Dungeon Rush

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The two decks
3. Setup
4. Playing
5. Hero powers
6. Events
7. The boss
8. Losing
9. Levels
10. What we changed
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Dungeon Rush is a cooperative real-time card game: all players form one team of heroes and win or lose together, and there are no turns – everybody plays at the same time, as fast as they can. The dungeon is a pile of cards. You turn them up one by one: doors that need cards of a certain suit, mini-bosses that need more, and nasty events. At the bottom waits the boss. Defeat the boss before the 5-minute timer runs out and you win.

• Players: 2–4; best with 3 or 4.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks with different backs, two jokers and a timer (a phone will do) that you can pause.

Dungeon Rush is our own adaptation for ordinary decks, inspired by 5-Minute Dungeon (Connor Reid, 2017). It is a new game written for this site and has not been playtested yet; the levels come from a rough computer simulation (see "Levels"). What we changed is listed near the end.

The two decks

The hero deck is one full deck plus both jokers (54 cards). These are the cards you play:

The dungeon deck is made from the second deck. Take out these cards; the rest go back in the box:

Setup

1. Heroes: each player takes one of the four Queens and lays it face up in front of them. The Queen's suit tells you your power (see "Hero powers").
2. Build the dungeon for your level (start with level 1, see "Levels"): shuffle the 16 doors and count off as many as the level says, face down. Shuffle the four Jacks and take the level's number of mini-bosses, the same with the four 5s for the events – without looking. Shuffle all these cards together into one face-down pile, the dungeon. Slide the King face up under it: the boss waits at the bottom.
3. Hero deck: shuffle it and deal it out completely, face down, into one draw pile per player (some piles may have one card more).
4. Each player draws a hand from their own pile: 5 cards with two players, 4 with three, 3 with four.
5. Set the timer to 5 minutes. Start it the moment you turn up the first dungeon card.

Playing

There are no turns. Turn up the top card of the dungeon and lay it in the middle. Everybody may now play cards from their hand face up onto it, at the same time, as fast as they like, until it is defeated. Talk as much as you like – shouting "Who's got a heart?" is half the game.

• Door (A–4): needs as many cards of its suit as its rank. The 3♥ needs three hearts; the A♠ one spade.
• Mini-boss (Jack): needs 2 cards of its suit and 2 of the other suit of the same colour. The J♠ needs 2 spades and 2 clubs; the J♦ 2 diamonds and 2 hearts. A mini-boss can't be defeated by a Jack from your hand or by a hero power – only by cards.
• Event (5): happens at once, unless somebody plays a Queen from their hand straight away to cancel it (see "Events").

As soon as a card has all the cards it needs, it is defeated: sweep it and all cards on it aside, out of the game, and turn up the next dungeon card.

A card laid is a card played. You can't take a card back. A card that isn't needed – a wrong suit, or a heart too many – counts for nothing and is swept away with the rest.

Refill at once. Whenever you play or discard a card, draw from your own pile until you have your full hand again. If you have more cards than your hand size, don't draw until you have fewer. If your pile is empty, play on with what you hold.

Out of cards. If your hand and your pile are both empty, you are out of cards: you can't play any more, but you can still talk, turn up cards and watch the clock – and the Healer can bring you back.

Example: Level 1, three players: Anna is the Fighter (Q♠), Ben the Healer (Q♥), Carla the Timekeeper (Q♦). Anna turns up the first card, the 3♥ – three hearts. Anna slaps down the 7♥, Carla the K♥: two hearts at once – defeated! Next comes the J♣, a mini-boss: 2 clubs and 2 spades. Ben plays the 4♣ and the 9♣, Anna the 2♠ – and nobody has another spade. Carla plays her joker as a spade: defeated. Next: the 5♥, an event – Ben throws in a Queen from his hand, the Q♣, and cancels it. Then the 4♠: nobody holds a spade, so Anna discards three cards and uses her power: "Fight!" – the door is defeated.

Hero powers

Any hero may use their power at any time, as often as they like: discard 3 cards from your hand face up onto a discard pile beside you (out of the game), call out your power and use it. Then refill your hand. If you have fewer than 3 cards, you can't use your power.

A power is not a card play, so the Timekeeper's pause holds while the team uses powers. The Fighter's and the Scout's powers don't work on mini-bosses, events or the boss.

Events

When an event (a 5) is turned up, anybody may play a Queen from their hand at once to cancel it: sweep both away and turn up the next card. Otherwise it happens:

After a Cave-in, a Mix-up or a Darkness, sweep the event aside and turn up the next card.

The boss

When the last dungeon card is defeated, the King lies bare: the boss. It needs 2 cards of every suit – 3 of every suit on level 5. Defeat it before the timer runs out and you win the dungeon.

Losing

You lose the dungeon if:

• the timer runs out before the boss is defeated;
• all players are out of cards;
• you are stuck: nobody can play a card that is still needed and nobody can use a power. If you all agree that you are stuck, the dungeon has won.

Levels

Play the levels in order, like a campaign: after a win, go on to the next level; after a loss, try the same level again.

The budget. Your hero deck holds 54 cards; since the four Kings count double, that is 58 cards' worth of suits. A door needs 2.5 cards on average, a mini-boss 4, the boss 8 (level 5: 12), a Pit 4. Level 1 therefore costs about 32 cards, level 5 about 50 – and at the end the cards still in your hands (12 with three or four players, 10 with two) are no use. Every hero power costs 3 more cards; the Jacks from your hand save 1–3. So the cards run short from level 4 on, and the Healer's and the Timekeeper's powers must be used wisely.

The clock. Five minutes are 300 seconds. On level 1 you play about 32 cards: nearly 10 seconds each. On level 5 you have 6 seconds a card – and a Darkness or a Mix-up costs more.

A rough computer simulation that counted only cards (not time) won levels 1 and 2 more than 80% of the time, level 3 about 65–85%, level 4 about 45–60% and level 5 only 30–45%; two players did a little worse than three or four. It hasn't been playtested: if the timer never gets close, set it to 4 minutes; if you keep losing, try the beginners' timer (see "Variants").

What we changed

Compared with the model game named in the overview: the five symbols are replaced by the four suits and the jokers; every door needs cards of a single suit, as many as its rank; the hero deck is one shared deck dealt out at random, so no hero has a favourite suit; the heroes, their powers, the action cards and the events are our own; there are only four heroes, so at most four players; and the five dungeons are built from a second deck.

Tips for beginners

• Call it out. Say what you hold as soon as a card turns up: "Two hearts here!" Silence is the real enemy.
• Don't overplay. A fourth heart on a 3♥ is wasted – watch the middle before you slap.
• Save Kings and jokers for the boss. They are the easiest way to find two of every suit.
• Use powers to swap cards. A power throws away 3 useless cards and gives you 3 new ones – often that's worth more than the power itself.
• Timekeeper: pause before the boss. A calm moment to count what the team still holds can save the game.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Hard campaign: after a loss, start again at level 1.
• Short fuse (harder): 4 minutes instead of 5.
• Beginners' timer (easier): 6 minutes, and the Timekeeper's pause is free – no cards to discard.