At the end of the 1980s, Goliaths of the board-gaming world, Milton Bradley and Games Workshop, would collaborate to release a tabletop game called HeroQuest. The game was a system that that allowed the gamester to create a dungeon, with gameplay focused on the players working together to defeat the gamemaster.

After 30 years of dormancy, the IP was rebooted in 2020 through a crowdfunding campaign. With multiple tiers of support, the highest backers received unique version of the game. These have become highly valuable, and resell well.

So what made HeroQuest special?

At the time of release, the game stood out in that it was one of the first widely released D&D-style games (thematically) to hit the mass market. Being a board game produced by the consumer-friendly Milton Bradley, it delivered fantasy gaming elements in an approachable way. Game elements which were before confined to enthusiast shops were now on the shelves of every big box store.

HeroQuest was also a first in that it allowed for players to carry out a sequential campaign with dozens of quests, which was unusual for role playing board games of the time. This let players form a rich identity around their characters, which created a natural fondness of the game for many.

Finally, HeroQuest was revered for its insanely detailed components. The intricacy of details on both printed pieces and miniatures were widely regarded as ahead of their time, with a huge, beautiful game board sporting 22 individual rooms, and an included base set of 15 different 3D pieces. Simply put, HeroQuest was a high-quality effort and it showed.

Throughout the first few years of the 1990s, Milton Bradley would continue support for the IP via numerous expansions and new releases, including a number of computer games. But as it turned out, nothing lasts forever. Following a sudden release gap in 1993, support for the franchise would end with 1994’s HeroQuest II: Legacy of Sorasil for the Amiga 1200 and CD32.

Following Milton Bradley letting the HeroQuest trademark lapse in 1997, rights to the IP changed hands a number of times — but in 2020, it returned home. Milton Bradley, now known as Hasbro Gaming, reacquired the rights to HeroQuest with plans to give the now 30-year-old franchise new life.

How HeroQuest returned to life

In late 2020, Avalon Hill (a subsidiary of Hasbro) launched a teaser website with the HeroQuest logo and a countdown timer, leading to much speculation and fanfare. The countdown timer ended on September 22, 2020 to reveal a crowdfunding campaign page on the Hasbro Pulse website.

If the crowdfund campaign reached $1,000,000, an updated version of HeroQuest with all new figures and expansions would be released. Likely fueled in part by nostalgia, this goal was exploded past in less than 24 hours, with backers told they would receive their reward in late 2021. HeroQuest was back.

The campaign would end with a grand total of 24,287 backers. Each backer could opt to pledge $99 for the base game or, for $149.99, would receive what was called the “Mythic Tier” Edition of the game, which included some bonus content and extra exclusive figurines.

New HeroQuest boxes are reselling

It’s been less than a year since backers received their rewards, and although the campaign received a lot of widespread support, it would appear that many gamers missed out or were otherwise unaware of the campaign back when it went live in 2020.

Checking eBay, sealed Mythic Tier editions of HeroQuest from the crowdfunding campaign are frequently selling at or above the $650 mark — a whopping 333% gain over the original $149.99 retail price.

It is clear that many resellers purchased multiple copies during the crowdfund campaign in anticipation of HeroQuest making a triumphant return to the tabletop meta — and that bet has clearly paid off for them.

Will HeroQuest continue paving a way forward with new expansions for years to come? Or will it once again be discontinued in a few years, only to be resurrected by a new crowdfunding campaign in 2050?

Will you be a buyer next time?