The game's main rulebook, the Operations Manual, does not include rules for subjects like movement rates and weapon ranges; it explicitly states that they are unnecessary for play.

The results of the dice rolled are added, and the sum compared to a difficulty number assigned to the task by the Ghostmaster (gamemaster).

The original Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game boxed set (ISBN 0-87431-043-1) was designed by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford and published by WEG in 1986.

The second version of the game was published both to capitalize on that year's release of the film Ghostbusters II, and to satisfy players who requested a more detailed set of rules.

In the July 1986 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #79), Marcus Rowland liked the game's humorous approach, as well as the lightweight rules and easy character generation.

However, he questioned the relatively high cost of the game compared to the other less expensive light-hearted RPGs already on the market, Toon and Paranoia, saying, "It remains to be seen if the cost of this game will be justified by the quality of future scenarios; with the exception of the film tie-in, the system offers few advantages over Paranoia and Toon, and will be a good deal more expensive.

In Issue 7 of The Games Machine, John Woods liked the high quality of the components, and the light-hearted humor of the rules, which he still found "simple in the extreme but have a number of really nice touches."

He called it "a fast-paced game that is easy to learn but provides plenty of scope for hilarious action," and concluded, "If you fancy a spot of light-hearted modern-day roleplaying and laughed more than twice at the movie, you'll love this.

"[7] Ken Cliffe reviewed Ghostbusters International in White Wolf #18 (Nov./Dec., 1989), rating it a 3 out of 5 and stated that "It's roleplaying, manic and plain silly fun.

Members of the jury, consider this: its open-system has influenced game designs ever since, including Star Wars, Shadowrun and White Wolf's diametrically opposed World of Darkness series.

"[11] Later that year, in a reader poll conducted by Arcane to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time, Ghostbusters was ranked 37th.

Magazine editor Paul Pettengale commented: "Ghostbusters sports a wacky collection of stats, a wild way of handling skills and combat, and instead of experience you earn Brownie Points.

Editor Scott Haring noted that Ghostbusters was "the first-ever RPG to use the dice pool mechanic" and "the game did a great job of catching the zany feel of the movies.

"[13] In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "The game does a good job of channeling the source material.

While much of the game feels like it's meant to be taken as a slapstick version of Call of Cthulhu, it is, in many ways, (like the original film) a zany small business comedy."

James Wallis commented: "Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game remains a unique and audacious oddity, the brilliant forerunner of an entire genre that should have been and never was.