Can 5-Minute Dungeon Significantly Level Up Your Teamwork Skills?

If you’re looking for a game that combines frantic fun, teamwork, and the pressure of time, 5-Minute Dungeon is exactly what you need. This cooperative card game challenges players to battle through dungeons by defeating monsters, overcoming obstacles, and taking down powerful bosses—all in just five minutes.

We bought this as a Christmas present for the family a couple of years ago and fell in love with it! This gem of a game creates tension and puts the players under stress. To win, players must communicate quickly, think on their feet, and work together as a cohesive unit.

What Is 5-Minute Dungeon?

In 5-Minute Dungeon, players take on the role of a unique hero, each with their own special abilities. Working together, they then clear a series of dungeon levels home to a series of increasingly difficult boss monsters. Every dungeon is filled with challenges such as monsters, traps, and bosses, which must be dealt with by playing matching action cards from the players’ hands. The catch? You only have five minutes to clear each dungeon level.

The game requires fast communication and decision-making because there’s no time for long debates or hesitation. Each player contributes their unique deck of cards—swords, shields, arrows, scrolls, and more—and must play the right cards at the right time to survive. If you hesitate or fail to coordinate, you risk running out of time or resources, and the dungeon will defeat your team.

Teamwork Under Time Pressure

One of the standout aspects of 5-Minute Dungeon is the intense, ticking-clock urgency. This forces players to communicate clearly and act quickly. There’s no space for egos or excessive planning. Every player needs to understand their role and support others immediately. That urgency enhances teamwork in ways that slower-paced games might not, making it an ideal exercise for teams that need to learn how to collaborate efficiently under pressure.

This dynamic can translate directly into real-life team scenarios. In a high-pressure work environment, quick decision-making and seamless communication are vital. By playing 5-Minute Dungeon, team members get a taste of this experience in a low-stakes, fun environment. They’ll discover each other’s strengths and weaknesses in real time, learning how to balance leadership, delegation, and collaboration—all while under the clock.

Cards players use to beat 5 Minute Dungeon

How 5-Minute Dungeon Can Bring Teams Closer

While the time pressure forces rapid action, it’s the cooperation that brings players closer. The need for constant communication creates bonds between team members as they learn to trust each other’s judgment and skills. Each successful dungeon completed is a shared victory, reinforcing the idea that teams work best when they collaborate smoothly.

By playing 5-Minute Dungeon, teams practice how to adjust to different situations and adapt to various team members’ play styles. Whether it’s knowing when to use your special ability or when to sacrifice your cards to help someone else, the game demands a constant balancing act of individual and team needs.

Leadership in 5-Minute Dungeon

Now, imagine incorporating 5-Minute Dungeon into leadership training or team development. What if every time the game is played, a new leader is assigned? Each person would have a chance to practice leadership in a safe, playful environment. The leader could be responsible for rallying the team, calling the shots, and making quick strategic decisions under pressure. This rotating leadership format could help participants explore different leadership styles and approaches, building confidence in those new to leadership and offering reflection opportunities for more seasoned leaders.

Moreover, leaders would experience the importance of effective communication and see firsthand how their guidance impacts the team’s performance under stress. This practice would directly translate to real-world team dynamics, where leadership often means managing pressure while still keeping the team focused and aligned.

Bringing Levity to Leadership and Team Development

Incorporating games like 5-Minute Dungeon into leadership and team development sessions might sound unorthodox, but it brings a much-needed levity to the process. Traditional leadership training or team-building exercises can sometimes feel formal, and while they offer valuable lessons, the serious tone may not always foster the team closeness you’re looking for. A game-based approach shakes things up, allowing teams to bond over laughter, creativity, and shared experiences.

Mixing up teams every session and assigning different leaders will also help participants practice adapting to new roles and personalities. Each session becomes a new challenge, with new opportunities to lead, collaborate, and improve team cohesion. Plus, having fun together lowers stress, builds trust, and keeps the atmosphere light even while learning important teamwork and leadership skills.

Final Thoughts

5-Minute Dungeon isn’t just a fun card game—it’s a fast-paced exercise in communication, cooperation, and leadership. Its time constraints force teams to work quickly and efficiently, while the cooperative nature encourages team bonding. By using games like this in leadership training, you can offer a break from the typical learning format while still fostering essential skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making under pressure. The blend of play and learning could be just what your team needs to level up their teamwork—and have fun doing it.

Crafting Emergent Play with a Fun Heist Scenario

In the gritty world of the underhive, where law is loose and loyalty looser, rumors of a rare alien artifact have sent shockwaves through the criminal underworld. This isn’t just any artifact. It’s whispered to bestow immortality on those who use it. The scene is set for a deadly skirmish as gangs scramble to claim it, but there’s a twist: they can’t do it alone. Welcome to The Heist, a skirmish wargame scenario designed to encourage emergent play, where player-driven decisions and interactions take center stage.

This idea builds on a number of gaming sessions where I have been trying to encourage the emergent play of roleplaying games in skirmish wargaming. These examples have all been set in the grimdark Warhammer 40K universe and have been well received by my players. You can read more about these experiences here, here and here. I want to take my lessons learned and create a new multiplayer scenario that maximizes engagement. This is what I’ve come up with:

The Heist Scenario

An Imperial security vehicle has been ambushed and disabled deep in the underhive. Inside, the artifact lies under heavy lock and key, guarded by three security enforcers tasked with guarding it with their lives. But that’s not all—word of the ambush has spread like wildfire, and now multiple gangs are converging on the scene to grab the prize.

However, no gang can unlock the security vehicle on its own. To crack it open, members of two different gangs must be present at the same time. This forces players to navigate temporary alliances while eyeing each other warily—after all, betrayal could be just as profitable.

Adding to the chaos are rad zombies, creatures mutated by the toxic waste of the underhive. They’ll randomly enter the battlefield each turn, keeping players on their toes and preventing anyone from staying static for too long.

Gang members moving in towards the beleaguered APC, as part of the heist scenario

Encouraging Emergent Play

Emergent play is all about creating situations where the story unfolds naturally from player decisions, rather than being dictated by strict game rules. In The Heist scenario, this is encouraged through several design elements:

  1. Gang Identity: Each player will create their gang’s backstory, choosing a name, leader, and reputation. Is your gang known for ruthless efficiency? Or are they a scrappy underdog outfit that’s always two steps behind the bigger players? The identity of each gang will influence their approach to the scenario. Some might bargain and form temporary alliances, while others might rush in guns blazing.
  2. Forced Cooperation: The artifact cannot be obtained by one gang alone. To unlock the security vehicle, two gangs must cooperate. This creates a natural tension where players must balance collaboration with their need to score points through combat. Will they form fragile truces, or will betrayals happen as soon as the vehicle is open?
  3. Rad Zombie Threat: The random appearance of rad zombies adds another layer of unpredictability. These threats could push gangs to work together briefly, or they could be a useful distraction, allowing an opportunistic gang to slip in and make a move on the artifact.
  4. Endgame Choices: The gang that holds the artifact at the end of the game gets a powerful narrative decision—who do they sell it to? Players will choose between an Imperial Inquisitor, a Mysterious Underhive Cult, or an Offworld Rogue Trader Captain, each of which could shape future games. The outcome of this scenario will ripple through the campaign, giving players a sense of consequence and long-term impact.

Victory Points and Competition

To keep things competitive, victory points (VP) are awarded based on a variety of actions:

  • Hold the artifact at the end of the game: 15 VP
  • Blow open the security vehicle: 10 VP to each gang involved
  • Kill an enemy gang leader: 5 VP
  • Kill an enemy gang member: 2 VP
  • Kill a rad zombie: 1 VP

This scoring system incentivizes a mix of cooperation and conflict. Players need each other to unlock the vehicle and share points, but they also need to eliminate threats to rack up individual points. The shuffling rad zombies, though worth less VP, are ever-present distractions that could make or break a gang’s plans.

A rival mercenary team getting in on the action

The Artifact’s Dark Secret

The alien artifact can be activated, but its effects are unknown to the players. I won’t spoil what happens (just in case any of my players are reading this), but let’s just say turning it on could have major consequences. This secret adds an element of mystery and risk, offering players another decision to weigh—do they risk using it, or play it safe?

The Ruleset: Space Weirdos

As in previous scenarios, I’ll be using the Space Weirdos ruleset, which is perfect for quick and intense skirmishes. Each gang will consist of a leader and two gangers, making the game fast-paced but still strategic. The small team sizes also allow players to focus on individual characters, adding a personal touch to the emergent narratives that unfold.

Firefight!

Emergence and Tension

The beauty of The Heist scenario lies in the tension between cooperation and competition. Gangs must work together to unlock the artifact, but they’re constantly weighing whether it’s worth turning on their temporary allies. Meanwhile, the rad zombies and the looming threat of the artifact’s mysterious power ensure that no plan is ever safe.

This scenario offers a playground for emergent play, where player choices drive the action and create memorable stories. Whether through alliances, betrayals, or desperate last stands, no two games of The Heist scenario will ever be the same. So gather your gang, trust no one, and get ready to fight for (potential) immortality—if you survive long enough to claim it.