How to Play Clank! (2026): Deck-Building, the Dungeon and the Dragon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Full details on our Affiliate Disclosure page.

How to play Clank! (2026): Clank! is a deck-building race into a dragon’s lair. Each player starts with the same small deck of cards, sneaks into the dungeon, grabs an Artifact and tries to get out before the dragon notices. Every careless step makes noise, called Clank!, and noise is what the dragon hunts. This guide covers the current Master Thief Edition rules from Dire Wolf for 2 to 4 players: setup, a full turn, dragon attacks, escaping and scoring.

Clank! at a glance

Detail	Clank! Master Thief Edition
Players	2 to 4 (up to 6 with an expansion)
Length	About 45 to 90 minutes
Goal	Grab an Artifact, escape or at least reach safety, and score the most points
Starting deck	10 cards: 6 Burgle, 2 Stumble, 1 Sidestep, 1 Scramble
Resources	Skill (buy cards), Swords (fight monsters), Boots (move)
Danger	Clank! cubes go into the dragon bag; drawn cubes deal damage

Setting up Clank!

1. Put the board out with the recommended side up for a first game. Place the seven Artifacts on their numbered spaces. With three players remove one at random, with two remove two.
2. Place one Major Secret on each Major Secret space and two Minor Secrets on each Minor Secret space, face down. Put the Monkey Idols on the shrine and one Mastery token per player near the entrance.
3. Set out the Health Track and the Rage Track. Place the five white Ghost cubes in the marked spaces on the higher rage levels and the Dragon marker on the space matching your player count.
4. Make a bank with gold, the dragon bag holding the 24 black cubes and the Market Board stacked with two Master Keys, two Backpacks and three Crowns.
5. Set up the Reserve: the Goblin plus stacks of Mercenary, Explore and Secret Tome cards. Shuffle the Dungeon Deck and deal six cards face up as the Dungeon Row, replacing any with a Dragon Attack symbol.
6. Each player takes a pawn, 30 Clank! cubes and the 10-card starting deck, then shuffles and draws five.
7. The sneakiest player goes first. The first player adds 3 Clank! to the Clank! area, the second 2, the third 1 and the fourth 0.

How a turn works

You play all five cards in your hand, in any order, and use the Skill, Swords and Boots they produce. You can take these actions as many times as you can afford, mixing them between card plays:

• Acquire a card: spend Skill to buy a card from the Dungeon Row or the Reserve. It goes into your discard pile and joins your deck when you reshuffle.
• Fight a monster: spend Swords to defeat a monster in the Dungeon Row and take its reward. The Goblin in the Reserve can be fought again and again.
• Move: each Boot moves you through one tunnel. Tunnels with footprints need two Boots, monster icons deal damage unless you spend Swords, locked tunnels need a Master Key and arrow tunnels are one way.
• Use a device: pay Skill for a device card, carry out its effect and discard it.
• Buy from the Market: in a Market room, spend 7 gold for a Master Key, a Backpack or a Crown.

When you enter a room you can take one token there, such as a Secret, a Monkey Idol or an Artifact. You can carry only one Artifact unless you buy a Backpack. Entering a Crystal Cave exhausts you, so you cannot use more Boots that turn.

Clank! and dragon attacks

Some cards add your cubes to the Clank! area, and some sneaky cards remove them. At the end of each turn, refill the Dungeon Row. If any new card shows a Dragon Attack symbol, the dragon attacks once: put every cube from the Clank! area into the dragon bag, shake it and draw as many cubes as the Rage Track shows. Black cubes miss. Each colored cube is one damage to that player and goes on their health meter. Danger cards in the Dungeon Row add one more cube to each draw.

The dragon gets angrier over time. Each time someone takes an Artifact or finds a Dragon Egg, the marker moves up the Rage Track. When it reaches a space with Ghost cubes, those ghosts go into the Clank! area. A ghost drawn from the bag deals one damage to every player, then returns to the Clank! area.

Escaping and getting knocked out

• Escape: return to the flag at the dungeon entrance with an Artifact. Take a Mastery token worth 20 points.
• Knocked out: if your health meter fills, you are out. If you have an Artifact and are above the Depths line, you still score. If you are in the Depths or have no Artifact, you score nothing.
• After you leave: escaped and knocked-out players stop taking normal turns. Instead, each time their turn comes, they put the Clank! area into the bag and draw exactly four cubes for a dragon attack, or six cubes in a two-player game.

Scoring and winning

The game ends when every player has escaped or been knocked out. Players who scored add their Artifact value, other tokens (including the Mastery token if they escaped), their gold and the points printed on cards in their deck. The highest total wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most valuable Artifact wins.

Tips for new thieves

• Trash Stumble cards when you can. They only make noise.
• A small nearby Artifact is a fine plan if you also grab secrets, idols and gold.
• Move toward the exit before the dragon gets too angry. Late attacks draw many cubes.
• If you plan to escape first, remember every later turn you trigger an attack on everyone still inside.

Compare Clank! with the original deck builder in our Clank! vs Dominion guide, or browse the best deck-building games.

Clank! rules FAQ

How many Artifacts can you carry in Clank!?

One, unless you buy a Backpack from the Market, which lets you carry one more.

What happens when you escape in Clank!?

You take a Mastery token worth 20 points. On each of your later turns you trigger a four-cube dragon attack, or six cubes with two players.

Do you score if you are knocked out?

Only if you have an Artifact and are not in the Depths. Otherwise you score nothing.