House of Hazards: a to-do list, three people trying to stop you, and a wheel of punishments
House of Hazards is the party game where doing the housework is the hard part. Each round one player is on offense with a yellow sticky note of tasks — drink the coffee, brush your teeth, carry something to another room — and a green arrow pointing at the next one. Every other player is on defense. Their card at the bottom of the screen shows the hazard they are holding, and the moment the runner walks under it they press fire: the canoe hanging in the hallway drops, the toaster launches its toast, the kitchen cabinet swings open, the tire swing in the backyard comes round. Get hit and you ragdoll across the floor while the clock keeps running.
New Eich Games, the studio behind Getaway Shootout and Rooftop Snipers, made it for Poki in 2020 with the same rubbery physics. The build on houseofhazards.io is that Unity WebGL version served from this domain, so it loads inside the page and runs on a school Chromebook. Two to four people share one keyboard, or the computer fills the empty seats (with a Defense Only option if you just want to run the chores against traps). When a round ends the loser spins the Woeful Wheel, which hands out a handicap for the next round: a heavy vest that shortens your jump, inverted controls, a compulsory dab, or a task you have to redo. There is also a solo Time Trial that puts the whole house on a stopwatch.
Controls & mechanics
| Action | Control | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Move | A / D (Player 1), J / L (Player 2) | Walk left and right; walk into a door to go through it to the next room |
| Jump | W (Player 1), I (Player 2) | Hop over low hazards and onto furniture; also the key that takes you past the title screen |
| Fire / Crouch | S (Player 1), K (Player 2) | On defense, triggers the hazard on your card; on offense, ducks under a swinging hazard. Tasks that need an item show the pick-up key above your character |
| Pause | Pause button, top left | Stops the round timer; players 3 and 4 see their own keys on the Choose Amount screen when they are added |
How to finish the list before the house gets you
- Read the sticky note before you move: The note in the top corner names the current task and the green arrow shows the direction. Tasks send you across rooms, so plan the route through the doors instead of running at the arrow.
- Defenders have to wait for you: A hazard only fires when a defender presses their key, and each one has a reset. Stand just outside its reach until it goes off, then walk through while it is resetting.
- Crouch, do not jump, under the ceiling hazards: The hallway canoe comes straight down and swings back up slowly. A jump puts your head in it; a crouch (S or K) gets you under while it climbs.
- On defense, hold your fire: Firing early wastes the hazard and tells the runner it is safe. Watch the runner's feet and fire when they are directly under your item; switch hazards if yours is in a room they have already left.
- Use Defense Only for practice: Set the computers to Defense Only on Choose Amount and you get a solo run of the chores against traps — the fastest way to learn every room before playing friends.
Key features
- 2 to 4 players on one keyboard: Every seat has its own key set (A/D/W/S, J/L/I/K and so on). Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, which can be told to only play defense.
- Offense and defense rounds: Roles rotate: one player runs the to-do list, the rest hold the hazards. A round ends when the list is done, and the Woeful Wheel hands the loser a punishment for the next one.
- A whole house of traps: Kitchen, hallway, bathroom, garage and backyard, each with its own hazards — canoes, toasters, cabinets, tire swings — plus a solo Time Trial mode.
- Served from this site: The original Unity WebGL build runs from houseofhazards.io: no download, no login, and it works on a Chromebook.
Game info
- Title: House of Hazards
- Developer: New Eich Games
- Category: Party and Multiplayer
- Platform: Web browser (HTML5)
- Players: 1 (Time Trial or vs computers) to 4 on one keyboard
Pro tip: Pick your seat on Choose Amount so that the two people sharing a keyboard sit on opposite ends of it: Player 1 lives on A/D/W/S at the left edge and Player 2 on J/L/I/K at the right, so nobody's hand is in the other's way when the canoe drops.
