Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Player-count sensitive
Deep strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Secretly build a monster-filled dungeon, then explore your rival’s maze with deduction, dice, and a hand-drawn map.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Grid Movement
Move pieces between adjacent spaces on a regular grid.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Deduction
Combine clues and exclusions to identify hidden information.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Read the full game description
Lairs is a head-to-head dungeon-design game in which each player creates a hidden maze for the other to explore. As an architect, you place monsters, traps, treasure, and twisting passages; as an adventurer, you probe the rival lair, roll dice to face its dangers, and mark discoveries on your own map. Every clue narrows the possibilities, so careful deduction matters as much as tactical action points. The pleasure comes from the paired puzzles: devising a layout that misdirects without becoming predictable, then reconstructing someone else’s logic one room at a time. Built specifically for two players, Lairs mixes grid movement, bluff-adjacent mind games, and the tactile satisfaction of drawing a map that gradually makes sense.
