Red Dragon Inn Game Review

It’s not often my wife gets to introduce me to a new game. I’m usually the one scouring the net looking at games and I am the one who led the board game nerd childhood. However while I was playing Twilight Imperium at GameALot she tried out Red Dragon Inn. She fell in love with it. In fact she ran over to my table to interrupt and demand my credit card so we could get a copy. She was so sure I would love it, and as usual she was so very right.

The game box

Red Dragon Inn, from Slugfest games, is about a group of fantasy adventurers after their adventure is complete. They are flush with loot and are at the Inn for a bit of celebration. They drink, gamble and roughhouse. Of course you need to keep an eye on your gold. If you run out then the inn tosses you out and you spend the rest of the night in the stables. And try not to get too drunk or beaten up. If you black out your friends continue the party without you… after looting your gold.

To start the game each player selects a character. In the base game there is Zot the Wizard, Dierdre the Priestess, Fionna the fighter, and Gerki the thief. Each deck has a slightly different advantage. Gerki is great at gambling and backstabbing, Dierdre is excellent at avoiding drinks and healing damage, Fionna is good at dealing damage and Zot is an all around interesting character.

Each player gets a player board. There are glass “gems” for keeping track of your alcohol level and fortitude. If your alcohol level rises above your fortitude or your fortitude drops below your alcohol level you pass out and are out of the game. The player board also has space for your player deck, the discards from the player deck and your drink deck.

Player set up, I seem to be drunk with my drink gem placement

Once each player is set up they each draw a seven card hand and get a single face down drink card on their drink deck. Now you are ready to play.

To start a turn discard as many cards as you want then draw up to your seven cards. Review your new cards and choose a single card to play as your action for this turn. Once this is resolved “buy” drinks for the other players; which is take one face down drink card from the drink pile and add it to a player card drink pile. Finally take one drink card from your drink pile and do what it says. If you have no drink cards you sober up. Congrats you lose one alcohol!

For player cards there are different types: Action- which can only be played during the action phase of your turn, Sometimes – these cards can only be played under certain circumstances such as when a player attempts to damage your fortitude, and Anytime – which can be played at any time you feel like.

What I like most about the player cards is the humour. Most have in jokes about the fantasy and role playing genre. Little pokes at the tropes and idioms of the character and player archetypes. I have to say, while I was playing Fionna the “no more jokes about chain mail bikinis” and “are you saying I’m not a lady” cards were rather funny to play. Thinking of chubby and hairy me in a chainmail bikini made most players shudder (including myself.)

Of the player cards the most different are the gambling cards. A player can start a round of gambling during the action phase of their turn. Once this happens all players must ante up one gold. Of course there are cards you can play to avoid gambling or paying the ante. Once everyone has anted up play proceeds clockwise with each player either playing a gambling card or passing. Eventually someone plays an “I win” or “cheat” card and they win the pot. But be careful sometimes the waitress thinks the pot was her tip and all the money goes to the inn.

Some drink cards

The drink cards are interesting. They range from simple 1 drink ale cards, to the 4 drink dragons breath card. There are also water cards with no drinks or “cut off” cards that help sober up a player and many more special drink cards. There is the dreaded “with a chaser” effect that makes a player draw another drink card and add the cumulative alcohol. Then there are drink event cards, such as “drinking game” or “on the house” which cause all players to drink. It’s these mini-games within the game that really add to the charm.

The game plays rather quickly and the rules are easy to learn. For most players Red Dragon Inn rules are picked up in one or two games. Remembering what each card does may take time but eventually players will learn and it makes the game run a little smoother. Game time runs around half hour to an hour so it’s a great light game.

Some small drawbacks: There is an exclusion factor to the game as the point is to eliminate other players, but due to the rather short play time this isn’t much of an issue. Of course due to the more adult nature of the theme it probably won’t be great for young players. There is a lot of “luck of the draw” in how the game plays out. Watching the Dierdre player constantly get water cards and passing on the strong drinks can get a little frustrating... unless you are playing her.

Being able to play a different character each game keeps up the replayability and the randomness of the draw ensures each game is played differently. There are expansions to the core game (which I will review after I collect them all) which will allow for more than four players and add greater variety to the characters at the table.

Of course there are many house rules out there for adding in actual drinking and gambling which we have yet to try. If you attempt these please do so responsibly. I like my readers; I want you to stay safe and having fun.

To sum up Red Dragon Inn is a fun and easy to learn game based in a fantasy setting. It’s full of humour and good natured competition. I would recommend this to any group of teens to adults who appreciate some immature adult gaming. Trust me, once you play a round you will be coming back for more.

Check back next week when I review the classic game Clue.