Page 23 - spielbox 03/21 - English

Once that is also done, each dungeon gets infested by a hero in the last third, who dutifully follows the indicated path and fights every encountered monster. If the hero wins, monsters and victory points are lost. If the monster wins, the hero takes damage and the triumphant monster remains standing.
They fight with dice, and untrained monsters have a hard time. But any pre- vious upgrading increases their chances dramatically. And then there are still the cards from the first round, which you now use a second time over, either to defend your own dungeon or to weaken those of the enemy. Once all the dungeons have been passed through, the carnage is over, and every surviving monster, every undetected treasure and every point
of damage the hero re- ceived scores points.
Doodle Dungeon
is not a game for tac-
ticians, because experi-
enced gamers can quickly
figure out how to build
the ideal dungeon. Put
traps in narrow passages.
Level up monsters systematically.
Build junctions where the hero has to de- cide to go left or right. So far, that‘s the theory.
The game derives its fun from the con- trolled chaos during building and show- down. You never have those ideal cards, bungle together a half-baked, more or less decent dungeon, whilst constantly bragging and giving each other a hard time in the
dice duels. You mock the op- posing orcs
as a bunch
of badly
coiffed sissies, only to curse your own incompetent goblin horde soon af- ter. In short, with the right people, it‘s light-hearted fun, and you couldn‘t ask for any better.
At times it reminds me of Munchkin, since Doodle Dungeon is also not for crybabies. With the help of the cards, you deal powerful and arbitrary blows, and the constant dice rolling is not for fans of sophisticated strategy. However, since the game is much more straightforward and shorter than Munchkin, the lively to and fro always remains enjoyable. A game lasts about 45 minutes, and in my rounds always included plenty of moaning and laughter.
Last, but not least, I‘d like to praise the outstanding design of the game. Starting with the brilliant illus- trations by design veteran John Kovalic, continuing with the whimsical yet concise rules, and perfectly rounded off by the dungeon tem- plates that allow even ar- tistically challenged gamers to paint down fierce goblins in no time at all. And hey, show me another game that comes with a start player pen- cil sharpener! How great is that! Which finally brings us back to the conclusion. Again, for the record: Doodle Dungeon is a lot of fun and one of the best beer- and-pretzel games in a long time. And thanks to everyone who has academical- ly plodded through that middle section, almost like through a well-doodled dun-
geon. (cs)
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Title: Designer: Illustration: Publisher: Players: Age: Duration: Price:
Doodle Dungeon Ulrich Blum John Kovalic Pegasus
2 – 4
about 10+ years about 45 minutes about 25 Euros
Reviewer
Gerald Rüscher
Andreas Becker
Playing appeal
8
6
Takes too long for what it is. Fast players are essential.
Christwart Conrad 5
Beats any dungeon crawler by a mile. Building is fun. So is drawing the hero‘s path. The dice rolling phase thwarts any planning. This may
be intentional in a fun game. But, unfortunately it gets too tedious. Even worse, when some heroes die or escape quiet early on in the game. Any replay value is severely diminished.
Stefan Ducksch 6
Monster template, start player sharp- ener, Dungeon Building Laws: exactly my sense of humor! If only it didn‘t take so long to introduce newbies. So, despite Kovalic‘ drawings, the game stays in the box more often than it should, unless you have a well-oiled round that plays fast enough.
Stephan Kessler 5
Smart basic concept, but the dun- geon somehow always ends up look-
ing similar. Especially in the phase where the adventurers explore the place, it can feel like a slog, and
then takes too long for what it is.
Marie Poenisch 5
The idea is great, but the game could be much more well-paced.
Christoph Schlewinski 4
Seen everything after the first game. From then on you always
repeat the same iron boot.