When comparing Broom Service vs Elder Sign, the Slant community recommends Elder Sign for most people. In the question“What are the best scary board games to play around Halloween?” Elder Sign is ranked 4th while Broom Service is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Elder Sign is:
Elder Sign is a good game to play with newcomers unfamiliar with the rules due to the game not being super difficult (like Ghost Stories). While it does offer a challenge it is not completely stacked against the players like some other titles in the genre.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Combines risk/reward with strategy
There are two roles for the cards a player will play, Cowardly and Brave. Each turn there can be only one player that gets to be Brave so everyone must try to strategically guess what everyone else will do in order to decide if it is worth the risk of playing the Brave card for more rewards over safely playing a Cowardly card and getting less in that outcome.
Pro Solid components that are designed well
The design of the cards and board are colorful and pleasant and the quality of the cardboard used and wooden pieces feel solid like they will last for years. Overall a nice game to look at and use.
Pro Rules that allow for 2 player
Unlike original Witches Brew game Broom service has an optional 2 player ruleset for those times when there are not enough people for the normal ruleset to be used.
Pro Allows for casual play
Elder Sign is a good game to play with newcomers unfamiliar with the rules due to the game not being super difficult (like Ghost Stories). While it does offer a challenge it is not completely stacked against the players like some other titles in the genre.
Pro Good for short bursts of co-op gameplay
Elder Sign is styled as a co-op experience that uses tightly integrated dice mechanics to allow for short and succinct play times of around 90 minutes.
Cons
Con Game board is busy
The board design while colorful is a bit busy in that it may be confusing what some parts of the board are for as specific colors and shapes are important to the gameplay and getting lost in the design can be a detriment to play.
Con More than 4 or 5 players can lead to a lot of downtime
Elder Sign says it can be played with up to 8 players but playing with that many people can lead to a lot of sitting around, which can be boring.