The following is a full spoiler review for CVRDIVC Productions’ Game Night 2019.

After our energetic host for the evening jots down our scores by team in red, purple and brown on the white board, the lights suddenly go out, the entire house cloaked in blackness. My fellow game players and I awkwardly look around, shuffling our feet and laughing uncomfortably. Our host scampers out from his place behind the white board, assures us all everything is okay, and goes in search of the problem. He cautiously walks toward a faint light at the end of a long, dark hallway. Once he is out of what little sight we have, we hear a loud crash and a hard thump, like a head being slammed against a wall, then footsteps coming our way. Full of anticipation, we sit in silence, waiting for our host to return. The footsteps get closer, and that’s when I see the gun…

Game Night is the second immersive horror experience by Orange County company CVRDIVC Productions after their debut in March. Groups of up to 10 people are invited to a game night, but the seemingly innocent evening transforms into a demented game when a psychotic burglar takes control. Participants are restricted to their chair for the entirety of the experience – except for moments in which they are chosen to play a game. Game Night takes place in one large living room, has only two actors, some familiar touch, and runs for about an hour – the break-in happening about 20 minutes into “normal” game play.

Game Night begins with a lighthearted, fun, and deceptively innocent game night. This does a great job of subverting expectations and ensuring guests keep wondering what will happen next. When the lights go out and the host goes to investigate, there’s a moment of true tension. A string of expletives, some loud bangs, and yelling reveal that this show is darker than how it began. But the tension doesn’t last long; the burglar cracks jokes as he insists participants play his games, much to the chagrin of the host whose anger and fear quickly turn to sass and several snarky outbursts of “F*** you, b!tch!” The actors then continue to bounce between sass, forceful anger, and ridiculous silliness – never quite settling on a tone, giving the audience tonal whiplash. The tension build-up that leads to silliness successfully keeps participants on their toes, but keep that up – don’t flip-flop between all. If you’re going silly, go fully ridiculous; the experience will feel more consistent because of it.

The overarching issue of the evening is the shifting tone and personality of the burglar. At the start, he is breaking in to rob our poor host. But then it’s revealed later that he’s been stalking the host for weeks – to the point that he’s hidden worms in the fridge. Finally, it’s revealed that the body parts he’s put in three separate bags are that of the host’s neighbor whom he violently murdered. Is that the fate of our host if we weren’t there for games? Why does the burglar want to play games with us and not just kill us all? My recommendation: Have the burglar be someone who was not invited to the host’s game night – so he’s there to force his way into the evening’s fun. As the experience unfolds, his true dark nature is revealed. This would add a backstory to the character and give him a strong motivation – something sorely missing from this experience. A few small changes to the dialogue could fix this problem for any future iterations.

Further, Game Night is rife with trivial issues that, with a few small changes and fixes, could have turned a mediocre evening into something truly special. The burglar is just not threatening in his sweatshirt and jeans – and even the gun he holds feels like an afterthought. Second, the games played at the start were fun, but were often played incorrectly. This complete irreverence may be intentional, but for a show called Game Night, playing games and keeping score should be a main concern. Finally, what’s a game night without snacks or beverages? While the experience is only an hour, adding some Chex mix, popcorn, or juice is becoming commonplace in immersive parties (look at Safehouse ’82); this small addition would make the get together feel more welcoming and inviting.

The climax of the evening also did not have the impact I’m sure CVRDIVC was going for. Our host turned the tables on the burglar by inviting him to play a game with us. It was hard to believe the burglar was so dumb or oblivious to not notice that the guests were collecting items around the house with which to tie him up and dispose of him in a less-than-polite way. What little suspension of disbelief one might have had by this point dissipated as the burglar willingly held his hands out to be tied up, and then followed the host (with a gun) into a back room to be killed. While not making much sense given the frivolity of the characters up until this point, moving this scene out of our sight robbed the guests of an actual ending, leaving us feeling underwhelmed. The finale could have had a bigger impact if guests had been complicit somehow in his demise. Perhaps the winning team of the games from earlier could be the ones to dispatch the burglar, giving some weight to the first half of the evening.

There’s a lot of constructive criticism here, but the structure of the show is there. And the actors, while inconsistent in tone, were strong in their roles. The burglar had us smirking a few times with his ridiculous behavior, and the host’s enthusiastic nature was truly infectious. It would only take about an hour of adjustment to transform this show into a consistent story with fun characters and strong motivations, and ultimately be a fun game night between friends. Because that’s what this is – and it’s the guests you come with that make this great; CVRDIVC is just providing the structure to play with them. We hope they take some of these suggestions to heart and implement them, and bring this show back for more audiences to play.

Game Night has finished its three-night run. For more information on CVRDIVC Productions or to book your own Game Night at the location of your choosing, see their website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook page. Check out our Event Guide for more immersive and horror entertainment throughout the year.

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