by Alex Meehan
Introducing Dungeon Tryouts, a brand-new family card game inspired by fantasy stories and improv comedy. Dungeon Tryouts is a party game where you run an adventuring agency whose heroes are somewhat unconventional, but desperate to be hired for the next glorious quest. You must either decide whether they’re worthy, or convince the player responsible for hiring to choose them despite their idiosyncrasies.
Dungeon Tryouts the debut card game from The Story Engine and award-winning writer, editor, cartoonist and designer Peter Chiykowski. The Story Engine began as the publisher of prompt cards designed to help D&D players, tabletop game players, and writers come up with new ideas for their game play and stories. Since then, the company has created its very own family-friendly card game inspired by classic fantasy tropes like dragons, swords and magic.
Dungeon Tryouts is the perfect nerdy card game for any family looking to try a new activity to bring everyone together, have fun and make memories.
Why should you play family card games?
Family card games are becoming an increasingly popular and positive way of socialising between loved ones.
According to a study conducted by Hasbro alongside sociologist Dr. Christine Carter, 91% families felt that playing games together had a positive impact on their mood. Kids between the ages of 5 to 12 years have also been found to be playing the most board games out of any age group. If you, a friend or a family member have young children - then board games are probably going to be on the cards, if they aren’t already.
But why are they worth your time? A fun card game can be a fantastic source of shared jokes and family memories - especially during the holidays. With life often being so busy with work, school and other activities, it can be difficult for family members to stay in touch. Playing a card game could be your family’s next favorite way of refreshing your connections and forming memories you’ll cherish.
Dungeon Tryouts might be the perfect board game for your family, thanks to its unique combination of improv gameplay and incredibly strong theme. Though there are plenty of other card games that provide improv-like experiences, many of them have either an inappropriate theming for families - such as Cards Against Humanity - or a gimmicky theme that isn’t well supported by the gameplay, like on a Scale of One to T-Rex.
Introducing: the improv card game - Dungeon Tryouts
Game Overview
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For people aged 8+: great for kids, teens and adults
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Supports 2-6 players
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Takes between an average of 20-30 minutes to teach and play, though you are welcome to play even longer if you want
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Themed around favorite fantasy tropes: think swords, dragons, treasure and wizards, but with a fun, unique twist
What makes Dungeon Tryouts a better card game?
The Story Engine, the creator behind Dungeon Tryouts, has a wealth of experience in enabling brilliant storytelling through their prompt cards, which provide the kernels of great story and character ideas for users to further develop themselves. With a history of making storytelling prompts for writers, Dungeon Masters and players, The Story Engine knows how to build imaginations. In Dungeon Tryouts, The Story Engine’s experience and expertise has created a game that empowers people to concoct all sorts of hilarious and captivating tales.
Another element is Dungeon Tryout's careful balance of strategy and accessibility. Learning to play Dungeon Tryouts is easy, with setup requiring just a few minutes–instead of the hours of prep involved in Dungeons and Dragons. Nevertheless, this is still an adventure card game experience designed to work for both children and adults, because playing genuinely feels like you’re exploring a fantasy world.
What’s more, is that you can easily play Dungeon Tryouts multiple times over, even in a single sitting. There are a ton of different cards for you to play with, allowing you to have a completely different experience every time you play. A playthrough of Dungeon Tryouts is also changed by its group, with every person bringing different content and perspective to the improv gameplay.
How to Play Dungeon Tryouts
Dungeon Tryouts is quick and easy to learn and teach.
This RPG card game takes place in a fantasy world where groups of adventurers go forth and complete various quests for people in need. However, some of these wannabe adventurers are a little…quirky, and need someone to pitch their weaknesses as strengths if they ever want to get a job.
In Dungeon Tryouts, you’ll be taking the role of either an adventure agent or a quest giver. If you’re a quest giver, you’ll draw a quest card and place it on the table for everyone to see, before reading it out loud. Adventure agents will then choose an adventurer card from their hand to give to the quest giver as a candidate for that quest.
The quest giver then reveals the adventurer cards they received and asks each adventure agent to explain why they think their character would be a good fit. Your argument strategy should be based on both the card choice and a good - or really funny/inventive - reason. The quest giver may ask adventure agents follow-up questions.
After they’ve heard all the adventure agents’ arguments, the quest giver will then choose which character to pick for the quest. The winner is awarded a point, with the quest giver role switching to the person sitting clockwise to the last quest giver and another round begins, with the adventure agents gaining more cards to put into their hand.
A copy of Dungeon Tryouts includes a deck of 400 adventurer cards, a deck of 100 quest cards and a rulebook.
Why is Dungeon Tryouts different from other games?
Dungeon Tryouts vs UNO
Though UNO is undoubtedly a favorite, its gameplay is extremely simple when compared to Dungeon Tryouts. Whilst UNO heavily relies on luck and player reactions, Dungeon Tryouts gives people a chance to think about strategy and stretch their creative reasoning muscles. Unlike UNO, Dungeon Tryouts sparks conversation within the gameplay itself, rather than having everyone potentially speaking just in-between rounds.
Dungeon Tryouts vs Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens might have a quirky theme but it’s not as well integrated into the actual gameplay. The artwork and premise of Dungeon Tryouts are directly tied into what you actually do in the game, such as looking at the appearance of an adventurer to help form an argument in their favor. Everyone is also encouraged to make up stories about how their adventurers would complete the quest, encouraging them to get creative.
Dungeon Tryouts vs traditional card games
Many common card games favorites - like Hearts or Rummy - aren’t necessarily going to be very popular amongst younger generations because of their lack of theme, which younger players often like because they can appeal to their specific interests (like fantasy). Whereas Dungeon Tryouts provides a much more accessible and engaging time to share with the whole family, providing an immersive and popular theme.
What do people think of Dungeon Tryouts?
Here’s some feedback for Dungeon Tryouts:
"This is really easy to play and get going with a group of geeky friends."
—Jason Anarchy, creator of Drinking Quest
"It's a fantastic game for debating wild fantasy scenarios with your friends, and it's wonderfully easy to learn!"
—Diana Fay @dianaoftherose
"D&D meets CAH without the crude 18+ language!"
—Rick Koeppen, game reviewer
"This is a fun quick game that will bring entertainment to the whole family, no matter how familiar with D&D they are."
"Dungeon Tryouts was incredibly fun for the whole family! My wife [...] and my kids all loved it. Our first game turned a mediocre night into one of fun, laughs, and a little chaos. Everyone can’t wait to play again!"
"This game is a clever addition to the party game lovers collection, and it's great for family game nights too!"
Where do you get Dungeons Tryouts?
You can currently order a copy of Dungeon Tryouts by pledging (which is like making a pre-order) to the game’s crowdfunding campaign page, which was successfully funded in under 24 hours! A copy of the base game is available for $31, while there are various bundles featuring expansions available at a price lower than retail.
Story Engine is expecting to fulfill pledges in around April 2027.
Dungeon Tryouts FAQs
What age is appropriate for Dungeon Tryouts?
Dungeon Tryouts is appropriate for any players aged 8 years and up.
How many players can play Dungeon Tryouts?
The recommended number of players for Dungeon Tryouts is between 2 to 6 people.
How long does a game of Dungeon Tryouts take to play?
A game of Dungeon Tryouts takes around 20-30 minutes to play.
Is Dungeon Tryouts good for beginners?
Yes! Dungeon Tryouts is a great game for beginners - it’s quick and easy to learn, with scalable difficulty, a perfect match for everyone.
What makes Dungeon Tryouts different from other card games?
Dungeon Tryouts is different from other games because it has an immersive theme that is reflected within its gameplay, it’s engaging and fun to play for kids, teens and adults, and it directly encourages players to speak, socialize and share ideas with one another. It’s not boring for adults, it’s not hard to learn and it’s very funny - sure to make it one of your favorites.
What should you do now?
Considering the many things that make Dungeon Tryouts a great card game - its accessibility, easy-to-learn rules, replayability, immersive theme, fun and social gameplay - if you’re looking for your next storytelling game to play at the holidays or adventure card game to share with your loved ones, then you should give Dungeon Tryouts a look.
Don’t miss out! You can get your own copy of Dungeon Tryouts at a lower than retail price by going to the Kickstarter page and pledging right now. You don't have much time left, as late pledges will end!