SNAP Review – Paper App Dungeon

This is a SNAP review for Paper App Dungeon, from me…

And me!

And me!

Game

Paper App Dungeon is a ultra-portable solo dungeon crawl game, designed by Tom Brinton and published by Lucky Duck Games.

The box says it’s good for ages 8 and up. And it’s super fast, usually taking no more than five minutes to finish a level.

Art

So Elliot, what’s notable about the art in this game?

Paper App Dungeon doesn’t look like any other dungeon crawl game. It’s this small notebook. Each page is a new floor of the dungeon, divided up into little squares with symbols representing enemies, treasure, traps, and more.

You need a die to play,

No you don’t Mom! It’s on the pencil! There’s a number printed on each side of the six sides, so you literally roll it to choose your next number. The game calls this a P6.

Mechanics

So, there’s some unique stuff here. But let’s talk about how to play Paper App Dungeon.

As soon as you open up the notebook, you’ll see a link for rules – skip that, because they’re all right here in the notebook.

But don’t forget to decorate your hero!

On every floor, you start at the smiley face. Roll the pencil to determine how far you’ll move. Odd numbers mean a diagonal move, while even numbers mean that you can move orthogonally – that’s left, right, up, and down.

Draw a straight line, going exactly as many spaces as you rolled. You can only turn if you hit a wall; and you should avoid backtracking over the spaces from your last turn, if possible.

As you pass over symbols on your path, you’ll gain – and lose – health and coins. You may also find locked doors and items that cause you to roll the P6 to determine just how much you’ll lose – or gain!

There are also warp spirals that jump you to another part of the map. These are the only things you can use more than once on the same floor.

When you get close to the stairs, you can choose to exit the floor. It’s finally time to tally up your gains and losses. Transfer these numbers to the next page when you’re ready to start another floor.

However, if you ended the level with zero health – or less – tally a death on the final page. Reset your health to ten, and your coins to zero, then start on the next floor.

Sometimes between floors, you’ll find a Shop page. This is a chance to spend your coins for all sorts of bonuses, like temporary invincibility, health upgrades, or the ability to walk through a wall.

That one’s pretty cool.

Each Paper App Dungeon has 45 floors and about 8 shop levels. When you reach the end, you’ll find the treasure room – and a place to memorialize your character stats.

(I haven’t died once!)

Expectations

Hey, stop playing the game, we’re making a video here! Let’s tell everyone what we expected from Paper App Dungeon. Asher?

I had no clue what it was. So I didn’t know what to expect.

I expected it to be like a classic dungeon crawl game. And I also expected it to be a little bigger.

Because of the box?

Yeah.

As our followers probably know, I love small solo games! But I’m not a huge dungeon crawl fan. The concept here sounded fun, but I doubted it would hold my interest. I thought it would be a good draw for you boys. So we took turns on the first few levels, just to try it out.

Surprises

So let’s talk about what surprised us there.

All three of us loved this game. And it was really hard to share! We got three more copies so everyone could have their own adventure from start to finish.

And all of these books are slightly different! There’s a random seed number printed here in the front if you want to compare your book to someone else’s.

You can get a little stuck sometimes. The rules aren’t super clear about how to change direction at a wall or what to do if your roll just doesn’t work. I just give it my best guess and keep going.

Yeah, me too.

I was surprised at how easy it is to just pick it up and play a round.

It’s a fun way to pass some time – without a screen.

I did not anticipate what a great activity this would be in “boring” locations – like in the car, or on a plane, or waiting for one of your sibling’s school concerts to start…

OR END!

It’s so small and quiet you can do it just about anywhere, as long as you have a place to roll the pencil.

It’s a really nice alternative to burying your nose in a phone – which is probably why it’s called “Paper App”.

Recommended?

We recommend Paper App Dungeon for a great way to pass the time for a kid or an adult.

You can bring it places you thought you’d never be able to play a board game, and play a level in 5 minutes or less. It’s super portable and still entertaining – I end every page motivated to do better the next time.

And it’s only $10!

What do you think boys, should we buy some more when you guys finish these?

Yeah!

We rate Paper App Dungeon 4 ½ pencils out of 5.

And that’s Paper App Dungeon – in a SNAP!

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The Family Gamers received copies of Paper App Dungeon from Lucky Duck Games for this review.

SNAP review music is Avalanche, provided courtesy of You Bred Raptors?