The 1985 Epyx IBM PC Rogue: the original game, in its original colours.

This is the IBM PC version of Rogue that Epyx sold in 1985, the one with the smiley face and the coloured double-line walls. Go down through 26 levels, take the Amulet of Yendor and climb back out. Death is permanent.

• About the game
• Keyboard controls
• Saving your game
• Tips
• New player's guide
• History & differences
• Playing in the browser

About the game

This is the original Rogue (the 1985 Epyx IBM PC release, version 1.48), the game the whole genre is named after. It is much smaller than Angband: 26 dungeon levels, no town, no shops, no classes, no spells and no character creation beyond your name. Every level is a 3×3 grid of rooms joined by corridors. The goal is the Amulet of Yendor on level 26 or deeper; once you carry it, the up staircase (<) works and you must climb all the way back.

• Items are unidentified at first: potions by colour, scrolls by strange titles, rings by stone, wands and staffs by material. Using one is the main way to learn what it is.
• There is no word of recall and no rest in town: food is the clock that pushes you downwards.
• Score is your gold. Dying still counts for the high-score list, winning counts much more.

Keyboard controls

Essential keys

Saving your game

• Saving is automatic. The game is stored in this browser (IndexedDB) between your commands (at most every two seconds). Reloading the page continues from there.
• S (then Enter) saves and ends the session, as in the original; reload the page (or press Play again) to continue.
• When your character dies or you quit with Q, the save is deleted: death is final.
• Each browser keeps one game. New game deletes it and starts over.
• Export save downloads the save file; Import save loads one. Use them for a backup or to move a game to another browser or computer.
• Window layout, zoom, tiles/text and auto_more are stored in the same browser storage.
• Private/incognito windows and "clear site data" delete the stored game. Export first if it matters.

Tips

• Search (s, several times) at dead ends and in rooms without exits: secret doors are common, and a level can look finished when it is not.
• Fight in corridors or doorways so only one monster reaches you at a time.
• Use the bow: wield it (w) and throw arrows (t + direction) at dangerous monsters before they close in, then switch back to the mace.
• Scroll of enchant armour and enchant weapon are the steady way to get stronger; read them on what you use.
• Keep a spare unknown potion or scroll for an emergency; healing, teleportation and hold monster have saved many games.
• Traps (^ once found) can drop you a level, put you to sleep or teleport you. Walk around them.
• Rings cost food while worn. Take off rings you don't need.

New player's guide

Your first steps

1. You start with a mace, a short bow with arrows, ring mail and some food, all already in use.
2. Explore each level (x), pick up everything (walking over items picks them up) and go down with > once the level is done.
3. Eat (e) when the status line says Hungry, not before. Don't linger: each level has only a little food.
4. Read unknown scrolls and drink unknown potions when you are at full health and no monster is near. Most are useful, and knowing them early pays off.
5. Rest (., or a count such as 20.) before going down if your hit points are low.

Monsters to watch for

• Aquator (A): its touch rusts your armour. Take the armour off or fight it with arrows.
• The Leprechaun (L) steals gold and the Nymph (N) steals a magic item; kill them from range.
• Rattlesnake (R) weakens your Strength; Wraith (W) and Vampire (V) drain experience levels and hit points.
• Ice monster (I) freezes you in place; Venus flytrap (F) holds you until it dies; Medusa (M) can confuse you.
• Xeroc (X) looks like an item until you touch it.
• Deep down, Trolls, Griffins, Jabberwocks and Dragons (T G J D) hit very hard. Throw or zap what you have before they reach you.

History & differences

Where it all started. Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman wrote Rogue at UC Santa Cruz in 1980, using Ken Arnold's new curses library to draw on the whole screen. Arnold joined them at Berkeley, and Rogue spread with BSD Unix. Its name now stands for the whole genre: random levels, permadeath, items identified by use.

This version. Michael Toy and Jon Lane founded A.I. Design and ported Rogue to the IBM PC in 1983; Epyx published it in 1985, with Glenn Wichman on the team. It follows the 5.x rules (26 levels, the 5.x monster alphabet), but it is its own code.

What is unique about it.

• Colour and the IBM PC character set: smiley-face hero, box-drawing walls, a real staircase symbol. This is where Rogue first looked like a game rather than text.
• It was sold in shops, not passed around as source: Rogue's first commercial release.
• The Epyx versions for the Amiga, Atari ST and Macintosh drew tiles; this port uses Oryx's tiles in that spirit.

Trivia. Rogue sold poorly for Epyx; Wichman blames rampant piracy, though others point to its plain graphics next to games like Ultima III. Glenn Wichman later told the story in "A Brief History of Rogue".

The family at a glance (numbers counted in each game's source):

Playing in the browser

• Windows ▾ → One window (or F12) shows the original IBM PC text screen: VGA font, CP437 symbols, CGA colours. Multi-window brings the tiled windows back.
• Tiles windows: the map on top; Messages (with history) and Status below on the left; Inventory on the right. Lists and menus pop up over the map.
• Resize windows by dragging the gaps between them. Reset windows puts everything back.
• Zoom: A− / A+ on the Map title bar (shown on hover) change the size of the map tiles; when the map is bigger than its window it scrolls to follow you. Hover over a text window's title to show its A− / A+ buttons.
• auto_more is on: --More-- prompts are skipped and everything stays in the Messages window. The game's own menu (Enter) turns it off.
• Keys: hjklyubn, the arrow keys or the numeric keypad move you; capital letters run. The F-keys work as in the original (F1 help).
• Browsers keep a few shortcuts for themselves (Ctrl+W, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+N, and Cmd shortcuts on a Mac), so those never reach the game.
• If the game ever crashes, a message appears at the top; reload the page to continue from the last autosave.

About this version

• Based on Rogue PC 1.48 (rogue-pc-modern-C).
• Map sprites: Oryx (default) or DawnLike by DragonDePlatino with DawnBringer's palette (CC BY 4.0), sprites picked by name via Tommy Ettinger's DawnLikeAtlas (DawnLike|a: animated); switch with the Tile set button.
• Original source: untouched import, commit 71f524f (from the archive rogue-pc-modern-C-main.DOS-Version-1.4.8.zip, sha256 64a41e51177ec62c…; its download source was not recorded)
• Our changes (port, auto-explore, command menu, web build): memmaker/roguepc