Asmadi Games One Deck Dungeon, For 168 months to 9600 months

So I played this on Steam first. Idk, looked like a fun little game and had good reviews. I wound up really liking it.So, I decided to buy a physical copy - and let me tell you, it's just as much fun, if not more so, to play with a physical copy. I got use to the video game version taking care of all the little details for me, so it's a lot of fun to "get your hands dirty" with a physical copy.For those who have not played: This is a dungeon-crawler aimed at 1-2 players (although there's a 4-player variant). The game is designed to be a completely unique playthrough each time, even for solo players. The encounters you face, the luck (or unluckiness!) you encounter, and so on will be different each time. There are also "campaign sheets" so you can track your progress and level up from game to game, if you wish.This game is very dice-heavy - and that definitely does not mean "random." Yes, since there are a lot of dice rolls there will be a certain amount of randomness - but this game has about a million ways to manipulate your dice rolls, use them strategically, and so on - so even if you roll a mediocre roll, you can strategically use the dice to still come out on top. It's a really unique game mechanic and one I really enjoy. And, you get to roll millions of dice.There are easy dungeons and hard dungeons to customize your experience. As you level up you can gain skills to help you tackle more difficult dungeons.Overall just a great game and highly recommended to anyone who likes solo board/card games.

I was interested in a dungeon crawl game that offers a lot of replay value, that can be played solo or with a friend, has a rich feel to the play, and is a good price.One Deck Dungeon met all of these criteria and is an incredibly fun game to play.First of all, it arrived very quickly, a week sooner than I expected.The components are of very high quality, with cards that are cut well, have a good feel, and are easy to handle, and tokens made out of high-quality plastic.Also, I love the fact that so much can be fit into a small box that is easy to carry (almost pocket-sized), yet contains all the richness of a dungeon adventure that is different every time.The mechanics are remarkably elegant, smooth, without any clunky elements or anything ambiguous.The instructions are detailed, and for this game it is very important to read through them all before playing. But once learned, the internal logic is very consistent, and the cards have sufficient information about game play printed on them, that there is no need to refer back to the rule book.The real genius is that the cards are used in different ways to represent different elements in the game. Same card easily and logically is used for a trap or a monster but then also is used in the right circumstance to represent either an item, a skill, or a record of XP. And because they are so well designed, there is no confusion about this when looking at the card, either!Also the color-coded dice to align with different stats for the character works very well.Most importantly, though, the feel of playing this game is immersive and fascinating, and it feels like the exciting dungeon crawl it is meant to evoke.Everything is there: deciding what directions to take, surprise encounters, fight or flee, determining uses of skills and abilities, use of items, adding to skills, gaining experience, leveling up, a sense of urgency as time passes, health and healing. And the campaign mode means that you can customize a character's development from adventure to adventure (with 5 dungeon flavors of varying difficulties that can play out in a huge variety of ways from session to session).One thing to know, is that the game time of 30-45 minutes is deceptive. On first play, not counting reading the rules and practicing the mechanics a little, it took me a couple of hours to complete an entire game (all three levels and boss battle of one dungeon). Even having learned the mechanics better, I still can't imagine playing the game in under an hour. THIS IS NOT A NEGATIVE THING though because I got so much enjoyment out of the play.In summary, this is a surprisingly rich game for the size and the price, with mechanics that are extremely elegant and provide for huge variety and extraordinarily good replay value. The artwork is also great, interesting just to look at, and the game components of very good quality and satisfying feel.For me, this has been an excellent solo game, and I am very excited to try it out with a friend!Please, buy this game! It is worthy. :)

My box was complete when it arrived, no problems. The game itself is very punishing without being overly complex. Some have called this a "roguelite", and I think that's a good way to approach the game. Plenty of randomness and challenge, without taking a whole evening to learn. Overall, this is basically the card game version of a Dungeons & Dragons type dungeon crawler, with combat and leveling up and boss monsters. Neat.The setup: Pick a character class from a standard array of Dungeons & Dragons types. There's a Cleric, a Paladin, a Wizard, etc. You setup a few other standard cards to represent things like the dungeon you're in, and the effects of your character level. Your characters' ability points are distributed among different stats, which match to colors of several dice in the box. So for instance the Paladin can swing a sword well (3 yellow dice) but isn't very nimble (1 purple die). You then begin a process where you lay out a board of 4 "door" cards and then start kicking down the doors each turn. You can either confront the terror within, or "flee" from it. These two mechanics have lots to balance them out. But you go along taking down the challenges and drawing more door cards until you've explored the level, and then you head to the next.Combat: Each dungeon floor, and then each monster, has certain colors and numbers of dice required to beat it. This is hard to explain in text, but imagine it like this: To kill a goblin, maybe you have to roll at least a 4 on one purple die, and then at least 11 on any combination of yellow dice. If you fail to fill any of those boxes, you suffer certain consequences listed on the boxes you failed to uncover. So there's a lot of complexity in front of you- but it's all incredibly simple to read. There are also black dice which can apply to any challenge. Generally you can always trade 2 other dice down for a black die of the lowest value you're trading in (like a blue 5 and a yellow 2, make a black 2) so you can often use dice for other boxes this way.Wasting time: Aside from potentially suffering consequences if you can't finish the combat in one go, every turn you also throw the top 2 (or more) cards of the draw pile into a discard. When you run out of cards, you're on a timer that kicks you down to the next level of the dungeon- which will be more difficult. You shuffle the discard pile back into the deck, and you turn up a new Dungeon-floor card which increases the requirements to beat the monsters and traps. This is great, and replicates the feeling of some other "roguelite" games like the FTL computer game, where you're battling between trying to gather resources before you run out of time.Leveling up and such: Each challenge you face can be added to your character as loot. This is the most genius part of the box. A challenge will have certain attributes along its left side- maybe one yellow die and one health point. If you beat that challenge, you can put that card beside your character, and visually it looks like you have more of those attributes. The bottom of the card will be a skill or item, and the top-right of the card has experience points. So you get to pick how to divide up your spoils, and have to plan how best to tackle the challenges ahead. You only get to place this card one way- attributes, skills/items, or experience. Again, lots of information all incredibly accessible. Smart design.The roguelite element: The only sort of problem I have with the process is how often you'll start to notice that the boxes on the monsters have a lot of 5s and 6s on them. The game is meant to make you fail, and it ruthlessly punishes any move you ever make that's less than optimal. That can be troublesome because even if you play 100% correctly, you might just get a bad roll of the dice, and that will ruin a whole turn for you- complete with hitting you with damage or more time lost. The mechanic of trading in attribute dice for black dice helps a bit, but often you'll find you have a handful of dice that are all 1-3 and you can't turn that whole handful of dice into the single 5 you need. That can be frustrating. I'm sure someone out there has made a house rule to help this- for instance, if you can make two black dice that are both 3s then you can trade them up to a 4, and so on. That might let you smooth out the random factor a little.Overall: It's a fun game. It's all the fun of Dungeons&Dragons combat, battling monsters in a dungeon and leveling up. It supports 1 or 2 players out of the box, and more with expansions. I can definitely see how this game would suit 3-4 player play better than 1, as more people would help smooth out the random factor even more. And it even supports campaign play, as you can track stats on little character sheets included in the box if you want to carry the same character across multiple campaigns. Neat! One star off due to the frustration level- it won't be for everyone. But some people will love the gambling element, and considering it's very quick-to-play, you can play several games until you finally get a good run.