Beware the Dragon

A friend of mine recently picked up a simple little game called Drakon. Players each take on the role of an adventurer in a dungeon, building the map as they move, trying to steal enough of the dragon Drakon's treasure to win the game. But Drakon himself is also roaming the dungeon and can set you several steps back on your path to victory.

The major fuel to the game is that each tile you play to form a new room of the dungeon has an icon on it that dictates a special power you get to use when you move your adventurer into that room. You try to position useful things near your adventurer and harmful things near your opponent, and generally try to manipulate things to your advantage.

Honestly, there's not all that much to it... but then, there's not intended to be. It's the sort of game meant to take about 20 minutes, and not half bad on those terms. I did play it with nearly the maximum number of players, though, and I think it's one of those games where the more people who participate, the less in control you feel. With, say, three players, I think your chance to act would come around often enough that you might feel some strategic wiggle room. With six, it felt a little too chaotic for my tastes -- though it was a quick and interesting enough bit of chaos to be enjoyable.

But I've left out the most significant "feature" of this game... or at least of my friend's copy of it. The stench! When he cracked open the box, this faint but noticeable odor wafted up. You know how new game bits -- particularly TCG cards -- can have this pleasant aroma from the printing process? Well, these tiles smelled like they'd come from the digestive tract of the titular dragon himself. Worse still, when you touched the tiles, the odor got on to your fingers. It was uncanny, and sent all the players to wash their hands as soon as we'd finished and put the game away.

Perhaps this quirk was not normal for copies of Drakon. Smell notwithstanding, there are some gamers I'd recommend Drakon for. I'd put it roughly in the family of TransAmerica, though perhaps a bit more controlled (with a small number of players). If that floats your boat, you should check it out.