Dire Wolf Clank! Catacombs

I love this game! If you have friends able to understand and enjoy playing a deck-builder like Dominion, GET THIS GAME! I enjoyed this game so much I'm getting the Legacy version, Acquisitions Incorporated.The genius of the design of this game is in the tile based map you lay out as play. It makes the game very manageable and replayable once you have the basic understanding of the rules. The rules take abt 30min to watch a video of or explain, and you'll reinforce that as new players get started. It gives plenty of time to setup if you already know the rules.The rules are very similar to Dominion, where you build out a deck that you draw hands of 5 from (which you MUST play all of) that you can play in any order. The cards let you move, fight, or gain cards for resources. The theme is super fun, where you're adventure thiefs trying to be quiet but CLANK!-ing eventually, which risks a bone dragon coming to attack you.This game is a great example of story-telling via strategy and pushing-your-luck, so that players walk away feeling like they had a small adventure with a story they can tell others abt their game, even if they didn't win. The players also lay out the map one tile at a time as they expand outwards, which makes them feel included in the game's setup.I haven't tried the other versions of CLANK! personally, but other accounts suggest to me that this version is the best standalone version to try, as they lack the tile map system that I think is really what made this game fantastic to me.

Clank is a great game, and this is our favorite non-legacy version of the game because the board is built randomly each game, which significantly increases the re-playability.

My family started playing this game a few weeks ago and we love it. It takes a bit to learn to play but once you get it its easy. It takes at least a few hours to play through, maybe closer to 4. So it's something you need to play when you have the time. The gameplay is really clever. It's complex but pretty straight forward.

The original Clank! was a good game, but the game only had two maps. In this version, you build the map as you play and the game rewards the bold, aggressive player (most of the time). The game may seem to be dragging, but once a player dies or exits the catacombs, the game ends quickly. you need an exit strategy.

We played the regular clank (still have it) a couple of times in 2021. We really didn’t care for it but kept it due to the uniqueness. We got the original out recently and went nuts over it. We immediately bought catacombs based on video reviews and wow, it’s one of our all time favorite games (even more than the original). We can’t get it off our table (as of today it has been on our table for more than 3 weeks). We picked up Lairs expansion soon and adventure as well. And we bought clank in space (will play soon and clank legacy).It is a fabulous family game for middle school kids (younger if you have a child that has board game genes as I did). I woud have played it at age 8-9. You are only limited with vocabulary on the cards…..it’s a wonderful game.

Something about the flipping of tiles to discover the paths, treasures and artifacts elevates the base game which had a fixed map from pretty good to great. New mechanics like ghosts, waypoints and especially the lockpick resource add interest to the game without too many new rules. Excellent selection of cards for the dungeon deck, while they may not all fit your needs, there doesn't seem to be a strictly terrible one in the bunch. As a next step I'd give the Adventuring Party expansion a shot mostly for the unique starting decks (not for 5-6 player which is way too much). Game is best with 3 players.

My new favorite version of the clank system.

Clank! is one of my favorite games. I love the replayability of this. An additional resource (lockpicks) adds a new twist where you may want to ration what all you pick up and open, but it can open new paths for everyone. Prisoners won't have a huge impact unless you get the dungeon map that changes everything. exploration, deck building, a race to the exit. i feel like it has more cards with dragon attacks than the base game, but it does make it more strategic. we have played where everybody died in the depths and no points were scored. it was disappointing, but at the same time exciting. add in the adventuring party expansion and there are a lot of little pieces to keep up with so my box is a mess, but if you love deck builders, it's definitely worth it.