Dirk the Daring

Munchkin is to D&D what Scary Movie is to Horror flicks. The game plays like a D&D type game where you build a character, explore a dungeon, collect treasure and fight monsters. Only it does all this in a very comedic way. For example, a footgear item card is “Boots of Running Really Fast: Gives you +2 to run away.”

Munchkin is a 3-6 player game, though I’ve played with more, it just takes longer. A player who’s character reaches level 10 wins. In a nutshell, players start their turn by “opening a door” (picking up a dungeon card). If it’s a monster they fight it. Other players can choose to help either you or the monster. Players usually try and negotiate a deal to either help you or to not help the monster such as “I want half the treasure if I help you win.” If there is no monster to fight the player can decide to “Look for Trouble” by fighting a monster they have in their hand. After the monster has been killed the player can “Loot the Room” for any treasure. The rules are slightly more complicated than that so you will refer to the instructions often when you’re just starting out.

The game comes with rules, 1D6 and 168 cards. The art of John Kovalic is simple but works very well for the game. At first I misjudged the game because I thought the art was lame. But after playing the game a few times the art grew on me and now I think it’s perfect for the game. The game is light and funny so realistic detailed drawings or paintings just wouldn’t work for this game. I mean how do you paint a warrior holding a duck in a dungeon? The comic strip like characters are just a perfect fit. I also like how the artwork is consistent across expansions too.

Speaking of expansions, there are many to this game. Each expansion is another deck of cards that could be played stand-alone or shuffled right in to Munchkin. Blending different genres is funny and works well.

I don’t particularly care for this game because ultimately it ends up being a game of influence. Basically you try and influence the voter into either picking your card or thinking they aren’t picking your card.

If you play the game with annoying couples who always vote for their sweetheart’s card so they don’t hear it on the way home the game gets lame quick. It looks a little something like this… Voter plays “Caped Crusader” and you think you have it in the bag because you play “Batman” only to lose to “Oranges” because the voter’s wife had nothing good in her hand and campaigns hard for her card with something lame like “orange you glad I didn’t say banana?” Then the voter goes, “Wow that was so funny and random I just love it. Whomever put ‘Oranges’ down I’m going to have to give it to you!!” Face palm.

If you play with the right group of people and maybe add some house rules the game could be fun, once in a long while.

This game eventually comes out EVERY time my friends or I have a get together. I think everyone in our group owns a deck at this point. Normally we play with 6-8 adults and it’s always a lot of fun.

The game play is simple. There are 10 phases and the first person to complete all 10 phases wins. If two or more people complete the phase at the same time, the person with the lowest score wins. A phase is equivalent to a meld in Rummy 500. For example, two sets of three of a kind is the first phase. A round ends when a player plays all of their cards, melding first then building on other melds later. Players get penalized points for each card they hold at the end of a round. In each new round, players who completed the phase move onto the next phase, players who don’t will repeat the phase until they complete it. It’s difficult to remember all ten phases so you will need to refer to them constantly throughout the game.

This is a very fun and lite game that goes into the theme of fantasy but does so with simple mechanics. The game provides all the basics of a fantasy game but in a simplified form. This makes it possible to pull out a fantasy game at a social gathering and get a game going very quickly, even with people who never played before.

There is a fair amount of luck involved as a player could definitely go on a rolling streak but who cares, the fun in this game is the time spent playing. The last time I played we found ourselves saying a couple of hours into the game, “um, I guess we should start making our way to the Crown of Command now.” Point is, you can have fun going around and around the board and forget someone is suppose to be trying to win.

The nature of the randomized game board ensures that each play is different than the last. Players who stick to just one strategy will have a difficult time with this game. The randomness from game to game encourages players to consider alternative strategies keeping the game fresh.

Games typically stay close in score because resource trading becomes more difficult for the player in the lead giving others an opportunity to catch up. This makes the game fun and exciting from beginning to end because players don’t normally run away with it.