Good news, everyone! My family and I finally played Nightmare tonight and I am happy to say that the game was a huge success! We had a wonderful time! After it was over, everyone remarked that they liked the game and wanted to play it again sometime. Even though The Gatekeeper won the game, I think we all won in the game of having fun.
It was a bit of a free-for-all, and we all had our 'Oops' moments. I (playing Elizabeth Bathory) was forced to skip a lot of turns. Dad (playing Baron Samedi) was stuck in the Black Hole a lot of the time. My Little Sister (playing Khufu) actually got really tense and short-tempered. And in the closing moments of the game, Mom (playing Hellen) forgot to start towards the center of the board after getting all of her keys.
There were also triumphant moments, like when I successfully finished the staring contest with the Gatekeeper, and Kate (my little sister) called my effort 'badass'. Dad, as the oldest, had to roll his age at one point, and actually managed it on the first try, much to my shock and amazement.
One funny thing that I noticed was that Mom and Little Sister laughed at the Gatekeeper a lot...at first. Once he began dishing out punishments to everyone, the laughter quickly became subdued. I remember in the last couple minutes, when the Gatekeeper had completely transformed, someone said to my little sister, "Whoa, Kate! Look at him!"
The closing minutes were quite a nailbiter, as I, after finally receiving all of my keys, rushed towards the center of the board, turns occurring in rapid succession in a last-ditch attempt to beat the clock. I was one square away from the Nightmare space when the game ended. It was too late... We finished the video, and when we watched the ad for Nightmare II, Dad suddenly said, "Hey, it's named after me!" which made me smile.
The mood was very positive as we closed the game, and I felt slightly relieved for this. After all the frustration and false starts, it went as well as I could've hoped for. Hopefully we will play again some time, but until then, I will remember this family game night fondly.