Knights of the Dinner Table: HACK!

About this board game

Knights of the Dinner Table: HACK! is a 2–5 player game with a 30-minute play time, centered on an escape from the Tomb of Vectra.

The game includes four unique character decks and one game master deck. It can be played with just two character decks, or with one to four character decks alongside the game master deck, creating different ways to set up the game.

The characters’ goal is to escape the Tomb of Vectra. The game master has a very different objective: kill the characters. Characters also generally try to foil one another’s escape, so surviving the tomb is not the only challenge facing the players.

Each deck contains a range of elements that shape the game and its unfolding dangers:

• Rooms to explore
• Items to encounter
• Monsters and NPCs
• Traps
• Rule changes

These decks provide the rooms, threats, characters, and changing rules that define a session. With the game master working toward the characters’ deaths and the characters working toward escape—while often hindering each other—every side has a clear goal.

Released in 2001, Knights of the Dinner Table: HACK! is somewhat similar to Abduction, another game by Eden Studios, while also being definitely different. Its compact play time and deck-based structure make it a focused game about dangerous rooms, competing escapes, and a game master determined to stop the party.