Dungeon! the boardgame that presaged Dungeons and Dragons is 50 years old!

Well.

I know it's not very sophisticated and not for everyone. For me when I just wanna have some uncomplicated game time and do something D&D like quick and easy this works for me.

It's like an adorable little music box.

I seem to recall the game had an image of a kobold that looked kind of like a bulldog.

We had this as kids nin the 80s. Later, i got a copy of a recent edition, and my brother bought a copy of the edition we played off ebay. So we play this now and then with his kids. It's simple for the under-10s, plays pretty quick, and is fun for the nerdier nephew to hack with complicated new rules.

It's not going to win any awards for deep game design, but it's definitely nostalgic fun whenever we've got a lazy hour to burn, and the kids like it well enough for now til they graduate to something more sophisticated.

And to this day I still get a little jolt of joy whenever I draw that big, sparkly 10,000 gp diamond.

I really love Dungeon. It's not just a basic dungeon, it's a press your luck type game. The one who presses their luck the most wins.

Everyone has different tastes.

I normally respect most boardgamers except the board game snobs. Their the ones that turn up their noses at a game because "it's for kids" or "it's just too basic" or other things like that. Normally their the punk nerds in grade school that couldn't even win at Risk or other games and blamed the games rather than their inability to play diplomacy with the other kids and when they lost would flip the board over in anger. So, they put down games like Risk, monopoly (granted, this one can get long and boring for many types of gamers, especially when not using tournament rules), or even games like checkers. They blame the games rather than themselves and try to make everyone who play them sound as if they are inferior.

I have over 700 boardgames and played over 1000. I have a pretty good handle on everything from very simple to very complex. I love board games and anyone who is willing to play them no matter what type of gamer they want to play. I enjoy everything from Super Complex Wargames (Napoleon in Europe, World in Flames) to the very simple (Catan jr, Monopoly jr, etc).

Dungeon is in my top 200 games (maybe top 100 games). My favorite game is probably War of the Ring (still), though with others close in the running would be Age of Steam, Powergrid, and Runebound 2e.

But press your luck games like Dungeon are a really enjoyable type game. It's all about being lucky enough and guessing to go far enough to get more than everyone else without dying first, or being the first one to get there before others because you didn't die...etc.

If there are others who enjoyed Dungeon another one (originally put out by a competing company) is Dungeonquest. Very similar in the idea of the game, but a slightly different variation with tile laying and rock, paper, scissors in resolving tests.

Stormonu said:

You're probably thinking of Dungeons of Daggoroth, which has no relation to this game. I used to play the computer game a fair bit, but never finished it.

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No... I might have the platform wrong, but it was def some relation to or inspired by Dungeon. It had a board, and you moved along it, drew cards....

Maybe on an Apple? That would make it newer than I'm remembering.... but before about 30 years ago all memories bleed into one for me.

Yea, I like and play a wide swath of board games.

I mean I love Dungeon! and I'll even play Monopoly (only if my wife is playing!)

And I'll throw down with Twilight Imperium if I get a chance. Oh wow that game is a weekend.

Even non-random piles o bits Euros.

I am however very picky. I won't do apples to apples or anything remotely like it. And the trivia games would probably kill me with boredom.

darjr said:

And the trivia games would probably kill me with boredom.

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Agreed! So I’m deeply confused as to how I am supposed to feel about this new “

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Dungeons & Dragons Ultimate Edition”…​

(Ugh. Sorry. Can’t fix the formatting on my phone. )

Riley said:

Agreed! So I’m deeply confused as to how I am supposed to feel about this new “

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Dungeons & Dragons Ultimate Edition”…​

https://www.amazon.com/TRIVIAL-PURSUIT-Collectible-Officially-Licensed-Merchandise/dp/B0BBY616KB/ref=asc_df_B0BBY616KB/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=632053193640&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6436136236820354980&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021716&hvtargid=pla-1898116601939&psc=1

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Some folks really dig it.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s probably great. The tokens are amazing. And Jon Peterson, the D&D historian, wrote for it.

Just not something I ever want to play.

It’s content I might read though

There was very nearly a Tékumel version of Dungeon! called Quest. Half a dozen prototypes were apparently made, but TSR eventually decided not to publish it.

Andvari said:

I seem to vaguely recall the paladin being capable of healing another hero as a special thing he could do, but there was no reason to as you were playing against the other heroes.

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That's what it says on my tiny card for the Paladin.