Saturday, November 19, 2022

Dungeon! Created 50 Years Ago Today

 


Published in 1975, the board game Dungeon! shares deep historic roots that tie it to the the origin of D&D and Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Campaign. 50 years ago today, David R. Megarry sat down and created this dungeon exploration game that would allow all the players to join in on the fun without the need for a Dungeon Master.


Megarry tells the story of how the game was created on his Facebook page:

It was 50 years ago this weekend, in a perfect storm of despair, driven by not finishing my degree; not being drafted at the last minute and thus becoming unmoored from an expected future; and breaking up with my girlfriend, I entered a 72 hour creative flow and produced Dungeon! I showed the game the following weekend to Arneson & Co. and they liked it. Dungeon! has come a long way and is now being enjoyed by yet another generation. Keep on gaming!


Back in 2011 I wrote about how David Wesely remembers Megarry showing up with the Dungeon! prototype and how Megarry and Arneson decided to go to down to Lake Geneva to demonstrate the game to Gary on a day that would change the history of gaming forever. 

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