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Dungeon decorators is a delightful strategic tile-placing game for 2-4 players created by SlugFest Games with a healthy competitive edge to it. Playtime 40-90 minutes.
The Evil Overlord is dead and new potential Overlords are eyeing up the throne…but they want to make sure theirs is the jazziest before they take a seat!
This is where you come in - to decorate the space and make sure your client wins the throne and has the most villainous space to run their empire from. You will battle it out with your fellow decorators to create the perfect dungeon setting complete with accompanying accessories, colours, corridors and rooms.
Using a combination of Dungeon and Decoration placement cards, you will strategise and build your setting to gain points to impress your client and win the contract.
Always prep your surfaces!
Who gets the contract?
To begin, you first need to decide which design company you want to play as – Villainous Interiors Inc, Two Shovels and a Dwarf, Deathly Designs or Giant Pulsating Brain Realty. Each comes with it’s own player board, wooden scoring cube and player marker.
Floorplan…
The Draft Board is placed in the middle of the playing area where all players can access it. At setup the markers are placed randomly in the circles along one of the edges.
Piles of Tiles
In total there are 120 double-sided placement tiles. Randomly select 20 tiles and return them to the box, then evenly split the remaining tiles between the Red and Blue bags provided (50 in each).
You will then add the 3 Hour glass Tiles to the Red bag – when the last of these is pulled from the bag, the game is over!
The tiles will display Decorations on one side and Corridors/Hallways/Rooms on the other. Some Corridors/Hallways/Rooms have colours which may be required to achieve certain goals (there is also an end-game scoring bonus for the number of different colour tiles you have in your dungeon)
Some tiles on the Corridors/Hallways/Rooms side will also show a yellow star – this is another way to score extra points at end-game.
What the customer wants…
The goal cards are split into 2 different categories – Shape and Decoration. These are how you will earn extra points throughout gameplay. Moving you counter up the points track each time one is completed.
Each player is dealt 3 of each and decides on 2 to keep as starter cards (these can be any combination – 2 decorations, 1 decoration/1 shape or 2 shapes)
The remaining cards are returned to their respective piles and placed on the table when all players can access them. Each time you complete a card, you get to pick a replacement from either pile.
There are also 2 BOSS goals separated into a Blue and Yellow pile. Randomly select one from each pile and place where all players can see them. These are shared goals to help you earn extra points at end-game.
Pick up your paint brushes…ready, steady, paint!
Each round consists of 5 easy steps : Draft a Tile, Activate any Assistant Icons on the tile picked up, Place that tile in your dungeon, Score your go, Refill the tiles after everyone’s go
Decisions, decisions…
Each turn 4 -tiles will be randomly selected from the bag - The first half of the game plays with tiles drafted from the Blue bag. When this is empty you move onto the Red bag which contains the 3 Hourglass tiles.
These are then placed on the Draft Board in numerical order from lowest to highest.
DRAFTING - When you select your tile it is important to remember that how and where you place your marker will determine the order of play for the next round.
If you do not like the look of any of the tiles up for offer, you do have the option on the middle space to draft a random tile from the bag AND pick up a new card, a good option to keep in your back pocket!
ACTIVATE ASSISTANTS - There are ‘Assistants’ on some cards that provide extra help such as the Goblin Sapper who gives you an additional Corridor/Room tile, a Mimic that can take the form of any decoration you need, the Arcane Architect that allows you to move or rotate an already placed tile or the Burrow Bro which allows you to select extra tiles from the bag to select from
BUILDING THE DUNGEON – Once a tile is placed in your dungeon, it CANNOT be moved (unless you have an Arcane Architect token) so it is important to think ahead on how you want to lay your dungeon out. You can choose whether to place as a decoration or Corridor/Hallway/Room
All tiles must be placed ‘legally’ which simply means the tiles need to flow with no corridors being blocked off (unless by a room)
SCORING – Any goal cards you hold in your hand that can be completed can now be scored and yes, you can complete more than one each go! For each goal you complete, you have the option to pick up a new card from EITHER pile
REFILL – Refill the tiles from the bag, the player now in the number 1 circle gets to pick first!
Gotta win the contract
When the third Hour Glass tile is pulled from the red bag, the game is instantly over and it’s time to add all the end-game points to the tallies and see who has won the contract!
From in-game goals to Boss Goals, Stars and colours, there are a LOT of different ways to score in this game and it can seem a little overwhelming trying to keep on top of every moving part to try and maximise your points and this is where I found the ‘Help’ cards really useful.
One side gives you the benefits of each of the Assistant icons you can find on the tiles and the other takes you through the order of play and the additional end-game scorings like the Star tiles and colours. It brings a little to order to what can seem like a chaotic scoring system.
Time for some redecorating?
Shapes, Decorations, number of colours, strategy or just good ol’ fashion luck!
There are so many ways to score points in this game that everyone will approach it with a different strategy and no strategy will be wrong – you are in the hand of the Tile-Gods after all!
For this reason, the replay-ability is endless as no 2 games are ever the same. From different Boss Goals, strategic approaches and Tiles from the bag, this colourful and quirky tile-placement game is perfect to grab after dinner has been cleared off the table for some quality game time with a little friendly competition thrown in.
It’s one that we keep on the shelf behind the dining table and frequently sit and have a game after dinner. The ever-moving first player mechanic makes it strategic and fun (because higher number tiles are necessarily better than the lower numbered ones so it is completely pot-luck) But it does keep things interesting, especially with 4-players.
It’ a fun game with an interesting quirk that doesn’t take an entire evening. Great for young and old, friends and family.
