GeekDad Retro Gaming: Dark Tower

Dark Tower (Milton Bradley, 1981) was another one of those early electronic board games that included a battery operated device that players would use to play the game. In this case, it was the Dark Tower itself, a spinning monstrosity that sat in the center of the game board. When I say spinning, I mean that — inside is a number of spinning drums that would light up 3 windows that would tell a short story about the current player’s actions. A window might light up a found treasure such as a sword or a Pegasus (useful for an immediate jump to another location on the board) or even a wizard’s curse that can be used against another player to steal 1/4 of  his or her gold and warriors.

Up to 4 players could play the game, and each player would move a small figurine around the map to locate three hidden keys.  Each player starts in his own kingdom but must circle the gameboard, visiting various buildings such as the Tomb, the Bazaar, the Ruins, or the Sanctuary — each of these buildings exists in the other three kingdoms, and players will find one key in each of the foreign kingdoms.  After gathering the keys, players can assault the Dark Tower and try to defeat the enemies within and capture the Power Staff of the Empire, a treasure stolen and guarded by a large number of Brigands inside.

As players travel around the gameboard, they’ll visit the different locations for specific purposes. The Bazaar, for example, is useful for buying food and warriors but you can also buy beasts (for hauling more gold around), healers for protection from random plagues, and scouts that prevent you from getting lost (another random event). Visiting a Ruin or Tomb is a good place to pick a fight but you’ll almost always be awarded with gold or treasure… and often with one of the required keys.

The Sanctuary or Citadel (starting point on all four kingdoms) is a good place to get warriors, food and gold donated to you… depending on what you already have. You keep track of your warriors, gold, food, and other items using a game card and red pegs (just like the ones in the game Battleship ). If you take heavy losses during a random battle while wandering a kingdom or after leaving a Tomb or Ruin, you should immediately head to a Sanctuary or Citadel for supplies.

All of the game play is done using the electronic Dark Tower and the various buttons on its front. If you move your figurine to the Bazaar, for example, you press the Bazaar button on your turn and hear a little tune played before gaining access to the various items you can buy. (There’s also a Haggle button that you can try to use to get prices lowered, but push it one too many times and the shop will close up and you’ve wasted your turn.