The rules of the game are as follows: You and other players have to travel down two levels of a dungeon, slay some monsters along the way, and then, in true Delicious in Dungeon fashion, cook ’em up real nice, all for some victory points. You are dealt a hand of five dungeon cards at a time that can be used to progress through the dungeon, force other players to fight monsters via “encounter” dungeon cards, escape from vicious monsters, and more. The first dungeon level has one boss to slay in the form of Chimera Falin, then the second level’s got the Lunatic Magician Sissel. Once Sissel is slain, you count up your victory points. Whichever player gets the most victory points wins. It’s all a giant race to the bottom of the dungeon to see who can rack up as many points as possible.

Some RPG mechanics are simple enough, with each player getting a party consisting of different classes, all based on Delicious in Dungeon characters fans know and love. The “Laios” party, for instance, has our leads Marcille (magician class), Senshi (warrior class), Chilchuck (locksmith class), Izutsumi (ninja class), and, of course, Laios (another warrior). There’s also the “Kabru” party, the “Shuro” party, the “Tansu” party, and the “Canaries” parties, consisting of different varieties of magicians, warriors, and whatnot. Falin herself appears as an extra magician that you can add to any party, should you wish. There’s also an optional rule saying that you can mix different characters from different parties as well.

Every turn starts with an attempt to progress, given that there isn’t a monster blocking your path. Should there be, you can let your characters attack it via their attack or magic points and/or a roll of up to six dice. The characters don’t have HP, so instead of getting attacked, they become “exhausted” upon use, meaning they’re unable to do anything until you revive them with a food token at the end of your turn. If you defeat a monster, you then have to cook it. You roll two dice to cook them, and success in rolling a number equal to or greater than the monster’s required cooking level wields you food tokens and the victory points needed to win the game. If you’re unable to fight the monster, you have to “procure” cards by exchanging cards in your hand for some in the deck, but you’ll be unable to progress through the dungeon as a result. On the flip side of the coin, should you attack and slay a monster but fail to cook it, you can still explore a dungeon at the expense of earning zero victory points or food tokens.

The way you progress the dungeon is by using dungeon cards with specific percentages (10%, 20%, 30% etc) of the dungeon explored. You play these cards until they add up to 100% progression, and whoever reaches that number has to fight the boss of the floor on their next turn. After exploring the dungeon, you can play an encounter card that forces an opponent to fight a monster in the hopes of slowing down their progress. At the end of the turn, players can “rest” by drawing more cards and then go about reviving exhausted characters with food tokens.

If this sounds like a lot, it’s not. The gameplay is complex enough to sink your teeth into while not feeling the slightest bit overwhelming. Really, each turn is done in four phases (three if you procure cards, since you can’t explore the dungeon). If it helps any, every player gets a card detailing how each turn is supposed to play out. When I played with my friends, we mostly kept track of the game by keeping one eye on the card explaining all of the phases, and another eye on the progress points. And because the RPG mechanics boil down to a literal roll of the dice (first to determine damage dealt to enemies, then a second to see if you can cook them), there is no big ol’ list of stats or percentages that turn everything into math homework.

Another bonus is that the rules are loose enough that the game can be easily adjusted. You get coins, where every three coins you earn one victory point, but since these coins are technically money, you might as well allow a rule stating that you can spend them on an item card that can grant you an advantage when exploring the dungeon. You can have seven characters in your party, six, or even three if you’re feeling bold enough. For those who are in a real pinch for time, players can reduce the game in half by ending it once Chimera Falin of the upper level has been defeated. And for the fiercely competitive, you can reduce all of the progress cards by half (5% instead of 10%, for instance) for an even longer game.

There are some additional rules that I have not mentioned, although most everything is explained in the twenty-six-page rulebook that comes with the game. Some details are a bit vague, though. Since the real goal is to earn victory points, does that mean you don’t want to progress too far into the dungeon if you haven’t earned enough points yet? Doesn’t that slow the game down a little? Also, do you always have to place an encounter card during the third phase of your turn? Suppose you’re in a position where you can’t place an encounter card down; maybe everyone, including yourself, is fighting a monster, or you just don’t have encounter cards in your hand. The instruction booklet reads that “you may place an encounter card,” and the wording makes it sound like an optional move. Obviously, these are just tiny nitpicks and probably just something that comes with the learning curve.

Monster Eater: A Delicious in Dungeon Board Game is actually a part of another Japanese board game franchise, Monster Maker, hailing all the way back to 1988, and created by Ginichiro Suzaki. It’s apparently a cult hit in Japan, and based on what I’m seeing from the
official website, Board Game Geek, and the National Museum of Play had several board game sequels plus a handful of video game tie-ins. However, it’s relatively unknown in America—I didn’t even know about the game until it fell into my lap. According to Monster Eater‘s official handbook, some of the features here are tweaks made from the original game for a simpler and more compact game. Looking at the original game’s instruction manual further reveals this. In the Delicious in Dungeon version, you are dealt five cards per hand, while in the original, you draw eight. You go from the upper level of the dungeon to the lower level in the Delicious in Dungeon game, whereas the original has you entering the cave for treasure and then escaping it. And of course, there’s no cooking in the original Monster Maker, so once an enemy’s slain, the battle’s over.

It was a wise move on the part of Monster Maker‘s company, Arclight, to create a Delicious in Dungeon variation of the game. As well as the game being fun to play overall, the dungeon crawling and monster cooking feel very true to Delicious in Dungeon‘s style, and the artwork is just plain ol’ gosh dang adorable. It makes sense that this game would go for that cute design, since Monster Maker always sported a chibified anime look to it. I have to give designer Seiji Kanai props for melding both Monster Maker and Delicious in Dungeon‘s designs together in a manner that doesn’t stray too far from both sources’ respective designs.

Even if it’s not without a few shortcomings, Monster Eater makes for a fun play on board game night, especially once you understand the basic ebb and flow of things. All in all, this is a fun dungeon crawler all the way through, with just the right blend of monster slayin’ and exploration guaranteed to charm gamers across the board.