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Table of Contents
SUMMARY OF GAMEPLAY .............................................. 4
Modes of Play.................................................................. 4
Solo Play ......................................................................... 4
Cooperative Mode ......................................................... 5
Competitive Mode ......................................................... 5

THE PLAY AREA – A DIAGRAM ........................................ 6

CARD ICON KEY ........................................................... 7

SUMMARY OF THE RULES ............................................... 7

Getting Started ................................................................ 7
Taking a Turn .................................................................. 8
Monster Cards ............................................................... 9
Combat Cycle ....................................................................... 9
Combat Action: Using a Consumable Magic Item ............... 9
Combat Action: Switching an Equipped Magic Item ........... 10
Combat Action: Attacking ................................................... 10
The Adventurer Dice .......................................................... 11
The Monster Dice ............................................................... 11
Combat Action: Fleeing ....................................................... 12
Combat Conclusion .............................................................. 12
Monster Loot ...................................................................... 12
Boss Monsters ..................................................................... 13
Treasure Chest Cards .................................................... 13
Trap Cards ..................................................................... 14
Dungeon Exit Cards ....................................................... 14
When in Town ...................................................................... 14
Town Option: Getting Healing at the Temple ..................... 15
Town Option: Deposit/Withdraw Gold from the Bank ....... 15
Town Option: Buying Magic Items from the Merchant ...... 16

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 Town Option: Selling Magic Items to the Merchant ........... 16
Town Option: Visiting the Trainer to Level-Up ................... 16
Ending the Turn ............................................................. 17

ADVENTURERS ................................................................. 17
Adventurer Stats ............................................................. 17
Attack ..................................................................................... 17
Defense .................................................................................. 18
Maximum Health ................................................................... 18
Current Health ....................................................................... 18
On Hand Gold......................................................................... 18
Deposited Gold ...................................................................... 18
Experience.............................................................................. 18
Special Abilities ...................................................................... 19
Adventurer Inventory...................................................... 19
About the Adventurer Professions ................................. 19
Cleric ...................................................................................... 19
Fighter .................................................................................... 20
Thief ....................................................................................... 20
Wizard .................................................................................... 21

LEVELING-UP.................................................................... 21
Experience Milestones .................................................... 22
Level Advancement Adjustments ................................... 23

MONSTERS ....................................................................... 23
Monster Difficulty ........................................................... 23
Monster Type .................................................................. 24

DEATH & KNOCKOUTS .................................................... 24

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Summary of Gameplay
8-Bit Dungeon is a love-letter to the old first-person fantasy
roleplaying video games of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The
game has been designed to be reminiscent of those old retro
games all about delving deep into mysterious dungeons to fight
evil monsters and discover hoards of treasure.
The aesthetic has been designed to reflect the pixel graphics of
the genre during that era.
In 8-Bit Dungeon, you take on the role of one of eight different
adventurers in search of the mysterious artifacts contained
therein. You will face traps and monsters, mini-bosses, and boss
monsters as you gain experience, gather gold, and discover
powerful magic items.
MODES OF PLAY –
8-Bit Dungeon is designed for 1-4 players of 13+ years of age. It
can be played in several modes including solo easy mode, solo
hard mode, multiplayer cooperative mode, and multiplayer
competitive mode.
Due to the random nature of winning the game, play time can
widely range anywhere form 15-minutes to 3-hours, though the
average game of 8-Bit Dungeon lasts roughly 1 hour.

• Solo Mode – Played with one player using one

adventurer, a solo game is won by collecting three (easy
mode) or all nine (hard mode) of the mysterious
artifacts. Average game play time in solo mode takes 30-
45 minutes for easy mode, and 1-1.5 hours for hard
mode.

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• Multiplayer Cooperative Mode – Played with 2-4
players using one adventurer each, the cooperative
game is won by the group collecting several* of the
mysterious artifacts (*2 multiplied by the number of
players). Additionally, a player in a cooperative game
can choose to skip one turn to instead give one magic
item from their inventory -or- any amount of their gold
to one other adventurer if both are in the same location
(such as both adventurers being in the dungeon or both
in town). Average game play time in cooperative mode
is about 1-hour for 2 players + 15-minutes/player for 3-4
players.

• Multiplayer Competitive Mode – Played with 2-4

players using one adventurer each. The race is on! A
competitive game is won by the first adventurer to
collect three of the mysterious artifacts. Average game
play time in competitive mode is 45-minutes to 1 hour.

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 The Play Area – A Diagram

This is an example of the play area during an in-progress game.

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 Card Icon Key

Summary of the Rules

GETTING STARTED –

• What you need to play: 8-Bit Dungeon card game, two

six-sided dice (constructable dice provided via cards
#117-118), equip markers (cutout markers provided via
card #119), one adventurer record card for each player
(sold separately) – alternatively a sheet of paper, and
finally a pencil for each player.

• Prepare the play area by placing all the dungeon cards

face-down into the dungeon stack after shuffling the
dungeon cards, then place all the loot cards face-down

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 into the loot stack after shuffling the loot cards.

• Put at least two six-sided dice in the play area. It’s

suggested to have dice of different colors. Constructable
dice are included with the game via cards #117-118.

• Place the town card on the play area.

• Pull the top three magic item cards from the loot stack.
Place them face-up under the town card. If any of three
pulled loot cards is an artifact, shuffle it back into the
loot stack and draw a replacement loot card. These
three magic items are the stock of the town’s merchant.

• Each player chooses one adventurer to play by selecting

one of eight available adventurer cards and places it
face-up in front of them along with an adventurer
record card (or a piece of paper) to be used to keep
track of adventurer stats, experience, and gold.
Adventurer selection can be by player preference or by
random draw after shuffling all the adventurer cards
together. See more details about the various
adventurers the section titled, “Adventurers”.

• Adventurers start off the first round in town at level 0 with

current health equal to their maximum health, zero
experience, zero gold, and no inventory. They can take their
first turn to enter the dungeon by drawing the top dungeon
card from the dungeon stack.

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TAKING A TURN –

• On a player’s turn they pull a dungeon card from the

dungeon stack and place it face up on the table.

There are four types of cards found in the dungeon card

stack: monster cards, treasure chest cards, trap cards,
and dungeon exit cards.

o MONSTER CARDS - If the card pulled from the

dungeon stack is a monster the adventurer enters
combat.

There are five difficulties of monster cards: easy,

normal, hard, mini-boss, and boss. See more
information about the types of monsters in the
section titled, “Monsters”.
COMBAT CYCLE –
▪ Combat consists of a repeating series of actions
that continue until either the monster is
defeated, or the adventurer flees or is knocked
out or killed.

▪ Options for actions consist of using a

consumable magic item, switching the equipped
status on one magic item in the adventurer’s
inventory, attacking, or fleeing.

• Combat Action: Using a Consumable

Magic Item – follow the instructions on
the card then shuffle the magic item card
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 into the loot stack. Using a consumable
magic item does not result in a combat
roll for that action.

• Combat Action: Switching an Equipped

Magic Item – Equipped status is only
applied to magic weapons, magic armor,
and magic shields. It is noted by placing
an equip marker on the magic item card
in the adventurer’s inventory. While an
adventurer may have multiple magic
weapons, armors, or shields in their
inventory, only one of each may be
equipped at a time and the adventurer
only gains the benefits of those that have
been equipped. If an adventurer uses an
action during combat to switch an
equipped magic item, then the combat
roll still occurs, and the adventurer will
take applicable damage from the
monster attack but the adventurer will
deal no damage to the monster for that
action.

• Combat Action: Attacking – When an

adventurer attacks two six-sided dice are
rolled as the combat roll for that action.
One is the adventurer dice, the other is
the monster dice. Which dice each is
must be defined before rolling. The
easiest method to do this is have
different color dice (constructable dice
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provided via cards #117-118).

o The Adventurer Dice: Add the

adventurer’s attack score and any
attack bonus from an equipped
magic weapon to the roll result of
the adventurer combat dice, then
subtract the monsters defense
score from that total. Reduce the
monster’s health by that
calculated amount. If a monster’s
health is reduced to zero or fewer
it is defeated.

o The Monster Dice: Add the

monster’s attack to the result of
the monster combat dice roll,
then subtract the adventurer’s
defense score (including any
defense bonus provided by
equipped magic armor or shield)
from that total. Reduce the
adventurer’s current health by
that amount. If an adventurer’s
current health is reduced to zero
or less, then they are knocked
out. See the section titled, “Death
& Knockouts” for mor details.

o If after calculating the combat

rolls both the adventurer and the
monster have more than zero
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 current health at the end of an
action, then then the combat
cycle repeats until either the
monster is defeated or the
adventurer flees or is knocked out
or killed.

• Combat Action: Fleeing – When an

adventurer uses an action to flee from
combat, roll the monster combat dice. If
the dice roll result is 1 then the
adventurer escapes unharmed, but if the
roll result is greater than 1 then reduce
the adventurer’s current health by that
amount equal to their level. Then shuffle
the monster card back into the dungeon
stack, and end that players turn. If an
adventurer’s current health is reduced to
zero or less then they are knocked out
(see section titled, “Death & Knockouts”
for more details).

▪ Combat Conclusion – If the monster is defeated

by reducing its health to zero or fewer, then the
adventurer’s experience and gold are increased
as indicated on the monster card, and the
monster card is placed into the dungeon card
discard stack.

• Monster Loot: If the monster card

indicates either a 1x, 2x, or 3x loot
reward, then the adventurer also draws
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 1, 2, or 3 loot cards from the loot stack. If
the loot card is a magic item it may be
added to the adventurer’s inventory if
there is an available spot.

• Boss Monsters: If the monster card is a

boss monster, then it is removed from
the play area after being defeated
instead of being placed into the dungeon
card discard stack.

o TREASURE CHEST CARDS – If the card pulled from

the dungeon stack is a treasure chest card, then the
player follows the instructions are the card to
determine whether the treasure chest is trapped. If
the adventurer avoids a treasure chest trap or is the
resulting trap damage doesn’t knock out or kill the
adventurer, then the player draws the number of
loot cards from the loot stack indicated by the
treasure chest card. (See the section titled
“Adventurer Inventory” for more information about
how many loot cards an adventure may keep). After
a treasure chest is opened and the relevant loot
cards drawn from the loot stack, discard the
treasure chest card into the dungeon discard stack.
Alternatively, an adventurer can choose to not try to
open the treasure chest by ignoring it, in which case
the treasure chest card is shuffled back into the
dungeon card stack and that adventurer’s draws
another dungeon card from the dungeon stack.

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o TRAP CARDS - If the card pulled from the dungeon
stack is a trap the player follows the instructions on
the card and then shuffles that card and any
dungeon cards in the dungeon discard stack back in
the dungeon stack. If this results in an adventurer
having zero or fewer health they are knocked out
(see section titled, “Death & Knockouts” for more
details).

o DUNGEON EXIT CARDS - If the card pulled from the

dungeon stack is a dungeon exit, the adventurer
may exit the dungeon and return to town. If they do
so then shuffle the dungeon exit card back into the
dungeon stack and the player turn ends, but they
will start their next turn in town. Optionally, if an
adventurer does not choose to use a dungeon exit
card to return to town, they can shuffle the card
back into the dungeon card stack and draw again.
WHEN IN TOWN –

• There are several options only available

when an adventurer’s location is in town
during their turn.

When in town they can visit the temple

to get healing in return for a donation of
gold. They can visit the trainer to advance
a level if they have the required
experience. They can sell one or more of
the magic items in their inventory or buy
one or more of the magic items in the
merchant’s stock. They can deposit any
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amount of gold they found in the
dungeon into the bank or withdraw any
amount of gold they have deposited into
the bank.

When an adventurer is in town, their turn

ends when they leave town and return to
the dungeon, denoted by drawing a
dungeon card from the dungeon stack.

• Town Option: Getting Healing at the

Temple – The temple will restore +1
to the adventurer’s current health
points for the cost of 2 gold. This can
be applied up to an adventurer’s
maximum health score. An
adventurer’s current health can never
be higher than their maximum health
score.

• Town Option:
Depositing/Withdrawing Gold from
the Bank – An adventurer may
deposit any gold they have on hand
into the town bank. There it will
remain until it is withdrawn again.
This is a convenient way for an
adventurer to prevent losing all their
gold if they are knocked out in the
dungeon.

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• Selling Magic Items to the Merchant
– An adventurer may sell a magic
item to the merchant for gold equal
to the amount of the sell price listed
on the magic item card. When a
magic item is sold to the merchant, it
should be shuffled back into the loot
stack.

• Buying Magic Items from the

Merchant – An adventurer may buy a
magic item from the merchant for
gold equal to the amount of the buy
price listed on the magic item card if
they have an available inventory spot
to place it in. When a magic item is
bought from the merchant, a
replacement magic item card should
be pulled from the loot stack and
added to the merchant inventory. If
the pulled loot card is an artifact,
shuffle it back into the loot stack and
draw a replacement loot card.

• Visiting the Trainer to Level-Up – If

an adventurer has earned enough
experience to advance to the next
level they may do so while in town.
(See the section title, “Leveling Up”
for more information).

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 o ENDING THE TURN
▪ Once the turn process is completed for an
adventurer, it is the turn of the next player.
Player order is determined in a
counterclockwise direction around the play
area. The process of taking turns repeats until
either the game is won by collecting the
appropriate number of mysterious artifacts or
when all the adventurers have died. (See the
section titled “Modes of Play” for more
information).

Adventurers
There are a total of eight adventurer cards. Two of each
adventurer profession. There are four adventure professions,
including: cleric, fighter, thief, and wizard. A player selects one
available adventurer to play for the game. The youngest player
chooses their adventurer first, followed by each player
choosing an adventurer in a counterclockwise fashion around
the tabletop.
ADVENTURER STATS
Each adventurer has seven stats. At the beginning of the game,
an adventurer starts at level 0, but can advance in levels during
the game by earning experience points. See the section titled
“Leveling Up” for more information.

• Attack – this is the number added to an adventurer’s

combat roll. An adventurer has a base attack, but attack
may be increased with magic weapons.

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• Defense – this is the number subtracted from the
monster’s combat roll. An adventurer has a base
defense determined by their level, but defense may be
increased with magic armors and magic shields.

• Maximum Health – this number reflects the most

health an adventurer can have at once. If the maximum
health of an adventurer becomes 0 or less, they die and
the game is over for the player of that adventurer (see
the section titled “Death & Knockouts” for more
information).

• Current Health – this number reflects the health an

adventurer currently has. If the current health of an
adventurer 0 or less they are knocked out (see the
section titled “Death & Knockouts” for more
information).

• On Hand Gold – an adventurer will gain gold as reward

for defeating monsters in the dungeon or by selling
magic items they find to the merchant. Gold can be
used in the town to pay for healing or to buy magic
items from the merchant (see the section titled “While
in Town” for more information).

• Deposited Gold – When an adventurer is in town they

have the option of depositing their on hand gold into
the town bank. This keeps it safe from being lost if the
adventurer is knocked out in the dungeon.

• Experience – an adventurer begins with zero

experience. They will gain experience points from
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 defeating monsters in the dungeon and may advance in
levels as various experience milestones are reached.

• Special Abilities – each adventurer profession has one

or more special abilities (or restrictions). See details
about each profession in the section titled, “About the
Adventurer Professions”.
ADVENTURER INVENTORY
Each adventurer has six inventory spots, each spot may be
occupied by one magic item. An adventurer may gain a magic
item by drawing a card from the loot stack when applicable. If
an adventurer has no available inventory spots when a magic
item card is pulled from the loot stack the player may choose to
either forfeit the new magic item by shuffling the pulled magic
item card back into the loot stack or they may choose to free
up an inventory spot to keep the pulled magic item card by
giving up one magic item currently in their inventory by
shuffling it back into the loot stack.
Artifact cards do not require an adventurer inventory spot for
an adventurer to keep them. They are stored in the
adventurer’s artifact stash (see the “Play Area Diagram” for
more information.)
ABOUT THE ADVENTURER PROFESSIONS
CLERIC
Level 0 Maximum Health: 25
Level 0 Attack: 2
Level 0 Defense: 2
Cleric Special Abilities

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 • Healing in town is free for the cleric.
• The cleric gains +5 additional current health
when using a lesser or greater potion of healing
or a potion of restoration.
• The cleric gains +5 attack on combat rolls against
undead monsters.
FIGHTER
Level 0 Maximum Health: 30
Level 0 Attack: 3
Level 0 Defense: 3
Fighter Special Abilities

• The fighter may equip two magic weapons instead

of just one. They add the appropriate adjustment to
attack for both magic weapons to their combat rolls
as well as activating any special abilities of both
magic weapons.
• When attacking a monster, the fighter may add a +1
attack at the cost of -1 current health (up to a
maximum bonus of +5) on one combat roll. This
bonus can be applied either before or after the
relevant combat roll.
THIEF
Level 0 Maximum Health: 25
Level 0 Attack: 1
Level 0 Defense: 3
Thief Special Abilities

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 • The thief ignores all damage caused by traps and
can automatically open treasure chest cards
without risk of setting off a treasure chest trap.
• If the thief rolls a 1, 2, or 3 when fleeing combat
then they take no damage for running away.

WIZARD
Level 0 Maximum Health: 20
Level 0 Attack: 1
Level 0 Defense: 1
Wizard Special Abilities

• The wizard rolls 1 dice when they use a

consumable magic item. If the roll result is
not a 1 or 2 then the consumable magic item
remains in the wizard’s inventory rather than
being shuffled back into the loot card stack.
• Wizards get an automatic +5 defense bonus
against attacks from magic monsters.
• Wizards cannot equip weapons, armors or
shields.

Leveling Up
When an adventurer defeats a monster in the dungeon, they
gain the amount of experience indicated on the monster card.
When the adventurer has gained enough experience to reach
experience milestones as indicated in the table on the next
page, they can advance a level and gain all applicable

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adjustments to their maximum health, attack, and defense
based on the adventurer’s profession.
When an adventurer visits the trainer in town and advances a
level their current health becomes equal to their new maximum
health.
Once an adventurer has enough experience to advance a level,
they must first return to town to visit the trainer. This can be
done if they draw a dungeon exit card from the dungeon card
stack on their turn. If an adventurer has enough experience to
advance multiple levels when they visit the trainer they may
choose to do so.
There are six levels including level zero with five experience
milestones when adventurers may level-up. There is no
milestone beyond the fifth.

Experience accumulates throughout the game and does not

reset at each level-up. Meaning that to reach the level 1
milestone, a level 0 adventurer must collect 50 experience, and
then they must collect another 100 experience (150 total
experience) before reaching the milestone for advancement to
level 2.
Experience Milestones –
Level Experience Milestone
0 (Start) None
1 50
2 150
3 300
4 500
5 750
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Level Advancement Adjustments by Adventurer Profession –
Max Health Attack Defense
Profession Increase Increase Increase

Cleric +10 +2 +2
Fighter +15 +3 +1
Thief +10 +1 +2
Wizard +10 +1 +1

Monsters
Monsters are encountered as adventurers explore the
dungeon. This happens when a player pulls a dungeon card
from the dungeon stack and it is a monster card.
There are significant differences in monsters and the rewards
for defeating them are balanced based on difficulty.
MONSTER DIFFICULTY –
There are six levels of monster difficulty including

• Easy Monsters (balanced for levels 0-1)

• Normal Monsters (balanced for levels 1-2)
• Hard Monsters (balanced for levels 2-3)
• Mini-Boss & Boss Monsters (balanced for levels 3+)
When an adventurer is lower level some of the monster they
encounter will be challenging or nearly impossible to defeat. In
those cases the player must make a decision whether to
attempt to defeat the monster anyway or flee combat.

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MONSTER TYPES –
Each monster also has at least one defined type. Monster type
is utilized by some magic items to trigger additional abilities for
an adventurer when in combat with a specific type of monster.
Monster types include humanoid, insectoid, plant, outsider,
beast, undead, flying, demon, magic, elemental, dragon, slime,
construct.
A monster can have multiple types. A magic item that affects
one type will affect any monster with that type listed.

Death & Knockouts

An adventurer is knocked out If their current health reduced to
zero or lower in the dungeon.
When an adventurer is knocked out in the dungeon their turn
ends. On their next turn they will wake up in the town and
their maximum health is permanently reduced by the number
equal to their level. Their current health is automatically healed
to their new maximum health. They may not take any action on
the turn they wake up.
When an adventurer wakes up from being knocked out they
keep any artifacts in their artifact stash and magic items they
have in their inventory, but lose all on hand gold.
If an adventurer’s maximum health is ever reduced to zero then
they die and the game is over for the player of that adventurer.
In the instance when an adventurer is knocked out as the result
of the same combat roll that defeats a monster, the adventurer
gains applicable experience points for defeating that monster
but does not gain any gold or loot.
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