First it was a fake trailer. And then it became a real movie. Now, Eli Roth’s throwback slasher hit Thanksgiving is getting an official board game adaptation from Stop the Killer!
In Thanksgiving: John Carver’s Carving Board Gamefrom Stop the Killer Games, players start by attending an in-store Black Friday sale that gets way out of hand, with people dying in horrific ways in every aisle. But things go from bad to worse because a killer wearing a John Carver mask is also on the loose murdering the townsfolk in droves…
Unlike the movie, you are rewarded for dying… A LOT! The player who dies the most is revealed to be John Carver, triggering a final battle between the rest of the players and Carver!
Who will win? And more importantly, will they be thankful for their victory?
Exclusively watch the official trailer for Thanksgiving: John Carver’s Carving Board Game below, which was written by and directed by Nate Ragon. Nate tells us, “Working on this game has been the most fun so far with Stop the Killer Games, and doing the trailer was an added bonus! From day one I envisioned it to be a sort of throwback to the original Thanksgiving trailer from Grindhouse, and I think we definitely nailed that style.”
Based on Eli Roth’s movie, the official board game is designed by Roth and Jon Cohn, produced by Anthony Masi and Nate Ragon, with illustrations by Zachary Jackson Brown.
Eli Roth said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “When we started production on Thanksgiving, Jeff Rendell gave me the board game Silent Night, Deadly Night. I had it in my office during shooting, I thought it was so hilarious and perverse, we actually said, ‘What if we made a board game out of Thanksgiving?’ By complete coincidence, the team at Stop the Killer reached out to me after the film was released, and I said not only do I want to do it, I had specifically been thinking about all the things we could do if we were ever to make one.”
“I worked with the incredible team of game masters, writers, designers, and horror uber-fans to come up with something that was not only fun, but was playable multiple times with different ridiculous results,” Roth continues. “I dreamed of making a game that you could play after you watched the movie, or if you wanted to live in the world of the game and go deeper into the strange characters and twisted killings, you can go inside the film through the game. I wanted real participation not just in trying to win, but in audience creativity. If you’re good at coming up with great kills, you just might be able to survive John Carver’s Carving Board. I was deeply involved in every aspect of the game, and wanted something that could ruin any family Thanksgiving gathering.”
Game designer Jon Cohn adds, “Eli laid out three very clear mandates for the game: create the most offensive holiday game ever, make it easy enough for Grandma to learn, and make sure Grandma absolutely hates it. I’ve made a number of licensed games in my career, but this was the first time I had a chance to co-design a project alongside the actual creator. Eli has been an incredible collaborator on this game, he’s been dedicated every step of the way to push the experience into something tailor-made for anyone who is a fan of Thanksgiving. In every meeting, Eli has been incredibly supportive of the game’s direction, and is always ready with an idea to elevate the game to the next level. He even went as far as writing an entire deck of trivia cards specifically for players visiting McCarty’s Party (the only safe place in Plymouth)!
“During each round, one player assumes the role of John Carver, then acts as Judge, Jury, and Executioner as the rest of the players take their turns. Those players will be prompted to provide the most outrageous, gory, and gross answers possible, leaving it up to the current Carver player to choose who dies at any given moment. One of the hardest aspects of making games based on horror films is figuring out how to deal with the fact that there’s a murderer going around killing all of the characters you’re supposed to be playing as. Thanks to Eli’s mandate, I came up with an idea that’s sort of the opposite experience of most horror games. In Thanksgiving, you actually WANT to die… a lot!”
Stop the Killer Games’ Anthony Masi tells us, “Since starting this board game company in 2022, I’ve been able to help create games based on some of favorite horror movies, and most of them have been with our partner company, Fright Rags. With their help, we were able to fast-track the Thanksgiving game and completely design it and test it in record time, which will enable us to release it in November of this year. To get 10% off and 3 Limited Edition stickers, go to www.stopthekiller.com and use code NOLEFTOVERS!”
You can pre-order the Thanksgiving board game now, shipping November 2024!
