The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Munchkin is a card game that sets out to emulate a dungeon crawl. Or, as the game says: "Munchkin is a tasteless parody game which brings you the essence of the dungeon-crawling experience... without all that messy roleplaying!" Add this to the fact that's designed by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic and you know you're in for a fun game. A munchkin, by the way, is a person that emphasises on stats and loopholes in the rules as opposed to the spirit of the game. Funny thing is, with Munchkin, you can be a munchkin and still play in the spirit of the game! Woohoo!

The deal

Munchkin comes with 168 cards that are mainly printed in shades of brown and yellow, with a splurge of white. As I said, John Kovalic of Dork Tower fame illustrated the cards. The result is funny, but it isn't high art. Those of you who expect Jeff Easley or Larry Elmore will be disappointed. If you expect Dork Tower, you'll feel right at home, even though its characters adorn only two cards or so.
The cards come in a standard-sized box of about 9" x 6". The only other thing in the box is the glossy rulesheet, so yes, the box is too big. To make things worse, the game is incomplete. You'll need something that counts to ten for every player, and a six-sided die. The game is a parody of a dungeon crawl, so most players will have plenty of dice available, but it still irks. For the price you pay you expect a better bargain.

What is it about and how does it work?

In Munchkin, every player is an adventurer, thumping through a dungeon. The goal is to advance from level 1 to level 10 by killing monsters and selling stuff. In the meantime, you'll get cursed, sex-changed, backstabbed, roasted, eaten and all those nice things a roleplayer knows from years of monsterbashing.

There are two piles: a dungeon pile and a treasure pile. Treasures are equipment (armor, weapons, potions). The dungeon pile consists of monsters, monster modifiers, curses, classes and races (I'll come to that later). A player's turn consists of four phases:

Open a door: turn over a card from the dungeon deck. You'll get cursed, find a monster to fight, or something else. If it's a monster, you either fight or flee.
Look for trouble: Didn't find a monster? You can play one from your own hand to fight. You can also draw another card from the dungeon pile.
Loot the room: reap the rewards of your fight if you won. If you had no combat, you get to draw another card from the dungeon pile. This time, it goes to your hand. (That's how the monster from phase 2 came there.)
Charity: If you have more than 5 cards in your hand, give the excess number of cards to the lowest-level player.

Combat

In combat, you compare your level plus equipment bonuses with the monster's level. If you lose, you can try to run away. If you don't run fast enough, you'll suffer the Bad Stuff that's listed on the creature's card, for instance, "Lose two levels".If you win, you get some treasure cards and one level.
The catch in combat is that one other player may help you. Together you'll have a better chance. But why would anyone help you gaining level 10 faster? Normally, nobody would want to help. So you'll have to bribe another player with treasures. "Okay, I give you three treasures if you help me defeat this level 20 Plutonium Dragon." Another possibility is that another player threatens you: "You're sure you don't want my help? Otherwise you'll lose...[evil grin]"

The characters begin as humans with no class, but can later become a member of another race and obtain a class. Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Warrior, Cleric, Thief and Wizard: they're all here and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. Warriors are better fighters, Dwarves can carry more stuff, and so on.
With treasure cards comes equipment to improve your fighting abilities. You'll get weapons, potions, armor, etc. Some it can only be worn by some classes or races, though.
Most of the cards have a funny title, funny rules, a funny illustration, or all of that combined. "Sneaky Bastard Sword", "Pantyhose of Giant Strength", "Cotion of Ponfusion", "Gelatinous Octahedron", the list goes on. Even the rules are funny: "Decide who goes first by rolling the dice and arguing about the results and the meaning of this sentence and whether the fact that a word seems to be missing any effect."

Playtest Notes

If you've read my review of Chez Dork you'll notice some similarities between that game and Munchkin. A card game designed and published by Steve Jackson. Illustrated by John Kovalic. They're released around the same time and they're both incomplete games with a hefty price tag.
Fortunately, Munchkin's gameplay is better than Chez Dork's. This is mainly because Munchkin is more involving — you can do more things to influence the outcome of a session. Players can do a lot during another player's turn. You can backstab your friend, give his adversary a potion to strengthen him, curse him and trade with him. Sometimes we even forgot we could help each other.
Unfortunately, this wealth of options tends to slow down the game to a drag. Every card has to be read by all players, every possible outcome determined. This is especially the case when there is more than one thief. "If he backstabs me, then I can use this potion. But maybe my partner will get backstabbed, too..."

The rules are arranged awkwardly and are sometime more complicated than is strictly necessary. For instance, Half-Breed and Super Munchkin are essentially the same card. Half-Breed lets you have two races, Super Munchkin two classes. You can play Half-Breed when you have one race in play. Super Munchkin requires that you have one class card in play, and that you play the second class card immediately. Why make this distinction? Another example: You can play magical items only when they're on the table, except for potions, that can be played from your hand.
Sometimes the rules are incomplete, particular in the area of timing. That's a bit strange, because Munchkin is not a fast game. There are many, many rules. In the words of one player: "When I finally think I've got it all worked out, there's always another obscure little rule."

Duration

Three to six players can play. Playing time varies wildly. If nobody's really interfering with other players' actions, you can play it in half an hour. However, if everybody's bugging each other from the beginning, the duration will increase dramatically. One game with five players took about two and a half hours.

Conclusion

Munchkin is a fun game. It's more involved and strategic than its brother, Chez Dork. This results in the relatively high substance rating of 4 out of 5. However, it still lacks some things. It's pricey, for one. The many rules are rather disorganised and sometimes even incomplete, particular in the area of timing. Style goes down to 3 out of a possible 5 for this.

Munchkin
Munchkin Playtest Review by Jake de Oude on 13/11/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Munchkin is a fun game, with lots of options during play. The complicated and incomplete rules are rather badly organised, however. Product: Munchkin Author: Steve Jackson Category: Card Game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: Cost: US$ 24.95 Page count: Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1-55634-473-2 SKU: SJG1408 Comp copy?: no Playtest Review by Jake de Oude on 13/11/01 Genre tags: Fantasy	Munchkin is a card game that sets out to emulate a dungeon crawl. Or, as the game says: "Munchkin is a tasteless parody game which brings you the essence of the dungeon-crawling experience... without all that messy roleplaying!" Add this to the fact that's designed by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic and you know you're in for a fun game. A munchkin, by the way, is a person that emphasises on stats and loopholes in the rules as opposed to the spirit of the game. Funny thing is, with Munchkin, you can be a munchkin and still play in the spirit of the game! Woohoo! The deal Munchkin comes with 168 cards that are mainly printed in shades of brown and yellow, with a splurge of white. As I said, John Kovalic of Dork Tower fame illustrated the cards. The result is funny, but it isn't high art. Those of you who expect Jeff Easley or Larry Elmore will be disappointed. If you expect Dork Tower, you'll feel right at home, even though its characters adorn only two cards or so. The cards come in a standard-sized box of about 9" x 6". The only other thing in the box is the glossy rulesheet, so yes, the box is too big. To make things worse, the game is incomplete. You'll need something that counts to ten for every player, and a six-sided die. The game is a parody of a dungeon crawl, so most players will have plenty of dice available, but it still irks. For the price you pay you expect a better bargain. What is it about and how does it work? In Munchkin, every player is an adventurer, thumping through a dungeon. The goal is to advance from level 1 to level 10 by killing monsters and selling stuff. In the meantime, you'll get cursed, sex-changed, backstabbed, roasted, eaten and all those nice things a roleplayer knows from years of monsterbashing. There are two piles: a dungeon pile and a treasure pile. Treasures are equipment (armor, weapons, potions). The dungeon pile consists of monsters, monster modifiers, curses, classes and races (I'll come to that later). A player's turn consists of four phases: Open a door: turn over a card from the dungeon deck. You'll get cursed, find a monster to fight, or something else. If it's a monster, you either fight or flee. Look for trouble: Didn't find a monster? You can play one from your own hand to fight. You can also draw another card from the dungeon pile. Loot the room: reap the rewards of your fight if you won. If you had no combat, you get to draw another card from the dungeon pile. This time, it goes to your hand. (That's how the monster from phase 2 came there.) Charity: If you have more than 5 cards in your hand, give the excess number of cards to the lowest-level player. Combat In combat, you compare your level plus equipment bonuses with the monster's level. If you lose, you can try to run away. If you don't run fast enough, you'll suffer the Bad Stuff that's listed on the creature's card, for instance, "Lose two levels".If you win, you get some treasure cards and one level. The catch in combat is that one other player may help you. Together you'll have a better chance. But why would anyone help you gaining level 10 faster? Normally, nobody would want to help. So you'll have to bribe another player with treasures. "Okay, I give you three treasures if you help me defeat this level 20 Plutonium Dragon." Another possibility is that another player threatens you: "You're sure you don't want my help? Otherwise you'll lose...[evil grin]" The characters begin as humans with no class, but can later become a member of another race and obtain a class. Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Warrior, Cleric, Thief and Wizard: they're all here and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. Warriors are better fighters, Dwarves can carry more stuff, and so on. With treasure cards comes equipment to improve your fighting abilities. You'll get weapons, potions, armor, etc. Some it can only be worn by some classes or races, though. Most of the cards have a funny title, funny rules, a funny illustration, or all of that combined. "Sneaky Bastard Sword", "Pantyhose of Giant Strength", "Cotion of Ponfusion", "Gelatinous Octahedron", the list goes on. Even the rules are funny: "Decide who goes first by rolling the dice and arguing about the results and the meaning of this sentence and whether the fact that a word seems to be missing any effect." Playtest Notes If you've read my review of Chez Dork you'll notice some similarities between that game and Munchkin. A card game designed and published by Steve Jackson. Illustrated by John Kovalic. They're released around the same time and they're both incomplete games with a hefty price tag. Fortunately, Munchkin's gameplay is better than Chez Dork's. This is mainly because Munchkin is more involving — you can do more things to influence the outcome of a session. Players can do a lot during another player's turn. You can backstab your friend, give his adversary a potion to strengthen him, curse him and trade with him. Sometimes we even forgot we could help each other. Unfortunately, this wealth of options tends to slow down the game to a drag. Every card has to be read by all players, every possible outcome determined. This is especially the case when there is more than one thief. "If he backstabs me, then I can use this potion. But maybe my partner will get backstabbed, too..." The rules are arranged awkwardly and are sometime more complicated than is strictly necessary. For instance, Half-Breed and Super Munchkin are essentially the same card. Half-Breed lets you have two races, Super Munchkin two classes. You can play Half-Breed when you have one race in play. Super Munchkin requires that you have one class card in play, and that you play the second class card immediately. Why make this distinction? Another example: You can play magical items only when they're on the table, except for potions, that can be played from your hand. Sometimes the rules are incomplete, particular in the area of timing. That's a bit strange, because Munchkin is not a fast game. There are many, many rules. In the words of one player: "When I finally think I've got it all worked out, there's always another obscure little rule." Duration Three to six players can play. Playing time varies wildly. If nobody's really interfering with other players' actions, you can play it in half an hour. However, if everybody's bugging each other from the beginning, the duration will increase dramatically. One game with five players took about two and a half hours. Conclusion Munchkin is a fun game. It's more involved and strategic than its brother, Chez Dork. This results in the relatively high substance rating of 4 out of 5. However, it still lacks some things. It's pricey, for one. The many rules are rather disorganised and sometimes even incomplete, particular in the area of timing. Style goes down to 3 out of a possible 5 for this.