Overview

Clank! is a deck-building adventure game where players sneak into a dragon’s dungeon to steal artifacts and loot. Players build their decks to generate Skill (buy cards), Swords (fight monsters), and Boots (move through tunnels). Noise (“Clank!”) draws the dragon’s attention. Players must retrieve an Artifact and escape the dungeon. The player with the most points from artifacts, gold, and other loot wins.

Components

• Double-sided game board
• 100-card Dungeon Deck
• Reserve cards: 15 Mercenary, 15 Explore, 12 Secret Tome, 1 Goblin
• Four 10-card starting decks (6 Burgle, 2 Stumble, 1 Cautious Advance, 1 Skillful Move each)
• 30 Clank! cubes per player (4 colors)
• 4 player pawns
• 24 black dragon cubes
• 1 Dragon Bag
• 7 Artifact tokens (valued 5-30)
• Major Secret tokens, Minor Secret tokens
• Market items (2 Master Keys, 2 Backpacks, 3 Crowns valued 8-10)
• 3 Monkey Idol tokens
• Mastery tokens (1 per player)
• Gold tokens (1s and 5s)
• Dragon marker
• Rage Track

Setup

1. Choose a board side (front recommended for first game).
2. Each player takes 30 Clank! cubes and a matching pawn, plus their 10-card starting deck.
3. Place 7 Artifacts face up on numbered spaces (remove 1 random artifact for 3 players, 2 for 2 players).
4. Shuffle and place Major Secrets face down on Major Secret spaces; Minor Secrets on Minor Secret spaces.
5. Place Market Items on the Market area.
6. Place 3 Monkey Idols in the Monkey Shrine room.
7. Place Mastery tokens near the board (1 per player).
8. Set up Gold token Bank beside the board.
9. Place Dragon marker on Rage Track: space 1 (4-player), space 2 (3-player), space 3 (2-player).
10. Place 24 black dragon cubes in the Dragon Bag.
11. Place Reserve cards (Goblin, Mercenary, Explore, Secret Tome) beside the board.
12. Shuffle Dungeon Deck, deal 6 cards face up as Dungeon Row. Replace any with Dragon Attack symbols and reshuffle them.
13. Each player places pawn outside the dungeon, shuffles deck, draws 5 cards.
14. Starting Clank!: 1st player places 3 cubes, 2nd places 2, 3rd places 1, 4th places 0.

Turn Structure

1. Play Cards: Play all 5 cards from hand in any order, generating Skill, Swords, and Boots.
2. Take Actions: Use resources to acquire cards, fight monsters, move, buy from market, etc.
3. End Turn: Discard all played cards, draw 5 new cards. Refill Dungeon Row; if any new cards show Dragon Attack symbols, the dragon attacks (once only, regardless of how many symbols).

Actions

Acquire a Card (Skill)

• Buy cards with blue banners from the Dungeon Row or yellow banners from the Reserve.
• Pay the Skill cost (lower right corner). Place acquired card in your discard pile.

Use a Device (Skill)

• Purple banner cards in Dungeon Row. Pay Skill cost, perform the Use text, then discard to Dungeon discard pile (not your own deck).

Fight a Monster (Swords)

• Red banner cards in Dungeon Row. Spend Swords equal to the monster’s strength (lower right corner).
• Gain the reward listed in Defeat text; monster goes to Dungeon discard pile.
• The Goblin in Reserve can be fought multiple times per turn and is never discarded.

Move Through a Tunnel (Boots)

• Each Boot = 1 tunnel movement.
• Double footprint tunnels: Cost 2 Boots.
• Monster tunnels: Deal damage equal to monster icons; each Sword used reduces damage by 1.
• Lock tunnels: Require a Master Key token.
• Arrow tunnels: One-way only (direction of arrow).
• When entering a room, may take one token (Minor Secret, Major Secret, Monkey Idol, or Artifact).
• Taking an Artifact advances the Dragon marker one space on the Rage Track.
• Cannot take an Artifact if you already have one.
• Crystal Cave rooms: Entering exhausts you; no more Boots this turn.

Buy From the Market

• Must be in a Market room. All items cost 7 Gold.
• Master Keys, Backpacks, and Crowns (10, 9, 8 points) available.

Gaining Gold

• Take Gold tokens from the Bank. Each Gold = 1 point at game end.

Clank!

• Some cards add Clank! cubes from your supply to the Clank! Area.
• Some cards remove Clank! (negative Clank!). If no cubes in Clank! Area, save negative Clank! to offset later additions this turn.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Dragon Attacks

When the Dungeon Row is refilled and any card shows a Dragon Attack symbol:

1. All cubes in the Clank! Area go into the Dragon Bag. Shake it up.
2. Draw cubes equal to the number on the Dragon marker’s current Rage Track space.
3. Black cubes are set aside. Colored cubes = damage to that player (placed on their Health Meter).

Health and Knockout

• Damage fills the Health Meter from left to right.
• If Health Meter is completely filled, the player is knocked out.
  • With Artifact, above the Depths: Rescued by townsfolk; points count.
  • Without Artifact or in the Depths: Eliminated from competition.

Escaping

• After picking up an Artifact, you can leave the dungeon by returning to the start.
• If you make it out alive, gain a Mastery token worth 20 points.
• Once a player escapes, they trigger additional dragon attacks for remaining players each turn.
• You cannot leave without an Artifact.

Game End

The game ends when all players have either escaped or been knocked out. Count points from Artifacts, Gold, tokens, cards with point values, Crowns, and Mastery tokens. Highest total wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• You can only carry one Artifact at a time; once taken, you’re stuck with it.
• You must exit and re-enter a room to pick up a second token.
• Taking a Dragon Egg (Minor Secret) also advances the Rage Track.
• Unused Skill, Swords, and Boots at end of turn are lost.
• When your deck is empty, shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.
• You can’t voluntarily take damage from a Monster tunnel if it would completely fill your Health Meter.

Player Reference

Resource	Use
Skill	Acquire cards or use Devices
Swords	Fight monsters, reduce tunnel damage
Boots	Move through tunnels (1 per tunnel)

Starting Clank!	Cubes
1st player	3
2nd player	2
3rd player	1
4th player	0

Dragon Rage Start	Space
4 players	1
3 players	2
2 players	3