It’s the conversation that every parent dreads. You know, the one about the birds and the bees. When you sit your young little bards and rogues down and talk to them about how one day they may find that special Owlbear, that makes them feel funny inside. Oh, is this not how you remember the conversation going? Well, maybe you need a refresher course. Let’s take a look at Dungeon Date!
Dungeon Date
Publisher: Nerdy Pup
Designer: Michael Addison
Theme:
There are two distinct aspects to Dungeon Date. First, your adventurer. Throughout the game, you will acquire equipment. Each piece of equipment has two style icons. One icon is tied to the adjective, the other to the name of the object itself. As you play through the game, you’ll have the opportunity to combine items, stacking cards on top of each other, but so that the card behind adds it’s adjective, and icon, to the card on top. So, you may start with a “Serrated Sawtooth Saber”, but end up with a “Trusty, Haunting, Serrated Sawtooth Saber”.
The icons on your equipment are needed for the second aspect of the game: the creatures. Various creatures will be available each round. You will choose whether to Romance, Befriend, or Slay any of the available creatures, with each having their benefits.
If you have a budding romance with a creature, you can go on dates. These dates earn you victory points and are gained by either Befriending or Slaying additional creatures (indicated on the card of your potential love interest).
If you have become friends with a creature, that creature can temporarily give you access to a style icon on its card for a single turn.
If you slay a creature, it is permanently put in to your slay stack, unable to be stolen by other homewrecking players.
So, you will compete with other players as you style yourself with the most fashionable, effective gear. And then race to establish relationships with various creatures. That relationship could be romantic, platonic, or… fatal in nature.
Mechanics:
At its core, Dungeon Dates is a tableau builder that rewards set collection as the primary way of scoring ‘VP’. There is a little “take that” in terms of stealing cards from other players.
You build up your tableau, as your inventory of equipment. You can upgrade or “restyle” your gear as the game progresses by stacking cards as mentioned above.
Each stack of creatures (Romanced, Befriended, or Slayed), will look at the number of same creature types, as indicated by the color of background on the creature card. Increased points are awarded for 2, 3, and 4 of each type of creature.
There are also community point modifiers that are Style cards. These represent what fashion is currently in style. There is a Style card for each different equipment icon. At the end of the game, players get additional points for each icon they currently have showing on equipment. Players also have the ability to claim a Style card for themselves, denying other players that specific modifier. However, a new Style card will take its place.
For Parents:
So, this is a game that’s pretty simple to teach. The iconography is clear. My 10 and 8 year olds needed no help, while my 7 and 5 year olds needed a little help with decision making at times. The mechanics are easy, and the strategy will come after a playthrough or two.
Set up time is minimal. There are a few decks of cards to shuffle. Place a few from each deck in the right location next to the boards. Put the tokens within reach. Done. Five minutes, tops.
Some parents may get caught up on the name and theme. If you’re worried about your child playing a tabletop dating simulator, you have nothing to worry about. My kids erupted with laughter when I romanced the Mummy and proceeded to earn date points with the Mummy. My 7 year old son was hesitant to date a dwarf. But once he realized that it was merely an in-game mechanic and a way to earn points, he cast aside his hesitation.
Kids like to laugh and be silly when playing games, and Dungeon dates gives them just the resources they need to do that.
Final Thoughts:
This is a fun game. My kids enjoyed it and have asked to play it again already. I don’t see this one coming to the table much when I get together with some peers. It is a light game, but there are enough choices and variability to keep older players engaged while playing with a younger crowd.
Being that the game is geared towards a younger audience, it was great to see the art as something you might find in modern cartoons. I think it was the perfect choice, and I am really impressed with all of the artwork by the entire team of artists: Leigh Luna, Mikayla Buan, Tan Ganguly, and game designer Michael Addison. While it’s not majestic landscapes and detailed portraits, it captures the fun that this game brings to the table.
Dungeon Date is coming soon to Kickstarter. You can follow along for the latest updates HERE.
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