Contestant Number 3, do you enjoy long walks through forbidden goblin infested forests? Getting jiggy with Gelatinous Cubes? Decking yourself out in only the best fur speedos when it comes to adventuring gear?
It sounds like we should take a stroll through Dungeon Date together, a 1-4 player card game about romancing, befriending, or slaying monsters while collecting treasure that helps you dress to impress.
Gameplay Overview:
A Dungeon Board is set up in the middle of the playfield with four different locations, each with its own stack of monster cards, the easiest monsters on top and the most challenging on bottom. Treasure cards are also placed on the Dungeon Board, through which players can upgrade their equipment to better fuel their actions. Each player gets their own board as well, to track their equipment slots. Players earn points based on the sets of monster cards that they collect, and the game ends when one location stack on the Dungeon Board is fully emptied of monsters.
Play goes in rounds, with everyone secretly selecting action cards that will allow them to romance, slay, or befriend dungeon monsters. Monsters have different symbols on their cards for each possible action. Whether the player will be successful with their action depends on if they have equipment with corresponding symbols. If the player succeeds, they get to add that monster to their scoring piles, and gain treasure. If they fail, they earn a spite card, which may help them later down the line in a fight, which happens when more than one player selects the same monster. Each action card has a fight value. In a fight, your current action card, the one played in the previous round, and your spite cards are added together and pitted against the other player who wants the same monster. The winner gets to face the monster, and the loser gains spite to better fuel their next fight.
Collecting matching sets of monster cards that are the same color earns you points, as does having matching sets of equipment. The most points wins the game. There are additional rule sets that allow for playing with Hero cards that have special abilities, Pet cards that boost your style, and more challenging Eldritch monsters. The game also includes a solo mode, quest mode, and co-op mode.
Game Experience:
I never would have considered a fantasy monster dating game before Dungeon Date fell in my lap. Now I can’t imagine the world without it. There’s a growing genre of cute cartoony fantasy games, like Bargain Quest, Dungeon Petz, Flamecraft, Dungeon Academy, Dungeon Scrawlers: Heroes of Waterdeep… Just a lot of dungeon and/or dragon themed games gone cute. I’m here for it. This aesthetic creates a clever juxtaposition to the traditionally more serious tone of dungeon crawling based games that are full of battle, death, and looting goblin corpses. A silly, lighthearted game with pastel art about fighting over who gets to befriend these monsters or take them on dates strikes a perfect conceptual balance. Luckily, beyond having a strong concept, the game is also a lot of fun to play.
The simultaneous action selection works well, leading to some solid conflict. Having the challenge of creating sets in each of the different scoring piles associated with these actions adds a competitive edge to the game, which might otherwise feel a little too kind. When the game is getting down to the wire, if you want to ask that skeleton on a date you’re going to have to fight someone for it. This keeps things exciting and cutthroat, whether you’re dating or dying.
It is easy to end up being overpowered by players who consistently draw in to more quality gear. Some locations will be easier for these players to corner the market on, narrowing your own choices. Players who hate luck of the draw and prefer strategy reliant games aren’t going to enjoy this aspect, and likely won’t feel like Dungeon Date has quite enough going for it. Those who are looking for a simple to teach, slightly silly take on set collection games will enjoy it more.
Final Thoughts:
Dungeon Date delivers a quick to learn and entertaining game. It’s a quirky twist for the dungeon crawling theme, with cutesy art and a unique point of view. I can see it getting a lot of play time on my table. It has multiple modes of play to keep things fresh, and it would work well as a pre-RPG night warm up, or as a casual filler on a lighter game night.
Final Score: 4 stars – It’s a fun, aesthetic, quick card game that delivers whimsical art and interesting gameplay.
Hits:
• Cute art with a pleasant color scheme
• Unique and funny concept
• Competitive scoring goals
Misses:
• Strategy is fairly simple, relying on good card draw timing
• Players can dominate play quickly
