One Hundred Dungeons is a collection of hand-drawn word puzzles where your vocabulary is the only thing standing between you and the exit. Place letters, spell words, and navigate your way through one hundred dungeons, grabbing treasure, unlocking doors, and finding your own path out.

Every dungeon is its own little adventure. Corridors to explore, treasure to collect, and maybe a monster or 2 to kill on the way. Your words form a path through the dungeon, and because there's no tile limit, no letter rack, no restrictions beyond your own vocabulary, every player finds a different route. There's no single right answer. Just your words, your path, your escape.

One hundred dungeons. Each one hand-drawn, each one playtested, each one designed to feel different from the last. Some will take you five minutes. Some will have you staring at the ceiling. Every single one has been planned, drawn and tested by hand. Not generated, not produced by an algorithm. Human made.

Each dungeon takes between 5 and 15 minutes to play. Print it out, or load it onto your tablet. One page, a pencil, and you're ready.

 

Each turn, place letters onto the grid to form a word, horizontally or vertically. Your first word must pass through the starting square. Each new word must connect to an existing word by sharing or touching a letter, not diagonally. All letters placed on a turn must sit in one row or column.

Every word formed, including any crosswords your placement creates, must be a valid dictionary word. No proper nouns, no abbreviations. Each word can only appear once on your path. Plurals are valid, but you can't use both the singular and plural of the same word.

When you place a letter on or next to the exit square, you leave the dungeon and the game ends. Write up your score, and move on to the next one.

One Hundred Dungeons isn't just my project. It's yours too.

Every backer will receive a bonus set of dungeons called the Community Crypts, designed and submitted by you. Sketch out a dungeon, send it in, and I'll draw it up in the Word Dungeon style and add it to the collection. You'll be credited, you'll name your dungeon, and it'll be in the hands of every backer.

Your dungeon needs an entrance, an exit, a workable solution, and at least one scoring mechanic. Beyond that, it's yours to design. You can find out more about how to submit a dungeon in the project updates.

How big will the Community Crypts be? That depends entirely on you. 

I'm Joe. I'm an indie games designer from the North East of England. I run What If? Games and spend most of my time designing print and play games, drawing dungeons, and arguing with my kids about what game to play next.

Word Dungeon was my first crowdfunded game. This is my second. I'm always happy to chat, so find me on Instagram @joe_plays_games | @word.dungeon or drop me an email at [email protected].