2-6 Players
Release Date 2003
Retail Price $19.95
Buy at Warehouse23

You play as characters that are all trying to destroy the evil wizard Z’Mindrik, who has cursed the land and brought monsters to the realm (or something). Anyway all the players are trying to oust the bad guy, but they aren’t working together because they want all the glory for themselves (and it would be a boring game without a little buddy backstabbing).

To be able to succeed in the battle against Z’Mindrik the players must improve their characters by battling monsters and purchasing items (weapons and armor) so that they can stand a chance against the Big Jerk. Each character starts out with a basic strength ability which is measured against the monster’s ability and a quick die roll determines the winner of the fight. Don’t worry, if you lose you can just run and nothing bad happens.

The game would be pretty non-interactive if you didn’t have the ability to hinder the other gamers progress. There are several ways to make the other players suffer so you have a better chance of beating Z’Mindrik yourself. Of course, all blame for such incidents are laid on Z’Mindrik himself.

My only real problem with the game is that the instructions make Dork Tower seem way more complicated than the game really is. They constantly have you jumping back and forth to different sections of the instructions and it makes for a very confusing first-game session. Combine this with the time you’ll spend pushing out the game pieces and it might be enough to run off some casual gamers. If you can get past the first half of the first game you’ll be hooked. It is an incredibly fun game that really is easy to play (regardless of what the instructions say).

Dissecting Dork Tower

Setup / First Run — (4 out of 10)
As mentioned before the first time you play this game you will probably consider quitting early and putting the game on the shelf to rot – Don’t do it! If you can get halfway through the first game you will start to have fun, then you won’t have to deal with all the setup pains ever again.

Innovation — (7 out of 10)
This game is a self-proclaimed homage to the old board game Dark Tower and also has some similarities to the great game Munchkin, but overall it is like nothing I’ve ever played before. The tower in the middle representing night and day got a couple “that’s a pretty cool way to do it” remarks.

Fun Factor — (9 out of 10)
This game is quite fun. Especially when you start screwing with the other players, er, I mean when Z’Mindrik starts screwing with the other players. Obviously your friends wouldn’t do that to you. It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, so it should be okay whether you are a hardcore gamer or not.

Game Art / Aesthetics (7 out of 10)
Everything is pretty well designed and the art is colorful and humorous. The little “runes” on the gameboard are confusing until you learn that they aren’t used very much (just for quests).
It would be nice if the tower, when assembled, would fit into the box without needing to dis-assemble it. I ended up cutting the bottom portion off mine and drawing the door around one of the moons at the top, just so it would fit in the box.
Also, it would be nice if they included a bag to pull the monsters from, instead of just telling you to get your own. Although, at only $20 you can’t expect to have everything.

Long-term playability — (9 out of 10)
There are several different characters with different abilities and many, many items and scrolls that you can get, so virtually every game you play will be different. The random encounters really give anyone a chance at winning, so those players that are usually not so good at this genre will have more of a chance than usual.

Summary — (8 out of 10)
Overall, I would recommend this game. If you are the type of person that enjoys an unusual or unorthodox game then you will probably enjoy this game. If you are a hardcore RPG fanatic you might find this game a little lacking because of it’s simplicity, but everyone else will love it. Especially if you’ve read the books.

Tags: Boardgames · Reviews