The Commodore 64 was released in 1982.  With little competition that could match it's abilities, it quickly became a very popular home computer.  In 1983 a game was released, on tape, that would bring the Dungeons & Dragons world to life... Telengard!  The similarities to D&D were many.  For the first time players could explore a huge (50 level - 2 million room) dungeon, battle 20 different types of monsters, and cast 36 different spells.  Magic weapons, armor, scrolls, and potions were available to those who could find them.  Gold and jewels were plentiful.  So were traps and surprises.  All with color graphics, animation, music, and sound effects.  All from a BASIC program (with a few ML subroutines) under 38K!  Of course, to load it on tape would take about 15 minutes!  It was well worth the wait...

How does it hold up today?  I think pretty well.  Don't expect an experience like Diablo.  But if you're looking for a game that's quick to learn and lets you explore a vast dungeon, kill a lot of monsters, and gain a ton (literally) of gold and treasure, then Telengard awaits.