Drakon is a 2-6 player board game which is currently on it’s Fourth Edition, published by Fantasy Flight Games. Players are pit against each other to be the first to grab enough treasure and escape.
Players choose one of the 6 unique characters, each with their own special ability, and then drop them on the starting tile.
As the characters move along they are faced with the choice of moving onto an existing tile or playing a new one from their hand.
Most tiles have some kind of special attribute that will change how players interact with them. Ultimately the goal is to collect as much treasure as possible while trying to stop your opponents from doing the same. It’s a careful balance of greed and spite.
The premise of this game is that players are dropped into a dungeon to fend for themselves. The adventurers immediately turned on each other as they learned of how much gold and treasure resides within the labyrinth. Along with trying to outdo their opponents each character must also avoid the terrifying Drakon at the same time. It has now become a race to be the first adventurer to collect 10 gold pieces and escape, leaving everyone else to be devoured.
How To Play Drakon
On a players turn they can either place a tile or move their character. This choice can be crucial as placing a tile allows for great bonuses but you also want to be able to get there first.
Placing a Tile
With the exception of the “escape” tile, most tiles special abilities are activated when players move onto them. So you can either place them near opponents to hinder them or near yourself to benefit from them. Tiles must be placed in a way that their doors connect.
Moving Your Character
Instead of placing a tile you can move your character onto one to the benefit of said tile. You may only move to tiles with connected doors unless a special ability says otherwise.
Optional Powers
There is an optional version of this game that involves each character having a special abilities. These abilities can only be used once per game. They can be used either before or after the regular turn action. Each character in the game is granted a unique and useful special ability.
Character Special Abilities in Drakon:
Amazon : The Amazon is able to move an extra space in a turn. Following the tile rules on both spaces.
Barbarian : If the Barbarian finds himself on the same space as an opponent, he may use his ability to push the opponent to an adjacent legal space. The opponent must then follow the rules of the space and the Barbarian steals a tile from them at random and puts it into their hand.
Dwarf: The Dwarfs ability allows him to discard any number of tiles and replace them with new ones randomly drawn from the stack. If they are below 4 they may draw back up to 4.
Knight: The Knight uses his special ability to prevent the loss or theft of one of their coins.
Thief: The Thief has two abilities to choose from. Either they steal a random coin from a player on the same space, or they can swap one of their own coins with a coin from the dragons hoard.
Wizard:The Wizard’s ability allows him to make one illegal move. Moving against the arrows or through any doorway. This does not act as an extra move and replaces a normal move.
Drakon Strategy
In the Drakon board game players want to collect gold coins as quick as possible while also trying to hinder their opponents and keep a good distance from opponents. It’s important to keep an eye on your opponents gold stashes to try and hinder the most threatening players.
Each gold coin is hidden from opponents with a value of 1, 2 or 3. So be very careful because it is possible for someone to win the game with only 4 gold coins. If you’re getting unlucky and drawing low value coins you might want to consider cards that swap coins or cause other players to lose their coins.
Be very mindful of the spaces that allow players to move Drakon. If you’re within range of him and an opponent turns him on you, you might have just cost yourself the game.
Review
Overall this is a great family fun board game. It’s simple enough on the surface and has a nice mix of randomization and strategy. It’s also very quick to play, around 40 minutes, but the game time will go up for each additional player added.
As for the strategy of this game, it can often feel unfair. As players target the player in first place it can feel a bit like a game of Mario Kart where what you thought was an easy-win quickly becomes a last place finish. With the random coin values and a few devastating tiles it can be hard to tell exactly who has the upper hand. Drakon is best played with some good friends but is not always a good fit for those looking for a deeply strategic battle of the minds. If you’re looking for some of the best strategy boardgames, we’ve got you covered.
Here are some Drakon reviews from around the web, too:
The reviews are somewhat mixed, some people like Drakon a lot more than others do. One of the issues people tend to have is that it’s on the simple side, but sometimes that’s what you’re looking for – like if you’re introducing friends to games beyond Monopoly, or simply don’t want to strain your brain too much.
Where to buy the Drakon Game
If you’re interested in picking up a copy of Drakon to try it for yourself, you can grab it from Amazon using the link below, or you may very well find it at your friendly local game store. It’s a fairly common game so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.
- The classic board game of treasure, greed, and dragonfire for two to six players
- Race to gather ten gold and escape the dragon's lair before your opponents
- Create new, labyrinthine lairs every game, using dozens of unique chamber tiles
- Six unique heroes offer powerful special abilities to help you survive
- Balance the advancement of your own goals with strategies that hinder your opponents
If you play Drakon, let us know what you think! If you love it, or you don’t like it, or you’re neutral – we’ve love to hear your thoughts. If you enjoyed it, please let us know some other games you enjoy as well so that we can recommend games like Drakon for other people who enjoy this style of game.
