Scooby-Doo is a television institution. Since the show made its television debut in 1969, several generations of kids have grown up with Mystery Inc. and their wacky adventures. However, despite the show having a structure that seems perfect for TTRPGs, there has never been an official Scooby-Doo TTRPG. Thankfully, indie TTRPGs have stepped up, creating excellent games that capture the vibe of the beloved show. Zoinks is a great example of this. However, rather than putting you in Velma’s sensible shoes or Fred’s stylish ascot, the game puts you in the villains’ rubber monster suit.
Created by Jack Cahan, Zoinks casts players as a group of evildoers who want to demolish the late Goodie Prescott’s old mansion to build a golf course on it. Alas, this plan has hit a stumbling block as Goodie Prescott has decided to donate the building to the local orphanage. So, keen to claim the building for themselves, the players opt to disguise themselves as monsters and attempt to scare off all of the building’s occupants so they can buy the property at a hefty discount.
Rules As Simple As Fred’s Traps
However, this plan has hit a major stumbling block. A group of teenage paranormal investigators has arrived at the house, and they’re going to stop at nothing to work out what is going on.
Naturally, the game starts with character creation. Players decide both their character’s civilian role (which will explain why your character is hanging around the building) as well as the monster alter-ego they’ve created to try and scare off the meddling kids.
The player then generates their three stats (Sneak, Scary, Scheming) by rolling 4D6 and then discarding the highest roll. Finally, before the game begins, the players must think of four clues that, if found or deduced by the meddling teens, will reveal the truth behind your caper.
Once this is done, the game begins. Zoinks is split into scenes. At the start of the scene, the GM lays out a scenario, and the players devise a scare that will cause the meddling teens to flee the house. Once this plan has been decided on, all the players roll 1d6. The player with the lowest role transforms into their monster alter-ego.
After this, the scene begins. The player who has turned into their monster alter-ego must attempt to pull the scare off, while the other players try to help the plan along without revealing that they are a co-conspirator. When a player attempts to do something with a chance of failure, they roll a D20. If the roll is equal to or under the relevant stat, the action is performed successfully.
However, if the roll is above the stat, the action fails. When an action fails, the player marks off a square on the included Clue Tracker. Whenever four segments of the Clue Tracker are filled, the detectives find one of the clues, getting them closer to ruining the players’ plan. Once this is done, the player rolls on the hijinks table to find out exactly why their action failed.
Players also have access to a resource called Haunt Points. Each player starts the game with three of these points, and, at any point during a scene, the player may spend one to pause the scene for a moment. During this pause, the player can inform the others about something their character has prepared for this exact moment (e.g., setting up a secret tunnel they can use to escape), and this statement instantly becomes true for the rest of the scene.
Once the scene reaches a natural ending point, it concludes, and the process repeats. However, when the next scene starts, the player who acted as the monster in the previous scene rolls 2D6 and discards the lower roll, meaning that a player is unlikely to be a monster two scenes in a row.
Tight TTRPG Design That Captures The Scooby-Doo Vibe
Zoinks is a beautifully designed game. One of the best things about it is that Jack Cahan clearly loves Scooby-Doo because each part of this TTRPG perfectly captures the show’s signature vibe, meaning that just reading the rules is enough to get players into the right headspace for the experience.
The game’s mechanics also strike a perfect balance. They are easy to learn and quick to use, meaning that scenes progress quickly and flow together nicely. Additionally, the rules strike a nice balance between being firm enough to guide players through the experience and keep things moving, while giving players enough space to improvise and come up with unique approaches. This gives Zoinks a wonderful sense of chaos, which really helps make it feel like a classic episode of Scooby-Doo as the players are forced to bounce between increasingly goofy situations until they’re eventually unmasked.
On top of this, the game also features some clever flourishes that help push the players and GM in the right direction without feeling overbearing. For example, giving the player who was the monster in the last scene a buff during the initial roll helps make sure that every player gets a turn at being the monster. Plus, linking the Clue Tracker to failed rolls makes life much easier for the DM as it helps make sure the story, no matter where the player takes it, follows the usual Scooby-Doo format.
In a similar vein, the Haunt Points inject a lot of fun chaos into scenes, while also giving players a way to keep the scene moving when everything goes wrong or they accidentally talk themselves into a corner, something that makes life much easier for the GM.
However, the Haunt Points are also the one thing I would change about the game. As it currently stands, once players have used all three of the Haunt Points they start with, there is no way to get more. During my testing, this led to some players never using their Haunt Points, as they kept saving them for a “more fitting” moment that never came. Giving players fewer Haunt Points and having them reset at the start of every scene, or having the player gain a Haunt Point whenever they’re the monster of the scene, would go a long way to fixing this and encourage the players to use them whenever the mood strikes them rather than feeling like they need to use them strategically.
Zoinks is the perfect TTRPG for players looking for a unique twist on Scooby-Doo. Its easy-to-learn nature means that it is also a fantastic game for those looking to ease newcomers into the world of TTRPGs, or people looking for a quick, low-prep TTRPG for their next game night.
