Cephalofair Games has announced the first expansion for its pint-sized Gloomhaven spinoff, and yes, it involves a pub crawl. Buttons & Bugs: Pub Crawlers is heading to shelves later this year, packing in 17 new scenario cards, two brand-new mercenary classes, fresh enemies, and a new Struggle/Ease Difficulty Deck into what is already one of the most compact dungeon crawlers on the market. If you enjoy Inky Blinky Bob and other small-box adventure games, this one is worth watching closely.
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What Pub Crawlers actually adds
Here's the lowdown on the new content. The expansion introduces two new mercenaries with miniatures to match the base game's tiny aesthetic. The Fungal Monk looks exactly as strange as it sounds, essentially a walking pink mop armed with a bone staff. The second class, Whistlecry, appears to be somewhere between a flying squirrel and a fairy, which fits perfectly with Buttons & Bugs' whole vibe of playing as tiny creatures navigating an oversized world.
The 17 scenario cards form a complete standalone adventure, and the new enemy dial and cube suggest at least one fresh enemy type to fight through. The Struggle/Ease Difficulty Deck is a mechanical addition that should give the game more flexibility for players who found the base game either too punishing or too forgiving.
Pre-orders are open now for Gen Con 2026 pick-up through publisher Cephalofair, for anyone who wants to grab it early at the convention. The general retail launch is set for September. Pricing lands at $17.99, which keeps it firmly in impulse-buy territory.
Why this expansion makes sense
Buttons & Bugs launched as a deliberate contrast to the sprawling, table-consuming experience of mainline Gloomhaven. The whole pitch was Gloomhaven's tactical card-based combat compressed into a format you can finish in under 20 minutes and carry in a jacket pocket. That worked well enough that Cephalofair is now building on it, which signals the game found a real audience beyond just Gloomhaven diehards looking for a travel version.
The key here is that the expansion doesn't try to bloat what made the original work. Seventeen scenarios, two classes, and a handful of new mechanical wrinkles is exactly the right scope for a game that trades on being small and focused. Piling in dozens of components would undermine the whole point.
What most players miss about Buttons & Bugs is how it sits in a different category from Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, which is the franchise's usual entry-level recommendation. Jaws of the Lion is still a significant time and table-space commitment. Buttons & Bugs is genuinely pick-up-and-play, and Pub Crawlers extends that without compromising it.
What this means for tabletop gamers
For fans of compact action games and dungeon crawlers, Pub Crawlers is a straightforward win. The price point is low, the content is targeted, and the September window gives players something to look forward to heading into the back half of the year.
The Gen Con 2026 pre-order option is worth noting for anyone attending the convention, since it offers early access before the general retail release. For everyone else, the September launch should land in most hobby shops and online retailers simultaneously.
For deeper dives into tabletop and compact RPG titles like this one, the gaming guides hub has you covered as more coverage drops closer to the release window.
