Lairs
Secretly build a dungeon full of walls, traps, monsters and treasure, then try to map and escape the labyrinth your rival built for you.
Lairs is a two-player dungeon-building and deduction game from Kids Table Board Gaming, designed by Christopher Westmaas. Both players secretly construct a labyrinth behind a screen, then take turns exploring the dungeon built by the opponent.
The 2026 retail base game now includes Box Zero, a small unlockable-content package that adds extra monsters, traps and cards after players learn the core system.
Build a dungeon for your opponent
Both players begin with the same kinds of walls, traps, treasures and monsters. Behind screens, each player constructs a hidden dungeon with a starting point and exit.
The design is symmetric at construction time: if you understand how to create a dangerous layout, you also understand what your opponent may be trying to do to you.
Explore blind
Once dungeons are built, players explore the opponent’s maze without seeing its full layout. You document your route as you go and use deduction to infer walls, threats and the likely location of the exit.
The opponent’s information advantage creates the tension: they know the dungeon you are entering, while you know yours.
Monsters, traps and treasure
Finding treasure earns points, while monsters and traps create obstacles that must be overcome. The base rulebook scores treasure, defeated monsters and successful escape, with a bonus for exiting first.
That means speed and completeness compete: racing for the exit can sacrifice points, while over-exploring can let the opponent escape first.
What is Box Zero?
Box Zero is a small content pack now included with current copies of the base game. It contains additional monsters, traps, cards and a sealed envelope.
It is designed to introduce the unlockable-content idea without requiring the larger Adventurer’s Pack.
Adventurer’s Pack
The Adventurer’s Pack is a separate expansion with sealed packages, new monsters, traps, treasures, attribute cubes and additional systems. It requires the base game.
The expansion can be opened gradually, letting complexity increase over repeated plays.
Deeper Dungeons
Deeper Dungeons is the larger expansion. It adds bigger dungeon boards, characters, terrain, weird walls, challenges, boss monsters and a multiplayer mode for three or four players.
It requires the base game and Adventurer’s Pack, so it should not be mistaken for the starting box.
Which Lairs box should you buy first?
Start with the base game + Box Zero. KTBG says current copies include Box Zero, and you do not need the other boxes to play. The Adventurer’s Pack is the next step if you want more unlockable monsters, traps and character abilities.
Deeper Dungeons is not the starting point. KTBG states that it requires both the base game and Adventurer’s Pack. Its value is breadth—larger dungeons, characters, terrain, bosses and 3–4 player support—rather than fixing something missing from the base two-player duel.
Current retail status
KTBG’s store currently says the base game + Box Zero is sold out and expected to return in October 2026. That makes edition wording important when shopping second-hand: older base-game copies may not include Box Zero.
How replayable is it?
Replayability comes from player-built maps rather than a deck of fixed scenarios. Even with the same components, the structure of the opponent’s dungeon changes every game.
Unlockable content then expands the design space once the basic deduction is familiar.
Who may like Lairs?
It is a strong fit for exactly two players who enjoy deduction, bluffing through level design and spatial reasoning.
It is less suitable if you want a conventional dungeon crawler where both players control heroes against an automated enemy.
More current releases
See the new board games 2026 tracker for other current releases and upcoming titles being added to the archive.
FAQ
How many players in the base game?
Two.
How long?
About 35–40 minutes.
Is Box Zero an expansion?
It is extra content designed for the base game and is now included with current retail copies.
Can Lairs play 3–4?
Not with only the base game. Deeper Dungeons adds a multiplayer mode and requires additional expansion content.
Sources and scope
Checked 7 October 2026 against Kids Table Board Gaming’s official Lairs page, the official base-game rulebook, KTBG’s 2026 Gen Con update and current expansion pages. This page avoids revealing sealed-content surprises beyond details the publisher publicly lists. Editorial policy and corrections.