Stats:
No. of players: 1-4
Amount of time to play: 15-30 min
Age requirements: 8+
Set-up time: minimal

Dungeon Roll is a dungeon crawling, dice game. The further you delve into the dungeon the more dangerous it gets and the more points you score. So just how far should you push your luck?

Dungeon Roll Description:

Dungeon Roll is played over three rounds. You take your party of adventurers into the dungeon to gain experience points. The player with the most experience points after three delves into the dungeon wins.

To start you select the hero you want to play (this can also be done randomly). Each hero has a unique ability they can use once per round. Then you roll the seven party dice. These six-sided dice have a face for a mage, thief, cleric, fighter, champion and scroll.

The player to your left is the dungeon lord. They set the ten-sided level die to one and roll one dungeon die. The dungeon dice show an ooze, goblin, skeleton, dragon, chest and potion.

From here on out you discard dice and gain their effects. Scrolls are used to re-roll any party or dungeon dice. Any single party die may defeat any single dungeon die showing a monster. But some are better at defeating groups of monsters. Mages defeat all ooze dice, fighters defeat all goblin dice and clerics defeat all skeleton dice. Champions defeat any single type of monster dice.

After you have discarded dice to the graveyard and defeated all the monsters, you can open chests and drink potions. A thief or champion can open any number of chests. Other party members may only open one chest at a time. Opening a chest lets you take a treasure token. These tokens add adventurers to your party, score you points and even let you instantly return to town. Any party die (including scrolls) can quaff a potion. Each potion die lets you return a die from the graveyard and you can choose its facing.

Dragon dice are kept to the side until three have accumulated. Then you must face a dragon. It takes three different adventurer dice to defeat a dragon. And you get an experience point and one treasure for your victory.

Next you must decide if you will venture on and risk everything or return to the tavern. If you adventure on you do not reclaim any party dice. The dungeon lord increases the value of the level die by one and rolls that many dungeon dice that you must deal with. If you return to the tavern you collect experience points equal to the level of the dungeon you were on. The next player begins their turn. If you ever get to level ten you must retire for the turn.

Each time you enter the dungeon your hero can reuse their special ability and after you get five experience points they are flipped to their advanced side. This grants them a more powerful special ability.

After three delves the player with the most experience points wins the game.

Quick Review of Dungeon Roll:

Dungeon Roll is a fun filler that is easy and quick to play and teach. This game is great for kids and adults can enjoy it too. You need to know just how far to push your luck and head home when things get too dangerous.

The components for this game are very good. The art is decent and the tokens and cards are good quality. The box is just awesome. Especially since you use it to hold the treasure tokens you draw. The rules are easy to follow too.

I really like how easy this is to play my six-year old can play it with minimal guidance. And thinks it’s a blast. This is a game you can really enjoy playing with your kids. It also is good to start or finish game nights with friends.

I like the theme and mechanics too. The theme works well with the mechanics too. The way certain classes are able to defeat more of a certain monster. Scrolls quaffing potions are not thematic though.

There are a couple things I don’t like. The game has little to no player interaction and with more players too much downtime. In the solo or two player experience there is less downtime and at least when it is not your turn you roll for the dungeon.

If you have kids that like fantasy games you should pick Dungeon Roll up. If you have a game group that wants a fresh filler, you should give this a fun dice roller try.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 2 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 1 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6 (5 for parents and kids)