Additional contributions through multiple editions were made by Gary Gygax, Steve Winter, Jeff Grubb, Chris Dupuis and Michael Gray.

[6] The original edition of the game featured the rulebook, a folding vinyl cloth gameboard, four colors of Parcheesi-style playing pieces (white, blue, red, and green), a pair of six-sided dice, and an assortment of color-coded monster and treasure cards for the six levels of the dungeon.

In the 2012 version of the game, released under the Dungeons & Dragons brand name, the heroes are Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, and Wizard,[1] allowing for up to 8 players.

Additional monster cards were then placed in chambers, which were larger rooms at key intersections throughout the board.

Some treasures, such as magic swords and crystal balls, altered gameplay; swords added to a player's hand-to-hand combat rolls, while crystal balls permitted players to forego a turn of movement and spend the turn looking at monster and treasure cards in a room without entering the room.

[9] A small number of monster cards were not monsters, but traps that either opened a slide that dropped the character encountering them into a chamber one level deeper, or held the character in a cage for a number of turns.

Each class had particular advantages: The amount of treasure required to win the game varied by character class- theoretically, this evened out the odds of winning the game, and allowed the less powerful characters to stick to the upper levels of the dungeon.

Although the Hero arguably had no advantages, given the weighted treasure requisites to win the game, the Hero packed the most punch for a character class requiring the least amount of treasure to win, being slightly tougher against most monsters than the Elf.

TSR also printed some official variant rules in the Strategic Review and Dragon magazine, giving extra cards and new character classes.

The original game had the versatility of a playing surface that could roll as well as fold and the advantage that the small monster and treasure cards could be easily laid out within the rooms depicted on the board.

Editions were also published in other countries including versions by Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken playing card company in Germany and Jedko Games in Australia.

The Jedko Games version closely resembled the original US edition but with a light cardboard map playing board instead of the cloth-vinyl one.

for White Dwarf #4, giving it an overall rating of 8 out of 10, and wrote that "even if you play D&D it is still worth having a game or two of Dungeon.

You may argue that Green Slime is not as deadly as it is portrayed but a little thing like that shouldn't spoil your fun.

If on the other hand D&D is not your cup of tea (or coffee), don't let the connections put you off, this is a game in its own right and a good one".

[13] Johnson commented that "whoever decided to make this simple game even simpler should have his brains impounded before he does more damage.

[2] Both Niebling and Ewalt found that the change in the cards size to be larger than the rooms forcing the use of place-holder markers to indicate were the monsters were located was a problem.

[1][2] DieHard GameFan said that "this is definitely a game any fantasy fan should be on the lookout for – especially if you played one of the earlier editions as a child.

in Black Gate, Andrew Zimmerman Jones said: "If you just want to go, kill some stuff, and get some treasure, without worrying about a ton of elaborate rules, this is the game for you.

[18] In another review in Black Gate, James Maliszewski said: "I'm not sure I can truly sum up the vistas that Dungeon!

Prior to that Christmas break, 'fantasy' was the realm of fairy tales and King Arthur's knights.