Dragon Overload
Dragon Overload Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 45 dragon cards (of 5 different suits; values 1-9 in each suit):
- Wind Dragons
- Water Dragons
- Fire Dragons
- Earth Dragons
- Crystal Dragons
- 5 claim tokens
- 5 home areas
The 5 home areas and their matching dragon suits:
| Home Area | Suit |
|---|---|
| Cloudy Crests | Wind Dragons |
| Boiling Basin | Water Dragons |
| Lava Lagoon | Fire Dragons |
| Mossy Meadows | Earth Dragons |
| Crystal Caves | Crystal Dragons |
Setup
- Shuffle the 45 dragon cards and place them in a face-down pile on the table.
- Place the 5 home areas between the two of you (horizontally or vertically, as you like).
- Draw and place 1 card from the pile face up on top of each home area. It does not matter whether the cards match suit (i.e., the icon) with the area they are placed in.
- Place the 5 claim tokens on top of the card in the corresponding area. The claim tokens must match suit with the area they are placed in, not the card in that area.
- Each player draws 4 cards from the pile into their hand. The player who lost the last game may decide who goes first in this one. The starting player draws 1 additional card from the pile.
Course of Play
You take turns placing a card in an area of your choice. The active player always has 5 cards in their hand. This goes on until you trigger the end of the game (see Game End and Winner, below).
Placing a Card
Select a card from your hand and place it in one of the 5 areas, i.e., on your side below that area. Each player may place at most 3 cards in each area.
Normally, you will place your card face up, but, at most 3 times during the game, you may place a card face down, hiding its suit and value from your opponent.
Home Areas and Card Anatomy
Each card shows, in its corners, its Home Area (Suit) icon and its Strength (a value from 1 to 9), and carries an Illustration of the dragon.
A) Face-up cards must match suit with the area they are placed in.
Example: Kate places a Fire (Lava Lagoon suit) 9 in the Lava Lagoon area.
B) Face-down cards may or may not match suit with the area they are placed in — this is up to you. You may look at your own face-down cards at any time.
Remember: during the course of the game, you may place at most 3 face-down cards total.
Example: Jack places an Earth (Mossy Meadows suit) 5 in the Lava Lagoon area, so he must place it face down.
Taking a Dragon Card
After you have played a card (face up or face down), the other player takes the dragon card on top of the area in which you have just placed your card, and adds it to their hand. Replace that card by drawing a new card from the pile and placing it face up on this area, in the now empty spot.
Example: Jack has placed his card in the Lava Lagoon area, so Kate takes the dragon card on top of that area and adds it to her hand.
Compare Strength
The first player to place a card in an area takes the corresponding claim token. It does not matter whether that first card is face up or face down.
From then on, the claim token of an area changes hands when a player's total strength in that area is greater than their opponent's. For this purpose, face-down cards contribute 0 to the total, regardless of what their faces would show. When both totals are equal, the claim token stays with its current owner.
Example #1: Kate places a Earth (Mossy Meadows suit) 3 in the Mossy Meadows area for a total strength of 10, now matching Jack's total, so the claim token stays with him.
Example #2: On a later turn, Kate places a Wind (Cloudy Crests suit) 4 in the Cloudy Crests area, which is greater than Jack's 2 there, so she takes the claim token from him.
Game End and Winner
The game ends in one of three ways:
A) When a player has all 5 claim tokens in their possession, that player wins instantly.
B) When a player cannot play a card when they still have empty slots on their side of the display available (3 per area), that player loses instantly. This can happen only if you have placed 3 face-down cards already and do not have a card in hand that you can place face up in an area with empty slots remaining.
C) When both players have placed 15 cards each (i.e., 3 in each of the 5 areas), you must determine the winner as detailed below.
Determining the Winner
Unless the game ends prematurely (see A and B, above), you must determine a winner at game end. First, turn all face-down cards face up and discard any cards that do not match suit with the area they have been placed in. Then, evaluate one area after the other by comparing the total of strengths on both sides.
- If one total is greater than the other, that player takes the claim token. If both are the same, the current owner keeps the claim token.
- BUT: If one total is at least double the other, that player loses that area and the other player gets the claim token. (If your dragons get too powerful, they get into quarrels and lose sight of their objective.)
Once all areas have been evaluated, the player with the most claim tokens wins.
Example: Kate gets the Lava Lagoon and Crystal Caves claim tokens, as Jack's strength is double that of hers in those areas (8:16 and 6:14, resp.). On the other hand, Kate loses Mossy Meadows after revealing the 5, for the same reason (15:7). Anyway, with the two newly gained claim tokens and the Cloudy Crests one, she wins the game with a score of 3:2.
Credits
- Designer: Jay Bendixen
- Illustrations & Graphic Design: Nele Diel
- R&D: Maren Holderbaum
- Translation: Grzegorz Kobiela
- Layout: Andrea Kattnig
Dragon Overload is manufactured from FSC certified materials. Published by Lookout Games / Asmodee, 2026.