The board is composed of 25 rooms joined by many doorways. Some of the doorways are blocked by barrels. Each turn, a player rolls a die to determine the number of steps to move from room to room. For each step, the player moves her marker one space, may then reposition one barrel, and then must move the ringmaster one space towards herself following the shortest path. Players can't move through barrels or into occupied rooms. The ringmaster can't move through barrels (or reposition them) but may move through other players. If the ringmaster 'catches' the active player, the game ends and all other players win.
Stumpy the Cave Boy was originally slated for release as CAG 012 in October 1997. A last minute decision removed it from the production schedule. The game was retooled as Escape from Dork Tower and published in John Kovalic's Dork Tower in 1999. Stumpy the Cave Boy became a celebrated martyr of Cheapass Games, and stock number 012 has been retired. It was finally published in Chief Herman's Holiday Fun Pack.