The original Gamma World 1e box set had three distinct printings during its 4+ year run. I’ve combed my photo archives for examples of each printing as an aid to collectors.

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The Books

1st printing
2nd printing
3rd printing

The printings conveniently spanned the time periods of three different TSR logos:

  • 1st print has the old school TSR Lizard logo
  • 2nd print the Wizard logo
  • 3rd print the Face logo

TSR wasn’t concerned with keeping printings distinct of course. I have seen a 2nd print book in a 1st print box (single owner) for example. Also maps varied a bit. I have identified map types by printings, but I’ve seen plenty of exceptions too.

In addition to the logo variation, the books inside had printing notes on the title page (except 1st print, which had none).

The Box Sets

1st prints had the early TSR low impact dice. The box bottom had no printing, instead the promo graphics were printed on a loose sheet.

2nd prints switched to the smaller TSR dice. Gamma World sets rarely have their dice anymore.

3rd prints.
Edit: I’ve had a couple of reports of the old low impact dice being found in 3rd print sets. And I too have seen this once before. I reckon that TSR employees (ca. 1981-2) stumbled on a case of the old low impact dice, and were using them as they assembled some of the 3rd print sets.

See Also:

GAMMA WORLD 1st ed (1978-82): The Original Post-Apoc RPG
Gamma World colored map
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks & GW10 Epsilon Cyborgs: It’s déjà vu!