Welcome to the Dungeon is Still One of the Best Family Card Games
There’s something known as the “cult of the new” in board games, and, indeed, probably in most collectible hobbies. It means that it can be easy to get obsessed with talking about and focusing only on the new things that come out - giving yourself little time to enjoy the things you already have.
This mentality can be particularly frustrating in the world of board games, because very good family-favorite games are very often lost from the zeitgeist entirely. Great family games often and quickly seem to go out of publication, often becoming difficult to find, and it’s hard not to blame some of that on the cult of the new.
Trust me, I’m certainly not immune to the pull of new and shiny things. It naturally comes with the territory of writing about books and games. But as a dad that really wants to share my favorite stories and games with my kids, it can be kind of problematic to constantly be looking ahead to the next new thing instead of spending time on our old loves. And this is especially true when probability and personal experience suggests the next big thing will likely be another mediocre game that we only play once or twice.
There’s something to be said for purposefully returning to the books and games that we really love. And that’s why I like to sometimes look backwards for our Game of the Month. There are several all-time family favorites that haven’t been given their just due on Dad Suggests, and it’s time to rectify that with Welcome to the Dungeon.
I first saw Welcome to the Dungeon on Tabletop with Wil Wheaton many years ago, and it was quite obviously a game made for us. We always gravitate towards fantasy themes - and this dungeon crawling theme is pretty perfectly up our alley. Classic adventurers like rogues and mages fighting goblins, dragons, and vampires? What’s ever not to like about that?
How to Play Welcome to the Dungeon
Each game of Welcome to the Dungeon starts with choosing the hero that everyone will play as simultaneously. You can choose from warrior, mage, rogue or barbarian. (In the sequel, you can be princess, ninja, necromancer, or bard.) And each hero in the game comes with 6 artifacts or pieces of equipment. These artifacts are different for each character, and they could be something like a shield that adds HP or a lance that automatically kills the dragon.
My favorite part about Welcome to the Dungeon is the press-your-luck strategy that’s involved. Each time it’s your turn you simply draw a card or pass. If you draw a card from the stack of monsters, you either put it face down into the dungeon, or not. But if you don’t put it into the dungeon, you have to remove one of the hero’s pieces of equipment. This will, of course, make it harder for the hero to defeat all of the monsters in the dungeon once he or she goes dungeon crawling.
If you pass on your turn, you are out until the next round. You won’t go dungeon crawling and have a chance to win the round, but you won’t lose either. The round continues until everyone passes except for one person, and that person must try to defeat all of the monsters one by one using whatever equipment is left. That’s where the press-your-luck strategy comes into play - do you dare add another monster to the dungeon or remove a piece of equipment, knowing you might be the one going in if everyone passes?
If you’re the one going through the dungeon, you flip over the top card of the dungeon deck and see what monster it is and what strength it is. If one of your pieces of equipment can defeat it (there are artifacts that destroy all even-numbered monsters or all small monsters, for instance), then you draw the next card. If you can’t defeat it, you lose HP equal to the strength of the monster. Simply continue doing this until you finish the dungeon or run out of HP.
If you die in the dungeon 2 times, you’re out of the game. But if you succeed in the dungeon 2 times, you’re the big winner! It’s a wonderfully designed game, and, in my experience, it’s very easy to teach it to new players and children as well.
Our Experience with Welcome to the Dungeon
Our son first played Welcome to the Dungeon several years ago when he was 5, and all the way back then it was clearly the illustrations of the heroes and the monsters that instantly appealed to him. We all loved it so much, we quickly added it to our list of our favorite family card games. The official age recommendation is 10+, but, like I said, I think this game is pretty easy to teach to children - especially if they love fantasy settings and are therefore hooked from the start.
You can play the game with just 2 players, but without a doubt it’s much better with 3 or 4. My wife and I actually still enjoy it with just us, but it’s of course a tiny bit less interesting trying to predict when to bluff and when to pass and drop out when there’s only 1 other player. By adding 1 or 2 more players, all of the sudden there’s significantly more unknown information and unpredictability.
We loved the game so much, we definitely picked up the sequel - Welcome Back to the Dungeon - which adds 4 new heroes, all new monsters (including the gelatinous cube!), and, of course, new artifacts. Adding the ninja, necromancer, and princess as heroes was a nice touch, because it’s like they were secretly reading the mind of our kids when writing the game.
It’s also very much one of the most likeliest games we’d take to any social gathering of family or friends where games are required. We recently took it on vacation with another family and it was by far the biggest success of the games we had - sometimes with a kid or 2 and sometimes just with the adults. Like I said before, it’s easy to teach, and people tend to instantly connect with the interesting bluffing and press-your-luck strategy taking place.
It’s also worth mentioning that I lost every single time we played on that trip, and that’s a good thing in my book. Despite the fact that I had the most experience with the game, new players routinely beat me. I think that speaks to the unpredictable nature and longevity of the game, and I always appreciate an interesting challenge.
Now that our daughter is 6, Welcome to the Dungeon is without a doubt one of the best family games in our collection. It’s one of those 4-player games that’s been on our shelves for a long time, and we’ve always said, “won’t it be nice when both of our kids are old enough for all 4 of us to play together.” Well that time is officially now! And that’s what it’s a great time for us to look back, name Welcome to the Dungeon our Game of the Month, and give an old favorite it’s well-deserved due.
Have you ever played Welcome to the Dungeon? Do you like games with a press-your-luck strategy? Let us know in the comments!
