GamewrightDragonwood Game | Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2-4 Players | 2 Minutes Playing Time, Orange,silver,white

To my surprise, and delight, my young children (6 and 9 years old) are very much into Dungeon and Dragons. Just the mention of it gets them even more excited than the Playstation - which is quite commendable in this digital- and streaming age. However even the basic and standard versions of this game are time-consuming to play. So I was on thelookout for related games with dragons, hero’s and dice that can also be taken along easily on our frequent holidays.Dragonwood is more a dice game than role playing, but the fantasy element is there. To start with, it is a very nicely illustrated its a visually appealing card game, that seems to be of reasonably good quality and is presented very well.It took a small effort to learn the rules and to explain this to the children. But they could swiftly play along.The average games takes us between 15 and twenty minutes, though there is a wide variation - a game might only take a small amount of time in case a dragon shows up early or if you end up with a strong set of cards.It can be played by 2 to 4 players. It’s for 8-year and older however our youngest, that we generally pull along in more complex games, had little problem playing it.In essence, its a card combination game; you collect series of adventurer cards to be able to throw the dice to battle creatures. This in turn wins you points. The aim is to collect the most point value through these creature cards.A wide range of standard fantasy foes is included; goblins, fire- ants, trolls, ogres. There are a few types of cards that you can win by using card combinations of dice throws; ‘Enchantment cards’ can be helpful while ‘event cards’ throw up unexpected events. There are cards that support you with one of the three types of attack, this upgrading has some roleplaying elements. In particular given that one of the challenges is to decide when to play such cards.So this game proved very popular with my children although it took a few practice rounds to get them to grips with it. At the start we always made sure to work from the summary cards. We’ve played it very frequently now. And the children love to introduce it to their friends and cousins.It’s a good, thoughtful game that demands a fair bit of engagement. I quite like the fact that it forces children to consider strategic options and to think about chances/probabilities. While it forces you to train your memory skills. It's simply FUN to play and even more important is that it allows families and friends to have a good time together. All this combined makes it very good value for money.

Excellent card and dice game for a 30-40 minute session with the kids (aged 8 and 11). Lovely, bright artwork on the cards and everything feels good quality and durable, considering the price.The included dice are not standard six sided dice, with their sides being numbered 1 to 4 inclusive, with numbers 2 and three twice as likely as 1 and 4 on each dice. This makes rolling with more dice more likely to achieve higher numbers, and much more likely to score in the middle of the range. This removes a lot of potential frustration from 'sheer bad luck' and keeps the game fun and flowing.It's not a directly competitive game, players compete to accumulate points and collect enhancement cards, but there is no direct interaction and everything feels 'fair'. The game is great for younger players as a result, as the risk of argument and the inevitable 'rage quit' is reduced.My only concern with the game is that I suspect some of the enhancement cards are slightly over-powered (yes Cloak of Darkness, I'm looking at you). Or maybe I'm just bitter.Overall I would recommend this game as it's quick to set up, fun to play as a family game, doesn't last for hours, doesn't need a huge space (there's no board - you just need a card table with enough room to lay out cards) and doesn't generally lead to fights. Perfect for holidays, camping and (these days) power cuts!

We bought this game as a Christmas present with my five year old boy in mind - he loves it, as do the adults that need to play it with him. He is pretty good with his numbers, so spotting the patterns, adding the dice, having a stab at probability etc is ok for him, otherwise the suggested 8+ age guide is probably about right. Lovely art work as well, game looks great. Very pleased with this purchase.

This game is fantastic! It is now one of our family favourites. We have bought this for other family members who have also had hours of fun with the game. It seems hard to understand to start with but doesn't take long to get the hang of it. We do take a few cards out of the pack when we play but that's because we find we don't use all the cards and they end up sitting on the deck all the game. This game definitely makes you think about your game plan and the best moved to get what you need and want whilst also thinking about your plan to beat the dragons. This game is a must have for all families.

Dragonwood is a very simple little card game. I absolutely love the silly graphics and names such as Giggling Gobblin, or Wild Boar (who's pictured as just ran through a washing line).It's not a complex game, however as an adult I sometimes enjoy simple games such as this.I think it could be good for children and family nights.There are only 2 things that I disagree with in the rules:- If you send your adventures to capture something and you fail, you have to give up one of your adventurers BUT this can be any adventurer (even the ones from your hand) which makes no sense as the reason being is that the adventurer has been wounded. If one of them is wounded, shouldn't it be one of the adventures that was sent to capture the creature??- You may always use a single card to capture something.Technically you should not be able to Strike as you have no numbers in a row, you should not be able to Stomp as you have no same numbers and finally you should not be able to Scream as you have no matching colours, yet you can. Makes no sense. Either the rules or wording needs to be adapted.Overall I enjoy the game and would recommend it.Note that the card holders in my photos were bought separately and are not part of the game.

A fun game with a good combination of strategy and luck. Quick and easy to learn how to play!