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Welcome to the Dungeon — first released as Dungeon of Mandom — is a push-your-luck dungeon delve in which 2-4 players take turns essentially daring each other to go into a dungeon with less equipment than they start off with while filling the dungeon with monsters. Players can win the game by winning 2 rounds or get eliminated from the game by losing 2 rounds. Each player has a 2-sided players card that has a white side and a red side. The first win taps the player card and the 1st loss flips the card over to the red side. A 2nd loss will have the player turn the card back into the box.
The game is played in rounds. The player sets up the base character and all the equipment equipped. This represents every player as a fully equipped dungeon delver.
Each round, the start player (the person who challenged the dungeon last or the last player to be in a dungeon) can choose to draw a card from the monster deck or pass their turn.
If they choose to draw, they can do one of two things: (1) keep it and de-equip an equipment or (2) place it face down in the dungeon. Placing it face down in the dungeon creates the dungeon deck and fills the dungeon with monsters that the challenger will have to face later. If they choose to pass their turn, they cannot participate in the rest of the round. Once only one person is left after all the other players have passed their turn, that player then becomes the challenger and must go into the dungeon with only the equipment he has equipped.
The player then flips cards off the dungeon deck and fights the monsters within. Some equipment allow you to null the enemy damage or be able to withstand it by increasing your HP. If the player survives the dungeon with at least 1 HP, they win that round. If not, they lose. The players then reshuffles all the cards to make a new monster deck and re-equips all the equipment to start a new round.
The game ends when someone has won twice or one player is the last man standing.
Welcome to the Dungeon includes four different sets of character cards whereas Dungeon of Mandom has only a single character.
- Engaging push-your-luck framework with meaningful decisions that feel consequential in the moment
- High energy and entertaining banter through a live, group format that sustains engagement
- Diverse equipment and a wide range of dungeon configurations support replayability and variety across plays
- Thematic intensity and artwork can be scary or intimidating for sensitive players, which could dampen enjoyment for some.
- The luck-driven nature can frustrate risk-averse players or those seeking a consistently guaranteed outcome.
- Push-your-luck risk assessment, crew coordination, and high-stakes combat in a compact, socially driven format.
- A fantasy dungeon crawl where players assume the roles of heroes entering a sideways dungeon, facing monsters, and managing equipment to survive until they win by achieving victory conditions.
- humorous, banter-heavy, performance-driven, with a reality-show atmosphere that emphasizes crowd-pleasing moments and dramatic near-misses.
- Welcome Back to the Dungeon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Combat: Damage Based — Hero health points determine survivability; healing items, when used or removed, affect the risk calculus for future encounters.
- Equipment management — Players can gain, trade, or lose equipment that modifies health, special abilities, and interactions with monsters; removing equipment can be as impactful as drawing a monster.
- Health tracking and healing — Hero health points determine survivability; healing items, when used or removed, affect the risk calculus for future encounters.
- monster deck drawing — The dungeon is generated from a deck of monster cards; each reveal adds a new threat that can potentially end the round or alter players' choices.
- participant-driven narration — Players both describe and influence their decisions in a live setting, yielding a strong performative element and high entertainment value.
- Push Your Luck — Players repeatedly decide whether to draw another card (risking a worse outcome) or stop and lock in their current situation, with effects cascading as the dungeon grows.
- push-your-luck — Players repeatedly decide whether to draw another card (risking a worse outcome) or stop and lock in their current situation, with effects cascading as the dungeon grows.
- Resource management — Players can gain, trade, or lose equipment that modifies health, special abilities, and interactions with monsters; removing equipment can be as impactful as drawing a monster.
- special items and instantly-defeating effects — Certain items grant powerful, once-per-dungeon abilities (e.g., Vorpal sword, Holy Grail) that can completely reshape a player's risk profile and the dungeon's outcome.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Suck it, losers.
- Welcome to the dungeon. Sideways dungeon.
- I love push your luck.
- Scroll gang.
- Women in STEM.
- Piece of piss.
- Holly must brave.
- This is going in.
- I’m going to pass.
- Ken, you big brain boy.
References (from this video)
- dungeon exploration with push-your-luck elements
- dungeon-themed micro-game
- light, humorous
- Love Letter
- Sea Salt & Paper
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- push-your-luck — players gamble on cards to build a dungeon while avoiding a bad reveal
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a good one I like it a little bit better than Welcome to the Jungle or Welcome to the dungeon because of just like it's because the form factor in the box and the it's cute
- they're like dungeon delving games
- they are Coop games so well done
- the common bond for a bonus point is that they're all Coop games
References (from this video)
- Tense, thematic, and highly engaging for groups
- Mitigation of monster deck size can alter pacing
- exploring a dungeon with monsters
- Welcome Back to the Dungeon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Push Your Luck — Players add monsters to a central deck; risk grows until a player escapes while others face the dungeon.
- push-your-luck and simultaneous drafting — Players add monsters to a central deck and collectively decide when to stop; the dungeon grows scarier over time.
- push-your-luck progression — Players add monsters to a central deck; risk grows until a player escapes while others face the dungeon.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Lovely production nice artwork it's been around for years now
- it's a push your luck game and it's quite simple but tense
- it's a game of chicken and the dungeon gets bigger and scarier
- it's a neat little decision
- it's a classic trick taking game
References (from this video)
- Unique structure where one player plays while others watch
- Exciting moments with cheering and jeering
- Small box game with simple rules
- Creates bravado and risk-taking
- Great filler game
- Adventure
- Dungeon
- Light
- Welcome Back to the Dungeon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bluffing — Players have hidden information and must decide whether to be brave
- Hidden Information — Players see cards others don't see
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the reason I wanted to talk about this topic was one was because I've just picked up the quacks of qward Lindbergh expansion the herb witches which is a really good expansion just to add some more of the same really more variety to that game which was my favorite game of last year
- so push your luck or press your luck games as they tend to be called in America
- it's looking at the odds and trying to make a mathematical decision is it worth me taking this risk or is it not and of course the presence of other people around the table changes that because it's not just about the maths it's also about knowing the psychology of those other people
- I love all the messin about you doing captain carcass you turn over one card it allows you to do something else and then you can use this special power to do something else
- the pushier luck stuff is strong in throne that's where the fun in the game is it's recognizing how many does to throw
- I love this honour of games I wish there were more of them
- thank you very much for watching I hope this was interesting for you if you enjoyed it please watch some of my other videos on BoardGameGeek I'm Adam 78 on YouTube I'm Adams Borg in wales on twitter i'm at board game wales