DeathMaze is an early GM-less adventure game where players compete to loot a dungeon. The concept is similar to TSR’s Dungeon boardgame series.
SPI’s version different in that there is no map. Instead, in DeathMaze, counters are placed during play, with hallways, rooms, dead ends, and features like a fountain, trap door, or a statue or gargoyle.
Players actually roll up characters, complete with their own micro-sized sheet. Rooms randomly populate at entry (similar to Dungeon). Characters can choose to fight of course. But they also have the option to negotiate with the monsters and leave unharmed (but sans loot).
For more gameplay info, see the Centurion’s Review page on DeathMaze.
DeathMaze: Heroic Adventure in the Corridors of Doom
1979 … Greg Costikyan … SPI 2800
SPI released this game in both Capsule version, and a boxed set.
Boardgamegeek has fan-made resources available for inexpensive play
Capsule Game edition that came through the shop in 2019.
A DeathMaze box set from 2016.
A combined set. (May 2021, SOLD). Note that the countersheet here in this box is 2 of the prior sheets combined into one. In my 2016 photo, SPI was still using 2x of the capsule counter sheets.
Charts pages from capsule edition and box set. If you look carefully at the box rules page, you can see the little Character Record sheet.
Top of the countersheet is the characters and monsters. Bottom holds the room and corridor chits.
See also:
The New Dungeon board game (1989): Data on the BIG set
DragonStrike (1993): D&D’s rival to the HeroQuest board game
BARBARIAN PRINCE: Easy-to-play, hard-to-win Old School Solo Game (1981)