In this game, you'll join forces with your fellow players to fight your way through dungeons filled with deadly obstacles and dangerous monsters!
You'll choose to play as one of twelve heroes, each with their own special cards and abilities.
In 5-Minute Dungeon, there are no turns. Everybody will be racing against the clock to slap down symbols that match the current card from the dungeon.
You're all in it together-either your team defeats the dungeon and moves onto the next one, or you all perish!
Components
- 10 Heroes
- 250 Player cards
- 5 Bosses
- 40 Door Cards
- 10 Challenge cards
- Instructions
Timer App
For the best 5-Minute Dungeon experience, download the custom timer app. It's free and is available for Android, iOS and Windows devices.
Visit: 5minuteDungeon.com/Timer
Setup
To begin your adventure:
Select which hero you want to play. Place your Hero Mat in front of you with your chosen hero face up.
Grab the deck that's the same color as your Hero Mat, shuffle it, and place it on the "Draw Pile" space on your Hero Mat, face down.
Draw a starting hand from your deck. The number of cards you draw depends on how many people are playing:
| Number of Players | Starting Hand Size |
|---|---|
| 2 players | 5 cards |
| 3 players | 4 cards |
| 4, 5 or 6 players | 3 cards |
Two-player Games
Two-player GamesIf you're playing a two-player game, you'll need additional cards to defeat the dungeon. Each of you should select a second deck and shuffle both decks together.
Setup
Place the Boss Mat for the dungeon you are attempting in the center of the table.
Build the Dungeon, as follows:
Building the Dungeon Deck
Count out the number of cards shown on the Boss Mat...
See AlsoHow to play 5-Minute Dungeon | Official Rules5-Minute Dungeon Review & Board Game Guide 20245 Minute Dungeon: Rules and Official Gameplay Instructions5-Minute Dungeon Review | Rules, Pros, & Cons...add 2 Challenge Cards per player...
...then shuffle and place the deck on the Boss Mat, covering the symbols!
Set a timer to 5 minutes. We recommend using our timer app (5minuteDungeon.com/Timer). Or use any timer that can be set to 5 minutes and can be easily paused and restarted.
Start the timer when you turn over the first card in the dungeon.
Defeating Dungeon Cards
Some cards in the dungeon are Event Cards (identified by the-^icon) that tell you to do something (for exampie, discard your hand). If you encounter an Event Card, do what it says, sweep it away, and move on to the next card in the dungeon.
However, most Dungeon Cards have symbols, like the one shown at right. There are three ways to defeat cards with symbols:
Using Resource Cards
You can defeat the card by playing Resource Cards to the center of the table until all the symbols are matched. They don't all have to come from the same player.
Using Action Cards
You can also defeat the card by playing certain Action Cards. One example is Fireball, which defeats Monsters.
Using Special Abilities
Each hero has a special ability that they can use to help the team. The ability for each hero is described on the bottom of their Hero Mat.
To use your ability, discard 3 cards face up to the Discard Pile space on your Hero Mat, announce your ability to the team, and perform the action on your Hero Mat.
Notes on Using Abilities
If you don't have 3 cards to discard, you cannot use your ability.
If your ability allows you to defeat a certain type of Door Card (Monster, Obstacle or Person), then you can only use your ability when facing a card of that type. All other abilities can be used anytime.
Players can use their abilities while time is paused without restarting the clock. However, each player may only use their ability once per pause.
Rules for playing resource and action cards
Play cards to the middle of the table, not to your discard pile. The discard pile on your player mat is only for cards you discard to use your ability, or cards you discard because an Event Card told you to.
A card laid is a card played. Once you play a card to the middle of the table, it cannot be taken back. (It's OK to show a card to other players without actually playing it if you like).
You can play Resource Cards that don't match the symbols on a Dungeon Card. If you're facing a Dungeon Card and don't have anything useful in your hand, you can play non-matching cards just to get rid of them and draw new cards.
But use this strategy sparingly! Unlike discarded cards, cards played to the middle of the table cannot be recovered by healing cards or abilities.
The rules change when facing a Boss. Once you get to the Dungeon Boss, you are no longer allowed to play Resource Cards that don't match the Boss' symbols.
You also can't play Action cards that defeat Monsters, People or Obstacles (Bosses don't count as any of those types). If you play a card that breaks any of these rules, you must return it to your hand.
Sweep those Cards Away
Once your team has defeated a Dungeon Card, sweep it away, along with any cards played to defeat it. Then turn over a new Dungeon Card to continue your adventure!
Refilling your Hand
Anytime you play or discard cards, refill your hand back to the starting hand size (see table at right).
If you play a card or ability that makes you draw cards, draw those first, then refill your hand if you still need to.
If you ever have more cards in your hand than the starting hand size, do not refill again until you have fewer cards than your starting hand size.
Out of Cards
If you run out of cards in your hand and draw pile, you can't do anything until another player helps you out with a card like Heal, Donation, or Confusion... so be careful not to waste your cards!
Heroes
Read here all information about Heroes.
The Dungeon
A dungeon consists of a Boss Mat, many Door Cards, and a few Challenge Cards.
Boss Mats
Boss Mats represent the final challenge your team must face in order to conquer a dungeon.
Each Boss Mat shows:
A The boss number. You'll be starting with Boss #1 (Baby Barbarian) and working your way up to Boss #7 (The Dungeon Master Final Form).
B The symbols needed to defeat this boss.
C The number of Door Cards needed to create this boss' dungeon.
Note: Start with Baby Barbarian (Boss #1). If you defeat him, move on to The Grime Reaper (Boss #2), and so on.
Door Cards
Each Door Card represents an obstacle or foe that your team must overcome. Door Cards have the following information on them:
A A description of the threat.
B A number of symbols, which can be Swords, Arrows, Scrolls, Jumps, and Shields. Your team can defeat a Door Card by playing Resource Cards that match all of these symbols.
C A type, which can be Monster, Obstacle or Person. Some special cards and abilities allow you to defeat a card without having to match the symbols on the card.
Challenge Cards
When creating the dungeon, you'll shuffle in two Challenge Cards for each player in the game. Challenge Cards have a horned skull on the back of the card, and come in two varieties:
Mini-Bosses are extra-tough creatures that require more symbols to defeat than a normal Door Card.
They do not count as a Monster, Obstacle, or Person, so they cannot be defeated by Hero Abilities or by Action Cards like Fireball or Snipe.
Event Cards (identified by a 
icon) require the team to do a specific action.
When you flip over an Event Card, you must immediately do what it says. The Action Cards Cancel and Holy Hand Grenade can stop an event before it takes effect.
Winning
If you defeat the Baby Barbarian and all of his cards, you have conquered the first dungeon! Congratulations!
Your adventure is not over yet, though! You'll have to fight through six more dungeons and ultimately defeat The Dungeon Master Final Form to win the game.
Preparing The Next Dungeon
Gather all of the cards, sort them back into their respective decks and return Hero Decks to the appropriate players.
Put the Boss Mat for the next dungeon in the center of the table.
Construct the dungeon for the new boss as indicated in the section "Preparing the Dungeon".
Reset the timer to 5 minutes and go defeat the new dungeon!
Want to mix it up? In between dungeons, you can choose new heroes, add players, or remove players, as needed.
Losing
There are two ways the dungeon can get the best of your team:
If all players run out of cards, or
If time runs out before you and your team defeat the Dungeon Boss (or if you get stuck on it and have no way to defeat it)
If you find yourself in either of these situations, your team has perished in the dungeon! Reset the timer, rebuild the Dungeon Deck, and try again!
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