Top 44 · #5 of 60 in Family
Clank!
A deck-building dungeon crawl where you sneak into an underground dungeon with a sleeping dragon, steal treasure, and have to escape without making a sound. You use cards to move, fight, and buy cards at the market, but every time you make noise a clank cube goes into the dragon's bag and things get more dangerous. The deeper you go the better the treasure, but the longer your escape route — that tension between risk and reward is the core of the game.
Rules
Build a deck that generates Skill, Swords, and Boots, push into the dungeon, and return with an artifact before your Clank! becomes dragon damage.
The whole game at a glance
On every turn, play all five cards in your hand in any order. Combine the three resources to move, fight monsters, and acquire new cards. Take an artifact, then make it back above ground alive.
Risk and reward
A deeper artifact is worth more, but the return route is longer. Watch your health, your cubes in the bag, the Rage Track, and the countdown started by the first player out.
Components and starting deck
| Component | Count | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Double-sided game board | 1 | Dungeon rooms and tunnels |
| Dungeon cards | 100 | Fill the shared Dungeon Row |
| Reserve cards | 15 Mercenary, 15 Explore, 12 Secret Tome, 1 Goblin | Always available cards and monster |
| Starting deck | 10 per player | 6 Burgle, 2 Stumble, 1 Sidestep, 1 Scramble |
| Clank! cubes | 30 per player | Noise and dragon damage |
| Dragon cubes | 24 black | Harmless cubes removed by attacks |
| Artifacts | 7 | You need at least one to escape |
| Major and minor secrets | 11 and 18 | Found when entering rooms |
| Market items | 2 Master Keys, 2 Backpacks, 3 Crowns | Cost 7 gold in a market room |
| Other tokens | 3 Monkey Idols, 4 Mastery | Points and escape bonus |
Setup
- 1Each player takes a pawn, 30 Clank! cubes, and the same 10-card starting deck. Shuffle it and draw five cards.
- 2Use all seven artifacts with four players. Randomly return one with three players or two with two players, then fill the spaces from lowest value near the entrance upward.
- 3Put one Major Secret on each major-secret space and two Minor Secrets on each minor-secret space.
- 4Place two Master Keys, two Backpacks, and three Crowns in the market. Add three Monkey Idols and one Mastery token per player.
- 5Put 24 black dragon cubes in the bag. Set Rage to its first space with four players, second with three, or third with two.
- 6Deal six cards to the Dungeon Row. Replace every initial card with a Dragon Attack symbol, then shuffle those replaced cards back in.
- 7In turn order, place three, two, one, and zero of each player's cubes in the Clank! Area.
Place artifacts from low to high
Fill artifact spaces with the lowest value nearest the entrance. Do not reveal any artifacts returned because of player count.
Your turn — play all five cards
- 1Play your five cards in any order, resolving immediate effects and Clank!
- 2Spend Skill to acquire a Dungeon Row or Reserve card. Put an acquired card in your discard pile.
- 3Spend Swords to defeat monsters and take their rewards. Discard a defeated Dungeon Row monster; the Goblin remains and may be fought repeatedly.
- 4Spend Boots to cross tunnels. Interleave cards and actions in any order, repeating actions while resources allow.
- 5Discard every played card and draw five. Refill empty Dungeon Row spaces, then resolve at most one Dragon Attack.
Devices do not enter your deck
Pay Skill for a purple Device, use its effect immediately, then put it in the dungeon discard pile. Other newly acquired cards cannot be used that turn.
Movement and room tokens
- A normal tunnel costs one Boot. A tunnel with two footsteps costs two Boots.
- A monster tunnel deals its printed damage, reduced by the Swords spent on that tunnel.
- A locked tunnel requires a Master Key. An arrow tunnel may be crossed only in the arrow's direction.
- Entering a crystal cave prevents you from spending more Boots that turn. Teleporting is still allowed.
- Take at most one token when you enter a room. Leave and re-enter to take a second token there.
- You normally carry one artifact. Each Backpack lets you carry one more, and you may never exchange an artifact you took.
Crystal caves still stop Boots after a teleport
A teleport moves you to any connected room without Boots and ignores monsters, locks, and one-way arrows. Entering a crystal cave still prevents later Boot movement that turn.
Clank! and Dragon Attacks
Positive Clank! adds your cubes to the Clank! Area. Negative Clank! removes your cubes there and may offset positive Clank! later in the same turn, but any unused negative amount expires at turn end.
- If one or more cards with a Dragon Attack symbol appear while refilling, make only one attack for that turn.
- Move every cube in the Clank! Area into the bag, then draw the number shown by the current Rage level.
- Advance Rage when an artifact is taken or a dragon-egg secret is found.
- Draw one extra cube for every Danger card currently in the Dungeon Row.
Knockout, rescue, and escape
You are knocked out when your Health Meter fills. Whether you may score depends on two things: carrying an artifact and your current location.
There is no partial death penalty
A failed rescue does not merely reduce treasure points: you score zero. A rescued player scores everything normally.
Countdown after the first finish
The first player to escape or be knocked out puts their pawn on the Countdown Track. On each of their later turns, that pawn simply advances one space.
Cubes of finished players
Escaped and knocked-out players take no normal turns and add no new Clank! If their cubes are drawn in later attacks, remove them without dealing damage.
Final scoring
- Points printed on artifacts and other acquired tokens
- One point for each gold
- Points printed on every card in your deck, including starting cards
- The 20-point Mastery token if you escaped beyond the starting space
Tie
The tied player with the more valuable artifact wins. The rulebook gives no further tie-breaker.
Card language and strategy
- Resolve an Acquire effect once, at the moment you acquire that card.
- Resolve an Arrive effect as soon as the card enters the Dungeon Row, before any Dragon Attack.
- An effect that makes you discard can target only an unplayed card in your hand.
- Trash removes a card from your deck. Choose it from your play area or discard pile and return it to the box at turn end.
- Do not bloat the deck without purpose. Reliable Boots and Clank! control often matter more than a small artifact upgrade because a failed return can mean zero points.
Edition and history
Designed by Paul Dennen and released in 2016, Clank! blends deck-building with a board-based dungeon race. It won a 2017 Mensa Select award and was recommended for the 2018 Kennerspiel des Jahres. This guide covers the original base game, not expansions, Clank! In! Space!, or Clank! Catacombs.
NamuWiki cross-reference status
The exact article URL was attempted, but its content was unavailable. No Korean publisher or expansion-history claim was inferred from it.
Frequently confused rules
Q. May I keep cards in my hand for later?
No. Play all five cards every turn, discard them, then draw a new hand of five.
Q. Can I use a newly acquired card immediately?
No. A normal card goes to your discard pile and must cycle into your hand. A Device resolves immediately and never enters your deck.
Q. Can I take two tokens from one room at once?
No. Take at most one when you enter. You may leave and re-enter to take another.
Q. Can I exchange my artifact if I have no Backpack?
No. You can never exchange an artifact. A Backpack lets you keep the first and carry one additional artifact.
Q. Do several new Dragon Attack symbols cause several attacks?
No. A refill causes at most one attack, regardless of how many symbols appeared. Danger cards and Rage change the number of cubes drawn.
Q. Does an artifact guarantee rescue anywhere?
No. You must have an artifact and be outside the Depths. If you are still in the Depths, you score zero.
Sources
Dire Wolf official Korean base-game rulebook (12 pages)Dire Wolf official English base-game rulebook (12 pages, 16th printing)Dire Wolf official support pageDire Wolf official product pageBoardGameGeek — players, time, weight, and awards cross-referenceWiki cross-reference — Wikipedia: Clank!Rule summaries are reference content written by us, not quotations from the official rulebook. Always check the official rulebook for exact rules. Diagrams are original schematics, not rulebook illustrations.
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Last updated 2026-09-15
💡 Master tip
The deeper you go the more valuable the treasure, but your escape route grows just as long, so once the dragon starts waking up often, knowing when to drop your greed and head back safely matters. Trimming your deck down to quiet cards keeps clank cubes from piling up and raises your chances of surviving the dangerous moments.
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