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