The OAMG poll ended in a tie! Munchkin was one of the winners and next month will be the other one! Thanks, again, to all who voted!
A dungeon crawling card game where you kill everything you meet, backstab other players and grab all the treasure for yourself, all the while laughing your ass off. Munchkin (affiliate link) is a game to be played with no sore losers.
Munchkin
THEME: Dungeon, Fantasy, Humor
PUBLISHER: Steve Jackson Games
DESIGNER(S): Steve Jackson
COST: $24.99
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: Munchkin
This card game is HUGE. Every board game enthusiast should have a copy of this game on their shelves. It is such a big hit with players across the globe that it has almost forty expansions/variants/sequels (and sequels to variants)!
Here is what you get in the box: one die, two decks (the door deck and the treasure deck), and the rules/setup instructions.
The setup is simple, there is a Door deck and Treasure deck. You shuffle each deck, individually, then deal each player four from both decks. Set the remaining cards in each deck with reach of all the players.
The game mechanics are also simple Roll to see who goes first. Then, the turns go as follows: 1. kick open the door (draw a card from the Door deck and place it face up on the table) – if you draw a monster you must fight it, if you draw a curse then it applies to you immediately, if you draw any other card you place it in your hand (or you can play it immediately, like a class or race); 2. look for trouble/loot the room (this step is for the players who did NOT fight a monster when they kicked open the door) – looking for trouble is when you play a monster from your own hand and fight it, as where looting the room is when you draw a second card from the Door deck but no one else sees what it is; 3. charity – if you have more than five cards in your hand, you must play enough cards to get it to five or below…otherwise you must give your excess cards to the player with the lowest level.
Here is an example of a game setup. each player starts out with 8 cards, but by the end of your turn, you can only have 5 in your hand. i am showing you "my" hand here, so you can see the types of cards that will be in your hand.
The first player to reach level ten wins! Sounds easy enough, right? Well, I may have neglected to mention that the other players will be throwing down curses, monsters and monster enhancers on your turn to prevent you from advancing. Maybe. If you have a really good friend (or greedy friend) in the game, they may help you with your combat, should you need it. Usually at a cost (they want to split or take ALL the rewards).
a close up of some of the cards. they are hilarious, so the first few play throughs may take some extra time, as you will want to stop and read all the cards!
Munchkin is a fast and fun game. I love the funny cards, illustrated by John Kovalic, that have names like the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. It is for three to six players, and I would personally recommend playing it with four or more. Three players make it harder/easier to gang up on your fellow players, depending on who is playing. Just remember what I said in the beginning, do not play this game with sore losers.
Have a suggestion for a board game you’d like to see on this Once A Month Gamer post? Have any questions about this month’s game? Leave a comment down below.