Munchkin is a popular card game by Steve Jackson, illustrated by John Kovalic that has a humorous take on role-playing games.

In 2002 Munchkin won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game of 2001.

After the success of the original Munchkin game several expansion packs and sequels were published.

Gameplay

A Munchkin game typically runs about an hour, depending on how many people are playing. Each person's turn begins with the player opening a room (booting down the door) and looking for danger. If there is a monster in the room, the player fights the monster. If the player's level plus bonuses from the player's equipment (such as Sneaky Bastard Sword or Really Impressive Title) is higher than the monster's level plus any bonuses the monster might have (such as Enraged or ...And its Mate), then the player wins the fight, moves up one level, and takes the monster's stuff. If there is no trouble in the room, then the player goes straight to the looting. The purpose of the game is to reach 10th level before any of the other players do so. To do this, players give enhancing cards to whatever monsters are fighting the other players so that the monsters will win and cause Bad Stuff to happen to the player.

Expansions and Spinoffs

Two expansions to the original Munchkin game have been made, Unnatural Axe and Clerical Errors, bringing the total number of cards for Munchkin up to 392. In 2002, another version of Munchkin, entitled Star Munchkin, was published. The new version parodies science-fiction in general, with an emphasis on the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. It has proven popular enough to warrant an expansion of its own, Clown Wars. In 2003, Steve Jackson created a version that parodies Asian movies, called Munchkin Fu. In 2004, the fourth version, Munchkin Bites, was released to parody the type of Gothic horror that has been popularized by games such as Vampire: the Masquerade and by authors such as Anne Rice. The expansion to Munchkin Fu entitled Monky Business was released early in 2005. Both Unnatural Axe and Star Munchkin won Origins Awards in 2003, for Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement of 2002 and Best Traditional Card Game of 2002 respectively.

Each version of Munchkin can be played by itself, but many players combine the card sets into one large game, in which a person could be an elven/mutant bounty hunter/ninja or a dwarven samurai who uses a lasermaserbobaserbananafanafofaser (that's four different guns). In response to players combining the different versions of Munchkin, Steve Jackson Games released Munchkin Blender, a set of cards designed for this type of game. With Blender you can play with all current decks as well as play to the 20th level with Epic Rules.

There is also a Munchkin role-playing game, which uses the d20 System and the creatures and items from the card game, such as the Singing and Dancing Sword, Horny Helmet, Creature Cut Off by a Printing Error, and the Plutonium Dragon.

External links

• Munchkin homepage
• Munchkin Adventurers Guild discussion group
• Board Game Geek reviews and images of the game.