Escape: The Curse of the Temple

2012 · Dice

Escape: The Curse of the Temple

Players cooperate to flee a collapsing, cursed temple before its countdowns consume their characters. The game plays in real time: everyone rolls dice simultaneously to move through revealed tiles, open new rooms, and match symbol combinations to discover magic gems or trigger effects. Music-driven countdowns force urgent play; if players are out of the safe room when time runs out they lose dice. Once the exit appears, players attempt a collective escape by rolling based on remaining gems, passing dice to escaped teammates as they leave. Optional modules add face-down treasures with special powers and playful curse penalties that alter player behavior during the run.

Players
1–5 best 4
Playing time
10 min
Age
8+
Complexity
1.5 / 5
5.8 on Ludoyafrom $56.82Action / DexterityAdventureGrid MovementSolo / Solitaire GameCooperative Game

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya
342
Plays logged
251
Players
20m 31s
Average play
80
In collections
11
On wishlists

5.8/10

from 48 Ludoya reviews

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Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

Can players combine their dice to activate a gem in a chamber?

Yes — several adventurers in the same chamber may pool their key/torch icons to activate gems; you may cooperate to activate 1 gem and must cooperate to activate 2 or 3 gems (page 5).

If I roll a black mask, can I reroll that die immediately?

No — a die showing a black mask is accursed and must be placed aside; it can be used again only if a golden mask breaks the curse or by provoking a turn of fate (pages 3, 6).

Can I use other players' dice to enter or discover a chamber?

No — entering or discovering requires the icons rolled by the player taking the action: you must roll the icons shown (enter) or roll two adventurer icons yourself to discover a new tile (page 4); pooling is described only for gem activation (page 5).

How many key icons do I need to escape once I reach the exit?

Each player must roll as many key icons as the number of gems currently in the gem depot plus one, and each player must roll their required keys by themselves (page 5).

If someone already activated a gem in a chamber, can more gems there be activated later?

No — once at least one gem in a chamber has been activated, no adventurer may activate any further gems in that chamber (page 5).

Where do we place the exit tile during setup (and is it different for 1–2 players)?

Shuffle the exit with the top 4 tiles and place them on the bottom of the draw pile; for solo or two‑player games, instead insert the exit tile in the middle of the draw pile (page 2).

Opens Ludoya's rules assistant, which reads this game's rulebook.

Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.