Munchkin Booty Review

I’m a fan of the game Munchkin, and I’m a fan of pirates. So when they came together in one little package and called it Munchkin Booty I was all over it.

Munchkin booty is fairly similar to the main game. In fact you can combine them if you would like. There are some small differences and rule add-ons that I really like. Instead of races there are accents. Each accent has a different power such as the French with their “Charm Ze Rival” ability. “Any Munchkin of the opposite sex must help ye, if asked, in exchange for first pick of the treasures” In a combined game these can be used in conjunction with races. So you can get British Orcs or Dutch Dwarves (am I the only one to giggle at the thought?)

Another difference is the addition of sharks. The simple added rule for sharks is that if a player is fighting a shark any player may add another shark to the battle from their hand. A simple rule that I really enjoy as earlier versions required a wandering monster card to add more monsters to a battle. I don’t know about other players but I never seem to have both a wandering monster card and a monster card at the same time. It’s either one or the other.

Finally ships are added in. What’s a pirate game without ships? Ships are big items that are typically found in the door deck. There are also ship enhancers which you can get to modify your ships. I was disappointed that the ships are typical historical ships. Not much humour is injected into these cards in the base game. However there are some funny ship types in the expansions.

The first expansion to Munchkin booty is Jump the Shark. I recommend getting this as the base game cards get played through rather quickly. Also the expansion seems to have more humour built into the cards. Cards like “Ship in a Bottle” “Phillips Head Shark” or “Find Nemo” add in some quirkiness to the game.

The second expansion “Fish and Ships” adds in 15 cards. For the most part it adds in some much needed sharks and ships. I found the cards in this deck to be the most useful and humerous. I highly recommend getting this supplement for this reason alone.

To sum up Munchkin Booty is a great addition to any Munchkin Players collection. Whether you add it in to other decks or play it stand alone this game is sure to please. I recommend this to players who enjoy the Munchkin game mechanic. The game does include some vague adult humour so it’s better suited for teens to adult crowd. When you do decide to pick up Munchkin booty I’d recommend grabbing the two expansions as well. The extra cards increase the variety of the game and make the game even more enjoyable.

Check back next week when I review the collectable card game I love to hate Magic the Gathering.

Zombie Dice game review

I love the zombie genre, so when a novel game comes out in the genre that is both quick and simple to learn I have to run out and get it. Zombie Dice is one of those games.

Small game for your shelf, big fun for the game

Zombie dice is a simple press your luck style cup and dice game. The components are the cup, the rules and 13 dice. During each turn the player blindly takes 3 dice from the cup and rolls them. As a zombie you are hoping to get brains. The other results are shotgun blasts, which hurt you, or runners. After you roll separate out the brains and shotgun blasts. Once you get three shotgun blasts you lose everything you rolled this turn. You can choose to roll again, topping up the dice rolled to three, include any runners you rolled as these people got away.

So if on the first roll I got one brain one zombie and one runner I would probably chose to roll again. The brain would go to my winning dice side, the shotgun blast to my damage side and I would select 2 new dice blindly to add to the runner. Roll again and repeat until a) you decide to pass to the next player (keeping track of the brains you won) b) you take three blasts and die (don't worry your undead again on your next turn) or c) you run out of dice to roll.

Oooh Dice with brains

The first player to collect a total of 13 brains is winning. All other players then have one turn to collect more brains to be declared the winner. The dice in the game are colour coded. The six green dice have the most brains (3) 2 runners and only 1 shotgun blast. The four yellow dice have 2 of each result, and the three red dice have the most shotgun blasts (3) 2 runners and a single brain. It is a very good idea to keep a count of which dice are available before rolling again.

A couple of minor issues with the game. You will need to get some counters or a pen and paper to keep track of the brains players collect as these are not included. The lids on the cup tend to come off if you travel with this game so expect to be hunting for dice often.

The game is usually over in 10 to 20 minutes, so it’s a great time killer game. It works really well when you just feel like a simple game, or as the “appetizer” for a night of gaming.

To sum up I would recommend Zombie dice for any gaming group. The game is simple and short while still being entertaining. The zombie genre doesn’t always please everyone but the simple mechanic and theme should make the game accessible to all players.


Check back next week when I review Munchkin Booty, the pirate version of Munchkin.

Munchkin Deluxe game review

In my post about Game A Lot I mentioned how my wife won a door prize. That prize was Munchkin Deluxe. A bit of kismet as we were playing that game at the time. It's a game we have played often but had yet to pick up a copy.

Game box

The rule book for Munchkin states that the game "brings you the essence of the dungeon-crawling experience... without all that messy roleplaying!" The game is a comedic poke at the trope of "munchkin" style of roleplaying. Players are considered munchkin when they want the best of everything, only want to roll dice and better their character with treasure and equipment. In the game your goal is to fight the monsters, get the loot, and back stab your friends in order to be the first to reach 10th level.

The game includes two decks of cards: door cards and treasure cards. Each player is dealt 4 from each deck. The player then checks their cards and decides which to put into play for character creation. This is what your character has/looks like at the beginning of the game.

Starting the game you roll the dice then argue about why you rolled the dice and what the results mean. Seriously. This is how the first to play is chosen. Turn progression is fairly standard. First "Kick open the door" which means draw a door card. If it's a monster fight it, if it's a curse do what it tells you to do. If it's anything else it goes into your hand. If you didn't fight a monster you can "look for trouble" (fight one monster from your hand) or" Loot the Room" (draw another door card for your hand.) If you have more than 5 cards in your hand you must play down to 5 or give charity to the player with the lowest level.

Fighting monsters is where it gets interesting. In order to beat the monster your level plus bonuses from cards in play must be above the level of the monster. If you tie or are below you are losing. Other players may help you or the monster with their cards. If you are losing one other player can help you for a cost. A choice of treasure(s) given by the monster. If you win gain a level and take the listed number of treasure cards. If you lose "Run Away." Roll the 6 sided die and if you get a 5 or higher you ran away. Discard the monster and your turn ends. If you don't make the roll "bad stuff" happens. This will be listed on the card. It can be something as simple as discarding armour or the monster could kill you.

In the event of character death your turn ends. Keep your class, race, curses, and level. Lay down your cards in hand with everything else you had in play. Every other player, starting with highest level going down, gets to take one card. The rest are discarded. You cannot do anything until you revive on the start of your next turn.

A very simple board

So lets get back to the point of the game, reaching level 10. Gaining levels can be done by beating monsters, playing "gain level cards" if you are lucky enough to get them, or trading 1000 gold worth of stuff for a level. 10th level can only be reached by beating a monster. When a player beats a monster and gets level 10 they win.

Cards are humorous and often anachronistic such as a "chainsaw of awesome" in a dungeon crawling game. Monsters range from a level one "potted plant" to a level 20 "Plutonium Dragon." You will have laughs, arguments and fun with each flip of a card.

The differences of the Deluxe edition from the regular edition are: A game board, this helps keep things organized and is a good way for tracking levels (no such counter is included in the basic version but can be purchased separately) Coloured character pieces (for keeping track of where everyone is in level) and double sided colour coded gender cards (for when your gender gets changed in game-yes this can happen).

my wife is always green

Some strategy tips I found useful: Trade up for levels when you can, but make sure you have a decent array of items with high bonuses in order to beat the high level monsters. (They can give massive amounts of treasure and sometimes multiple levels.) Make sure you reserve some cards in your hand for when another player reaches level 8 or 9. At this point they are close to winning so they should be your target for those mean cards. (wandering monsters are very helpful at this point) Help out low level characters to gain some loot. Choose those who help you carefully (make sure they get you enough bonuses to make it worth your while, yet have them far enough behind you in order to not give your main competition extra treasure)

This is not a CCG game and all players play from a central deck. Every deck sold has the same cards and every expansion has set cards. You only need to buy each deck/expansion once. And there are numerous expansions and editions of Munchkin. These can be combined to make ultra-huge game decks or they can be kept separate. It is perfectly okay to mix any editions but always get the base versions before the smaller expansion decks. If you want a superhero-space-fantasy-super spy mix that's perfectly acceptable.

To sum up you don't need to get the Deluxe version of Munchkin but I do advise it as the extra pieces do help with keeping track of everything. The game is funny and highly competitive. It's dumbed down RPG theme is fun for roleplayers who want a simpler night and is a great way to wet the toes of non RPG players into the culture. I would recommend this game for groups looking for a wacky night of simple non-role-play. Some of the humour does tend to the adult variety so look through the cards before you decide whether to include the younger players. Teens and adults will have a blast with the game.

Check back next week when I review Zombie Dice

Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo 2013 review

Edmonton's second annual Comic and Entertainment Expo has come and gone. Two days of whirlwind activity left me a little breathless and in geek overload. As you could probably guess I loved it. As a warning there is no board game information in this post as there was no board gaming to be had at this con. Something of a disappointment I know but it was still a great weekend.

We purchased our tickets way back at in the middle of summer, it's been a lean year so we went with regular weekend passes hoping to save up some money for the show. Well fate decided to kick us a little and we were left with doing the show on a budget.

During the week before the show it was announced that tickets could be traded in on Friday night for the passes in order to save time in lineup in the morning. It took about an hour of waiting in order to get the passes. There was a slight hic-up as the two staff pre-scanning tickets so the trade would go faster turned out to be two older gentlemen who had serious issues with the "scanner dohickeys." They allowed a gap to form in line and several people snuck in the gap as they were trying to fix things. Other than that things moved nicely.

Saturday morning rolled around and we got up early. A quick breakfast of a doughnut and tea and we were off to the show. Parking rang it at $12 per day and we got quite close as we arrived at 8:30. There were several lines as you entered, a staff member at the door helped you select the right one. The line for those who already had passes was about 200 people long so we joined in.

The show started at 10:00, as we were let in we made a b-line for the Exterminatus Now booth to say hi to our friend, artist Alan Graham. After that we were off to browse the various vendor and artist booths. At over 200 booths to see it took us a while. We had become so engrossed in the booths that when I finally checked the time to see when we should go to the Carl Urban panel we were already 10 minutes too late. So we decided to break for lunch. The food booths are located outside the hall and getting to them was quite easy. We felt the lines for food were too long and just sat for a quick water and fibre one bar. Then it was back to the vendor booths.

It was reported that over 25000 were in attendance. The crowd consisted of families, cosplayers, gamers, fanboys/fangirls, film fanatics, comic lovers, rig pig or biker geeks looking to meet the guys of Sons of Anarchy or Robert Englund, LGBT nerds getting signature tattoos of John Barrowman, full on geeks and nerds (like the wife and I), or just everyday people looking to let their inner geek out for a bit. Really a microcosm of Edmonton looking to have a fun weekend.

The Back to the Future Panel started at 4 so we lined up to check that out. The panel was on the history of the DeLorean that was on display and was quite interesting. It involved a powerpoint presentation of buying the car, rebuilding it, where it has been and various charity events it was involved in.

Robert Englund talking to HIS boys and girls

After that panel we immediately went over to the Robert Englund panel. I'm a fan of commentaries so these panels are something I love. Robert Englund answered questions on a wide range of topics, related stories of his time on set. A tale about sitting in a hot tub as Freddy with Jason and their "victims" between shots was a funny anecdote. He covered everything from how he got into acting, to his various comedic roles, from V to Nightmare on Elm Street, where he is now to where he is going in his career. I really connected with him when he answered the question about how people seem to connect with Freddy and how he might be a negative influence. I forgot a recording device but he answered along the lines that people don't want to be Freddy. They like the emotion he brings out in them. He brings out the primal fear in us and the feeling that we survived the horror of the movie. He is truly and deeply connected with his fans. There was one thing that bothered my wife, he kept walking to the very edge of the stage and leaning out. She felt he would fall off. It wasn't until later that we learned there was an echo on the stage area and he and everyone else on that stage had issues hearing questions. They all naturally gravitated to the edge in an attempt to hear.

Once the panel was over we stood in line for a signature from Ron Perlman of whom I am a huge fanboy. We then returned to the vendor booths and didn't see that last until the 5 minutes to show closing warning.

To end the day we decided on the Comedy Extravaganza which started after the show floor closed. The show was introduced, and a musical interlude started in order to allow for setup. Unfortunately the band seemed to be a teenage garage band who we assumed were friends of someone in the show. The singer was off key and the guitarist was all over the place with overly confident cheesy rock out moves. The first comedy routine was some sort of punishment game. It involved a coffee taste test. It was an unfunny confusing manboy junior high prank game that made the audience uncomfortable. They kept referencing some inside joke about Vancouver that wasn't explained even when the audience shouted for them to do so. This was followed by another bad musical interlude. The comedy group "The 404's" saved the show with an improv session that was actually quite entertaining. They engaged the audience and laughs were had. It was at this point my wife and I had to leave. The fact that we had only a doughnut and a granola bar to eat all day coupled with facing another musical interlude forced us out the door. We should have went to the costume contest.

Saturday started with a proper breakfast and we arrived at the show around 9. The line was shorter as there were quite a few people there for Saturday only. We started the day with an autograph session with John Barrowman to my Whovian wife's delight.

Ron Perlman had money waved at him

Next we started our panel day with Ron Perlman. One of the guys from Rue Morgue started the panel with some questions and then it turned to the audience Q&A. There were some references to Mr. Perlman being naked that some audience members seemed to enjoy and Ron Perlman's sense of humour really came out. He is an extremely funny guy and kept the audience begging for more. He seemed to relish the questions from his younger fans and ensured they left starstruck. I felt connected with him when he talked about his early career and how he felt low self esteem. How he used prosthetics and make-up to hide himself. His feeling of being monstrous and different. His relation of Hellboy to Quasimodo was insightful and helped me reshape my view of the character. Finally his talking about his characters in Sons of Anarchy and Archer helped get my wife interested in these shows.

We exited the panel to complete chaos. People attempting to get in line for the John Barrowman line were attempting to enter the panel room hallway as the people from the Ron Perlman panel were attempting to exit. The result was a milling crush of people. This is something that the organisers will need to work on for next year as it was madness. We merely stepped onto one of the artistic rock garden side displays and waited it out. Suddenly they announced that they panel for John Barrowman was opening so we dove into the surge. I lost my wife and chose a seat near the back so she could find me easily.\

Sorry Mr Barrowman I'm a terrible photographer

Once my wife found me we settled in for the panel. John Barrowman is flamboyantly entertaining. He is super hilarious and a king of the double entendre. He pleased the crowd with stories and kept in constant
motion. My wife and I always love to hear more about Doctor Who so this panel was a definite highlight.

After the panel we went for lunch. The shortest line was for "Hole in the Wall" asian fusion food. My wife's butter chicken was bland and my yellow curry chicken was heavy handed on the spice. I regretted it for the rest of the day.

Christopher Lloyd joins the crowd

To finish the day we hopped in line for the Spotlight on Christopher Lloyd panel. Happily they had organised the crowd better than the mornings debacle. Unfortunately we had to line up outside. We managed to get some really great seats next to a friend of mine and his fiance. I was happy to be able to talk about the con prior to the panel. Christopher Lloyd talked about back to the future, Adams Family, Taxi, Piranha, his voice work and the people he worked with. Unfortunately the sound issues were never resolved so he just wandered out into the room to hear the fans questions. I felt bad that he needed to do that but it was great that he went the extra mile to engage his fans. As with the other celebrities this weekend the questions from children really seemed to bring out the best in Christopher Lloyd. He even related a tale of another event where a child asked if it was good that he no longer had to wear makeup to look old. He really lit up at the humour in it.

As the panel ended I ran to the washroom to regret lunch a little and that was when we decided the show was over for us. We were spent on funds and spent on energy.

To sum up the Edmonton expo was a fantastic event with some minor hurdles for us to overcome. I would recommend coming out next year as it is only going to grow and get better. I recommend buying tickets early and coming for the whole weekend. There is so much to see and do for the whole family. You can wet your toes in the geek pool or dive right in. You will enjoy it no matter what as there is always a little something for everyone.

Check back next week when I review Munchkin Deluxe