My main criteria for any family-oriented board game is its ease of use. Games boasting to be family-friendly need to be quick to learn, and if the game is imported there should be little to no translation confusion. I was able to effortlessly teach my daughter (6) how to play with little to no effort, despite the games suggested age range of 8+.
About the Game
5-Minute Dungeon is a chaotic, co-operative, real-time card game in which players race against a 5-minute timer in an attempt to clear the dungeon floor and fight the boss at level’s end. Each player plays one of the 10 intrepid heroes, who are color-coordinated with their respective deck and their ability focus. Team communication is crucial for survival, there’s no time to form a carefully considered plan or any way to predict what dangers lie further down in the dungeon, players must work quickly to solve each encounter as quickly as possible.
How it plays

5-Minute Dungeon is a set-collection game, sort of like uno but with color-coordinated skills instead of numbers. Each dungeon card has a unit type, Person, Obstacle, Monster, Mini-boss or Event, each of which requires a specific set of skill card combinations to pass; Swords, shields, agility, scrolls, arrows and action cards. As stated before, 5-Minute Dungeon requires lots of quick communication and immediate reactions to win. Once a players deck runs out, they are slain and must wait for one of the other members to either revive them by recycling their deck or passing them a hand of cards in a second wind effort. When the time runs out or players can’t pass the encounter, the game ends and the dungeon resets back to the first floor. There are five levels to clear, each with their own unique boss. Each time a dungeon is cleared the timer is reset and all the cards are returned to their owners’ decks for shuffling, every new dungeon level requires an additional five encounter cards be added to the Boss’s encounter deck, making the game progressively harder.
Deck Selection
Each of the five color-coordinated hero boards are double-sided. Either side of the hero board will have one male or female character counterpart. Depending on the side of the hero board that is used, it may have a different unique ability usable for clearing parts of the dungeon during gameplay. Most of the abilities require the sacrifice of cards to activate, most abilities are to jump an obstacle or to slay a monster or person. Every hero board, regardless of which face of the board you select, has its own deck. Every hero has a specific deck focus that is represented by its color, red is for swords, blue is for scrolls, purple is for agility, yellow is for shields, and green is for arrows. Depending on how many players are available to join your party, will determine your overall success in the dungeon.
Also…

5-Minute Dungeon has partnered with Marvel Studios to bring you a superhero edition! If hunting monsters in a dungeon is not your flavor, mix it up and substitute monsters for henchmen and villains! Swing around as spiderman, hawkeye, and others to step up the intensity to a SUPER human level!