Dungeon Days is a pocket-sized card placement game by Farplace Animal Rescue, and part of their Days Series, including Woof Days, Cat Days and Dino Days. Each game takes between 10 and 15 minutes, is quick to set up and super easy to teach. Perfect for family game nights and casual gaming sessions.
Playing The Game
Each player has a game board consisting of the 7 days of the week. Each turn, you either draw a card from a shared deck or play a card from your hand to a player's board. The 39-card deck consists of several creature cards, including the high-scoring Dragon that discards adjacent cards when placed, Medusa that discards all Human and Halfling cards from a player's board, and the Elves and Dwarves that can’t be adjacent to each other. Each card has its restrictions, effects and score value printed on the card - making it a real pick-up-and-play game. The game ends when one player has a creature card placed on every day of the week. Whoever has the highest score at the end of the game wins!
What’s It Like To Play
No two games are the same when playing Dungeon Days, due to the random element of card drawing, and the varying strategy styles the game encourages. Do you rush the game end condition by filling your board with whatever creature cards you draw to limit the highest score? Or do you play strategically, using Goblins, Halflings and Trap cards to empty your opponents’ boards, while you curate a high-scoring board? While playing a Dragon early on can give you a strong lead, it leaves you open to Traps and Halflings that can remove your Dragon from play. For a game that takes only 10–15 minutes, there’s enough depth to the game to allow for forward-thinking and tactical plays.
Final Thoughts
Dungeon Days is easy to teach with the core rules fitting on a single playing card in the box. While a single copy of the game only plays up to two players, multiple copies can be combined to increase the player count. With the game retailing around £6, this allows the game to stay affordable even for larger groups. The only downside I have with Dungeon Days is the nature of the luck of the draw. If you find yourself only drawing low-scoring cards, you can feel hard done by and frustrated, while your opponents fill their boards with high-scoring cards. However, for such a short game with a casual feel, that swinginess can be part of the fun for the right groups.
Each sale supports Farplace Animal Rescue, which is a welcome touch for a small, accessible title that works well as a filler between heavier games or as a light option for families and newer players.
