HeroQuest is one of my favourite board games from my childhood. Oddly enough, I hardly played it and it wasn't until my mid 30's that it started getting some regular use. I've always been attracted to anything castle / fantasy related so when it arrived on the market, I poured over the box until I scored it as a gift.
It's basically lightweight role playing game which is played out on a game board with four characters exploring lost dungeons, hunting down monsters and taking their gold while protecting the Empire. One to four players control their characters and take on a fifth player who reveals the map, traps and monsters in a series of quests following a simple storyline. Along the way the characters gain gold which in turn allows you to buy improved equipment to strengthen your party. Several quest treasures also appear which increase various abilities. The RPG component is fairly low level with the mechanic tracking body points for endurance, using dice for attack, defence and movement as well as actions including attacking, searching and casting spells.
There's a bit of time required in setup but most games would take 45 - 60 mins and it needs a good amount of flat space. These days it's surprisingly well represented in the online community (the Ye Olde Inn for example) which provides plenty of needed solutions to the ambiguity of some of the rules. The game had several published expansions released and it's a perfect example of a game which responds well to user generated content and rules.
If you have it, get playing it as it's a gem. If you try to source it these days, it's not a cheap, especially with some of the expansions which are listed online for the price of a house deposit. However it is possible to print out all the published media for personal use for free.
Happy questing
