadvantage depending on the character.
| Result or Symbol | Typical Use | Important Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Arcana | Solve mysteries or pay ability costs | Match the requirement shown on the card |
| Intellect | Solve mysteries or pay ability costs | Useful for investigation-focused effects |
| Might | Solve mysteries or defeat threats | Often supports direct confrontation |
| Character specialty | Counts as that character’s specialty | Check the character board |
| Sally Face icon | Wild result | May count as another required result |
| Demon | Curse pressure | Locked and cannot be rerolled |
| Movement die | Move to another location | A die can be spent to move |
| Health or sanity icon | Restore or reduce a stat | Check whether the effect targets one or all players |
Reroll only the dice that do not help your immediate objective. Demons remain locked, and unused dice can be more valuable than a small amount of extra progress.
During the action phase, players may solve mysteries, defeat enemies, move, activate items, and use floor abilities in any order. Before solving a mystery, defeat enemies blocking the relevant path. Once the progress cubes equal the mystery’s requirement, discard the mystery and return its cubes to the supply.
Mysteries, Runes, and Corruption
Mysteries are the main engine of the game. When a mystery card is revealed, check its rune against mysteries already in play. Matching runes can trigger effects across the apartment, including corruption, enemy placement, curses, or movement of mystery cards.
After resolving rune effects, place the new mystery in the location shown beneath its title. A question mark location gives the active player flexibility. If a floor is full, one existing mystery must fail before the new card can be placed. Remove that mystery’s progress cubes, suffer its listed corruption penalty, discard it, and then place the new card.
| Mystery Situation | Required Response | Consequence to Watch |
|---|---|---|
| New rune matches a mystery in play | Resolve the matching rune effect | Effects may spread across multiple floors |
| Mystery names a floor | Place it in an open space there | Check whether enemies block access |
| Mystery shows question marks | Choose a legal location | Use the location that supports your plan |
| Floor has no open space | Fail an existing mystery | Remove progress and suffer its penalty |
| Progress meets requirement | Discard the solved mystery | Return progress cubes to the supply |
| Story condition is completed | Draw the next story card | Follow its setup and passive effects |
Corruption is the group’s main pressure track. It can increase when rune effects trigger, when a mystery fails, or when a character’s ghost or insanity rules convert incoming damage into corruption. Consecration offers a defensive answer: place it over the corruption token, then remove it the next time one single source would cause corruption.
Characters also have health and sanity tracks. If health reaches zero, the character becomes a ghost. If sanity reaches zero, the character becomes insane. A character can have both conditions. Restoring the relevant stat above zero removes that status.
Before committing to a turn, inspect every active mystery, matching rune, enemy, curse space, and story effect. A strong roll can still create a poor result if the board is already overloaded.
Before Ending Each Turn:
- Check whether any mystery can be solved with the available dice
- Confirm enemies are defeated before attempting progress
- Review active rune, curse, and passive story effects
- Decide whether movement or a floor ability has higher value
- Protect health, sanity, and corruption before passing the dice
Solo Mode and Cooperative Strategy
Solo play uses a special friend-card system. After choosing the character you will play, remove that character’s friend card from the game. Place the other four friend cards nearby. Each friend begins inactive with an exhausted charge token, and one friend may be flipped active at the beginning of the solo setup.
Friends can become active when you roll three Sally Face results or two symbols matching the friend card. When a friend is activated, flip the card and its charge token. Active friends provide unique abilities and may offer one free movement each turn, represented by the shoe icon.
Rolling three demons flips one active friend to the inactive side. An active friend can also be used to prevent corruption, but doing so flips that friend inactive. Solo play therefore rewards careful timing rather than using every ally effect immediately.
| Mode | Main Advantage | Main Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Cooperative | Players can divide movement, dice use, and item support | Coordination is needed to avoid duplicated actions |
| Solo | One player controls the full tactical plan | Friend activation and resource timing are demanding |
| Optional allies | Add extra assistance and new mystery content | More effects can increase board complexity |
| First campaign | Learn the four-story structure in order | Avoid adding unnecessary variables too early |
The Investigator
Focus on mystery progress and rune awareness. Keep track of which cards may trigger each other.
The Protector
Watch health, sanity, enemies, and curse spaces. Defensive movement can prevent a dangerous follow-up turn.
The Navigator
Spend movement efficiently and place characters where items, mysteries, and floor abilities overlap.
The Resource Manager
Preserve charge tokens, wild results, and consecration for moments when corruption would otherwise accelerate.
In cooperative games, assign responsibilities before the active player rolls. One player can monitor the corruption track, another can identify solvable mysteries, and another can check story conditions. This reduces missed triggers and keeps the turn moving.
The official Maestro Media Sally Face: Strange Nightmares store page is the best place to check the current product listing and availability information as of August 20, 2026.
The strongest turns usually combine several small gains: defeat a blocking enemy, add mystery progress, reposition a character, and preserve one defensive resource for the next reveal.
Victory Planning and FAQ
The campaign rewards players who balance immediate mystery progress with long-term board control. Solving one mystery quickly is useful, but allowing multiple linked effects to remain active can increase corruption and restrict future turns.
Use the following priorities when deciding how to spend a roll:
- Defeat enemies that prevent access to a valuable mystery.
- Complete a mystery that is close to its progress requirement.
- Stop a rune chain that could add corruption or create additional threats.
- Use movement to place characters near the next objective.
- Save charge tokens, wild results, or consecration when the board is stable.
| Priority | Objective | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Remove blocking enemies | Opens access to mysteries and locations |
| 2 | Finish near-complete mysteries | Prevents progress from becoming stranded |
| 3 | Reduce rune pressure | Limits additional corruption and board effects |
| 4 | Improve positioning | Gives future players more useful options |
| 5 | Preserve resources | Supports recovery after difficult reveals |
Do not measure success only by progress cubes placed. A turn that lowers future corruption risk or improves team positioning can be the correct play.
Q: What is Sally Face strange nightmares?
Sally Face: Strange Nightmares is a cooperative adventure board game for one to five players, based on the Sally Face video game universe. Players explore the Addison Apartments, solve mysteries, defeat enemies, and complete four linked stories.
Q: How many players can play Strange Nightmares?
The game supports one to five players. Multiplayer uses shared planning, while solo mode adds friend cards that can be activated and exhausted during play.
Q: Should the four stories be played in order?
Yes. The stories are designed to be played in order, especially during a first campaign. Keep story cards in ascending order and follow each story card’s setup instructions.
Q: What happens when health or sanity reaches zero?
A character becomes a ghost when health reaches zero and becomes insane when sanity reaches zero. If all players become either ghosts or insane, the group loses. Restoring the relevant stat above zero removes that status.