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Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure

143 questions players ask about Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.

Updated 2026-11-06.

  • Setup
  • Playing Cards and Resources
  • Deck, Draw and Trash
  • Movement, Tunnels and Teleport
  • Market, Tokens and Artifacts
  • Clank, Dragon Attacks and the Dungeon Row
  • Leaving the Dungeon, Knockouts and Scoring
  • Card Rulings
  • Solo Mode and App
  • Clank!: Adventuring PartyExpansion
  • Clank!: Sunken TreasuresExpansion
  • Clank! Expeditions: Gold and SilkExpansion
  • Clank! Expeditions: Temple of the Ape LordsExpansion
  • Clank!: The Mummy's CurseExpansion
  • Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated – Upper Management PackExpansion
  • Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated – The "C" Team PackExpansion

Setup

  • Do Arrive effects on the starting Dungeon Row cards happen during setup?
  • Can a Dragon Attack happen during setup or before the first player enters the dungeon?
  • How many Minor Secrets go on each Minor Secret space at setup?
  • How does setup change with 2 or 3 players?
  • Who goes first, and how much Clank does each player start with?
  • Where do Secret tokens go at setup: on the board or in a pool?
  • Is the Gold supply limited, and what if it runs out?
  • Can the Mercenary, Explore and Secret Tome stacks run out?
  • How many copies of a promo card go into the Dungeon Deck?
  • Can you play base Clank! with five or six players by combining two copies?

Playing Cards and Resources

  • Do I have to play every card in my hand each turn?
  • Do I have to spend all the Boots, Skill and Swords my cards give me?
  • Is a card's text mandatory, or can I skip effects I do not like?
  • Do I have to carry out a card's text right away when I play it?
  • Does a -Clank card cancel Clank I add later in the same turn?
  • If I play -2 Clank and then +2 Clank, what is my Clank for the turn?
  • Can I choose a 'remove 2 Clank' option when I have no Clank to remove?
  • Does Swagger count Clank I made even if a -Clank card cancelled it?
  • Does Swagger count Clank from a Gem I buy or from a monster's Clank?
  • If I trash a card after playing it, do I keep its Skill, Boots and Clank?

Deck, Draw and Trash

  • If my deck runs out mid-turn, are the cards I already played shuffled back in?
  • When a card says 'draw a card', do I draw from my own deck or the Dungeon Deck?
  • When do I draw my next five cards?
  • Is there a hand limit in Clank!?
  • What is the difference between trashing and discarding a card?
  • Can I trash a card from my discard pile that I put there on an earlier turn?
  • Is the Magic Spring trash effect mandatory, and what can I trash?
  • Which Secret tokens can I keep for a later turn?
  • Where do the three cards from Flash of Brilliance come from?

Movement, Tunnels and Teleport

  • What happens when I enter a Crystal Cave?
  • Can I teleport out of a Crystal Cave, and can I then use Boots?
  • Do Flying Carpet or Dead Run let me keep spending Boots after a Crystal Cave?
  • How does Teleport work, and can it ignore locks and one-way tunnels?
  • Can I teleport out of the dungeon to the entrance for the Mastery token?
  • Can I teleport back into the room I'm already in, such as with Door to Before?
  • How does a tunnel with monster icons work, and can I take the damage on purpose?
  • If I take tunnel damage and gain a Sword later, can I cancel that damage?
  • What happens when I run out of cubes in my personal supply?
  • How do footprint, arrow and wrap-around tunnels work?

Market, Tokens and Artifacts

  • Can I buy more than one Market item per turn, including two of the same?
  • Can I buy any Market item from any Market space?
  • Do I pay Gold for the Minor Secrets and Artifact that sit on Market spaces?
  • Can I buy at a Market space I'm passing through or starting my turn on?
  • Which Crown do I take when I buy one, and what do Market items score?
  • Do I have to take an Artifact the moment I enter its room, or can I take it later?
  • How many tokens can I take when I enter a room?
  • If a room has two Minor Secrets, can I look at both before choosing?
  • Can I take more than one Monkey Idol in a turn, and can I take one later?
  • Can I decline an Artifact, or swap the one I carry?

Clank, Dragon Attacks and the Dungeon Row

  • How exactly does a Dragon Attack resolve?
  • If several Dragon Attack symbols appear in one Dungeon Row refill, does the dragon attack more than once?
  • When a refill shows both an Arrive card and a Dragon Attack, which resolves first?
  • When is the Dungeon Row refilled?
  • Does a Dragon Attack symbol already sitting in the Dungeon Row, or on a card I bought, cause an attack?
  • How do Danger cards work, and do they apply to countdown attacks?
  • Do the extra cubes on the Countdown Track apply to normal Dragon Attacks?
  • If someone is on the Countdown Track and a refill also shows a Dragon, do both attacks happen?
  • What happens if the Dragon Bag has no cubes during a Dragon Attack, and does the game end?

Leaving the Dungeon, Knockouts and Scoring

  • When I leave the dungeon, can I still play cards, buy and fight that turn?
  • If a card I buy on the turn I leave adds Clank, does the Clank go in the Clank Area?
  • What happens to a player after they leave the dungeon or are knocked out?
  • Who uses the Countdown Track, and what triggers it?
  • If I'm knocked out during my turn, does my turn end?
  • If I'm knocked out in the Depths, do I score even with an Artifact?
  • What is the difference between the Depths and the Dungeon?
  • When do I get the Mastery token?
  • Can I go back in once I have left the dungeon?
  • When does the game end, and what if all remaining players are knocked out?

Card Rulings

  • How do companions like Rebel Scout draw when I have other companions?
  • How many Swords and Boots does Mountain King give, and does the Crown add to them?
  • How does Treasure Hunter's replace effect work, and where does the replaced card go?
  • Does Search count gold gained earlier in the turn, or from Secrets?
  • Does Dwarven Peddler count duplicates when scoring his 4-point bonus?
  • Does the Archaeologist give more Skill for each Monkey Idol I own?
  • If I don't spend Dead Run's Boots, do I still take its +2 Clank?
  • Does Kobold Merchant give both its Gold and its Skill?
  • Can I pick Mister Whiskers' -2 Clank option when I have no Clank in the area?
  • Which cards count as Gems for Gem Collector?

Solo Mode and App

  • Can Clank! be played solo?
  • Where do the red threat cubes go in the solo app, and what is threat?
  • In the solo app, does the enemy turn discard come before the Dungeon Row refill?
  • How much Clank do I start with in solo, and is there a winning score?

Clank!: Adventuring PartyExpansion

  • How and when do React cards work?
  • Where do the new Minor Secrets go, and how many can I take?
  • Can I take two Artifacts from the same room with the new Backpack?
  • What do I use when playing Adventuring Party with 4 or fewer players, or with Catacombs?
  • Can I use Adventuring Party characters in the base game, or with other character packs?
  • Does the Invisibility Cloak count as defeating tunnel monsters for Scavenge?
  • What counts as a Find for D'allan's React cards?
  • If I play Mister Whiskers, can I React to his own 4-cube Dragon Attack, and what about the Dragon Attack from refilling the row?
  • Does the Hexavultus hydra change any rules?
  • How do Monkeybot Prime's gears work?

Clank!: Sunken TreasuresExpansion

  • Can Boomerang be discarded more than once for a single Deep Dive?
  • Can I play Deep Dive with fewer than three cards in hand?
  • Must I move toward air when I begin my turn in a flooded room, and what do flooded passages cost?
  • Do I need the base game for Sunken Treasures, and which spaces are the market?
  • Are the wave spaces part of the Depths, and what do the new Minor Secrets do?

Clank! Expeditions: Gold and SilkExpansion

  • Can I move into or through a gold vein?
  • Does an elevator shaft on the Dwarven map need a Boot?
  • How do the Queen's Web Cache and Webbed Rooms work?
  • If I'm knocked out in the Depths, can I still claim a Mining Bonus token?

Clank! Expeditions: Temple of the Ape LordsExpansion

  • If I'm knocked out on the jungle map, do I keep my Ape-aratus tokens for the temple?

Clank!: The Mummy's CurseExpansion

  • Can I receive curses outside the monument or after escaping the dungeon?
  • How do Ring of Wishes and Scorpion Queen work?
  • Does The Mummy's Curse work with base Clank!?

Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated – Upper Management PackExpansion

  • How does Viari's Acrobat defeat tunnel monsters?
  • Does Omin Dran have to announce the Contract card he picks?
  • How does the Sacred Scimitar's 5 points condition work?
  • Should I use these packs before the Legacy campaign?

Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated – The "C" Team PackExpansion

  • How does Loyal Steed work from the discard pile?
  • What do Telepathy and Invoke the Ur do?
  • Can I mix several Clank! expansions into one Dungeon Deck?
  • Does the 2023 second edition of Clank! play differently from the 2016 edition?
  • If I discard a card to a discard effect, do I still get its resources or Clank?
  • If a card says 'discard a card to get X', can I skip the discard and still get X?
  • If I discard a card mid-turn, do I draw a replacement?
  • Does the order I play cards matter for conditional bonuses (companions, crown, Swagger)?
  • Can the same Sword be used to cross a monster tunnel and to fight a monster?
  • Can I buy more than one card from the Dungeon Row or Reserve in a turn?
  • Can I spend Gold as Skill to buy a card?
  • Does a Gold icon on a card give me real Gold every time I play it?
  • Can I buy cards on my first turn before I have entered the dungeon?
  • Can I fight the Goblin more than once per turn?
  • What happens to a Device after I use it, and can I save it for later?
  • When can I use a normal card I just bought from the Dungeon Row?
  • Do cards in my discard pile score at game end?
  • When does a 'When you discard this' effect trigger?
  • Can I move back and forth over the same rooms in one turn?
  • When does the Fountain of Healing heal me, and how often?
  • If a card needs me to be in a Crystal Cave (such as a Crystal Golem attack), when must I be there?
  • If I carry two or three Artifacts, do they all score?
  • Do black cubes drawn in a Dragon Attack go back in the bag?
  • Can a -Clank card remove cubes from the Dragon Bag or my Health Meter?
  • What moves the Dragon marker on the Rage Track?
  • Is it legal to stop buying from the Dungeon Row so the dragon never attacks?
  • Where do damage cubes go, and what happens to them when I heal?
  • In a two-player game, what happens when one player is knocked out and the other is still in the Depths?
  • Can I score or win without an Artifact?
  • What scores at the end of the game?
  • How do I buy a Secret Tome, and what does it do?
  • Does the Mercenary keyword do anything by itself?
  • How do Agnet's Defensive Position, sword tokens and Lenara's Channel work?
  • Which monsters trigger Berserk's React and Garignar's Carnage, and how does Pixie Swarm pay out?