Wizards of the Coast A78490000 Dungeon! Fantasy Board Game

DUNGEON! It's a board game that is great for game nights! Kids 8 and older and adults will choose a Hero and delve into a vast dungeon labyrinth. Using sword and sorcery, the Heroes compete against each other battling monsters and collecting treasure. Collect enough treasure and escape the Dungeon to win!1 to 8 players (yeah, you can play solo) choose between four classes of Heroes (each have male and female variations for a total of 8 Heroes.)The Rogue is not the strongest, but adept at finding secret doors. The noble Cleric and fierce Fighter are strong warriors, find a magic sword and you'll be unstoppable! Finally the mysterious Wizard is able to cast Fireball and Lightning blasts in combat, and use the Teleport spell to jump between chambers!The game board is divided into 6 levels. The Heroes start in the Great Hall, a "safe zone" at the center of the board. From there, it's up to the player where to go. Surrounding the Great Hall is the first level, the monsters are not a serious threat and easily defeated. Skeletons and goblins guard only small bags of gold, though. If you want to meet your treasure goals, you'll need courage to delve deeper!Levels 2 through 4 offer increasing challenges with giant spiders, ogres, zombies, and other horrors, but the treasure coffers sweeten each victory!Want to know about the fifth level? Those vampires and mind flayers won't give up their treasure hoards without a fight! You better have a magic sword or replenished your magic spells before going down to Level 5!Yeah...that's about it... What about Level 6? I don't think ANY Hero is brave enough to go down to Level 6! Giant rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds are rumored to be lost down there! What's the problem? One word...DRAGONS! (Hey, it's not a dungeon without a few dragons!)Originally released in 1975, Dungeon! the board game was developed by the people who created Dungeons & Dragons. The game has been updated and released again through the decades. (My personal favorite is the New Dungeon from 1989.)Why the history lesson? Dungeon! is a time tested board game that has been thrilling families for generations, the game is reasonably priced and will be enjoyed by parents, children, and wacky uncles and aunts on game nights for generations to come.Give it a chance! You won't be disappointed!(Hey, if you decide to go down to the sixth level, bring some ketchup. Dragons think we taste better with ketchup!)Good luck and thanks for reading my review! I hope you found it helpful!

Ok, this game can take a while if you have a lot of players. My wife said, "Next time, let's just play Monopoly. It's shorter!" That being said, this is my new favorite board game!My wife and I played with my daughter, 10, and sons, 8 and 6. I declared myself Dungeon Master and managed the cards (while also playing), giving dramatic introductions to the monster encounters and treasures looted, and such. There's nothing quite like the looks of wonder and excitement, and sometimes dread, on their faces when they encounter a legendary beast for the first time!As any good Dungeon Master knows, you have to be ready to bend the rules in a fair way to keep the game fun.Some things to keep in mind, here: My 6 year old rolled a monster counter attack which, if I followed the rules, would have killed his character, forcing him to start over with a new one. He was fairly emotionally attached to this character, and this would not have gone over well. To be fair, the game is rated 8+. I decided to not use the highest two counter attack results.When someone had spent several turns unsuccessfully battling a monster, and, while having a magic sword +1 in their possession, roll just shy of what they needed (even with the +1), I rolled my own dice (they didn't know why) and if I rolled a 4 or higher, declared their mighty battle had caused their magic sword to awaken, and changed it to a +2, resulting in a hard fought victory.My daughter, the wizard, out of fireballs, facing a blue dragon who had stolen all her treasure, refused to give up. Sure, she could have travelled all the way back to the start to recharge her spells, but that would take something like 10 turns. I rolled and declared that her magic had recharged enough for her to add one spell card back to her inventory. In fact, it might make sense to let a wizard skip a turn or two in meditation to recharge a spell.I was going to add a final boss, but it was getting late and I didn't want to draw it out too long for them. My 6 year old was starting to get easily upset because it was past his bedtime. They all got their loot and escaped (yes, there was a winner, but everyone accomplished their goals in the end). We put the boys to bed as my daughter took the game to her room to play solo!The next morning I went downstairs at 7AM to find them all playing nicely together (a rarity), with my 8 year old as the Dungeon Master, giving dramatic introductions to the monsters :o)