Dungeon Roll review

Dungeon Roll

by Tasty Minstrel Games

1-4 players

Setup: 5 mins

Playtime: 20 mins per player

The Dungeon lies before you; you’ve assembled your party of hearty adventurers and have a few tricks up your sleeve. How far will you go to seek glory and fame? Will you risk losing everything?

This is a dice game. At the start of a turn, players roll to see which heroes will follow them into the dungeon. Then the heroes delve into the dungeon level by level. The deeper the delve, the more monsters one has to fight. These monsters are represented by another set of diced rolled. Players look at the heroes they have and decide which heroes they wish to sacrifice to kill the monsters.

There are various combinations that the active player can play. If there are a few monsters of a certain type being rolled, one specific hero can defeat them all. If a dragon is rolled, then they go into a pile. Collect 3 dragons in one turn and you risk losing more heroes  to them.

You can also roll scrolls which you can turn to potions which will help you revive heroes. Open treasure chests and you are entitled to rummage through an actual treasure box made of cardboard and claim treasure for yourself.

The active player can choose when he wants to leave the dungeon and keep the victory points he has earned (equal to the level of dungeon he/she managed to delve into). After 3 rounds, the points are summed up and the victory goes to obviously the player with the most points. More than this, you can look at the chart in the rulebook and see what you achieved. Get more points and you might be more than a village hero.

Gameplay 6/10
A playable and fun game. What takes the fun away is the downtime. One player would have his/her turn for 5 mins. They inserted that another player should throw the dice for the monsters but one player could do both for just the same feel. I'd say playing with two players is the sweet spot.

Dice not Yahtzee style. You usually don't get a choice unless you have other dice or powers to help you re-roll.

Luck in this game is there (as with every dice game) but not overwhelming until you feel the game is playing itself. There are still decisions to be made and each decision may reward you better.

Components 6/10

Love the dice. Colorful and beautifully engraved.

What brings the component score down is the box which stores all your game components. It is shaped to be a treasure chests with which you can open to draw treasure during the game. It is beautifully designed with art and all but this box is made of cardboard that does not feel solid enough to go through many rounds of play. Because it is not solid enough, you'd better not stack any other board games on top of this or it might collapse. Also because of the many times the box is being opened and closed throughout the game, the latch may spoil easily.

Tokens in this game are flat and small, which does not take much away from the game because the artwork is still good.

Replayability 7/10

For those times when you need a travel game and a quick game, this can be brought out. It is not rule heavy so new players will get the gist of it within the first play. There is good replayability here because the ranks that are available allow you to strive for a better score. So you can play this solo and go for the highest score.

Overall 6.5/10

This will be one of those games you keep near just in case there isn't an hour for a full on board game. The art and dice will draw any player to play it. The theme can be felt throughout the game, much more for dungeon crawling lovers.

It's just the box. Small is good for travel but the flimsiness fell short for me. Cheap though so you can't complain much.

Pros:
Dungeon delving theme
Colorful dice
Plays quickly
Strive for a better score
Beautiful artwork

Cons:
High downtime
Flimsy box


If you've played this game before, leave a comment and let me know how you felt about it.