SeteNove

I’ve played the original Munchkin games a few dozen times, so I was really looking forward to Munchkin Quest. What I found was a game that is fun but overly complex.

The instruction book has something like 19 pages of rules. I found myself constantly flipping pages while playing trying to figure out the game play. I’ve played four or five times now and still find myself referring to the rules. Fairly regularly, the instructions have you turning to other pages to reference other rules. On page 8, you are asked not less than ten times to turn to another page.

The combat also feels a bit random, more so than the original Munchkin game. Our first game was over fairly quickly as we kept drawing low level monsters. The fact that you have to be in a room adjacent to other players in order to mess with them takes away some of the original fun of stabbing your friends in the back. This might not be as big of an issue if you are playing with more than 2 players. Most of our games were 2 player and the one time we played with 3, the game was a lot better.

It’s still a lot of fun, especially once we got the hang of monster movement. But I still think the rules and their explanation need a major overhaul.

Recommendations:
-Play with at least 3 players. Allows for more interactions and back-stabbing.
-Keep the instructions handy.
-Pay attention to the Monster Movement Rules. They can be confusing at first, but are very important to a fun game.

…Catan with more players! I bought this expansion because we almost every time we play Catan it’s with at least 5 people. My only complaint is that the extra tiles don’t fit exactly within the boarders. I’m a little bit OCD, so having tiles not fitting flush, the borders not staying together, and just the somewhat sloppy look it can take on, tend to bug me a little.

But still worth the purchase if you like playing Catan.

Like many table top gamers, this was the game that got me hooked. Since Catan, I’ve moved on to try a wide variety of games. Anything from coop to deck building competitive card games.

I love Catan for many reasons. It’s easy to play, yet not easy to master. It requires little to no knowledge of English, so it’s a great game to play with my non-English speaking friends (I don’t live in the U.S.) It’s a pretty kid friendly game. My 8 year-old daughter can play with no problem, albeit she does loose interest the longer the game goes on.

I may not play Catan that much these days, but I’ll always love this game and get excited when people discover the joy of trading brick for wood.

I bought Fluxx after watching Star Fuxx played on TableTop. Unfortunately, my LGS didn’t have Star Fluxx, so I bought the original. So far, I’ve not been disappointed in the slightest.

The basic game play is draw a card, play a card, win the game by accomplishing the goal card. But the rules can be changed at any moment. Cards can be played that change anything from the number of cards you draw each turn, how many you can play, to even how many you can have in your hand. A player wins by completing what ever the goal is, but goals can change as well.

Fluxx is a fun, fast, and every changing card game. We’ve had games last as long as 30 minutes and to reshuffle the deck a few times. We’ve also had a game last less that 2 minutes.

It’s a game where you really need to think about the cards that you play. How they effect others, and how they affect you. Play cards in the right order and you’ve just won! Not pay attention to what’s going on and you might find yourself with a winning hand, but someone else wins before your next hand.

At first, I was worried that it would be too complicated for my 8 year-old daughter. Truth is, she’s better at it than I am! She picked up the game mechanics very quickly and after a just few plays had most the of the cards memorized. She’s given her self the title, “Queen of Fluxx.” To that I say, log live the Queen!

Fluxx is a great game and one that I don’t have to hold back and let my kids win at. I’ve also introduced Fluxx to tons of my friends, many of whom speak English as a second language, and they all love it!

I’ve yet to play any of the other varieties of Fluxx, but I’m sure they are fun a well. Do yourselves a favor and grab a copy of Fluxx. It’s worth every penny of the $15 I spent!