Munchkin

My friends and I have recently been playing addicted to a card game called "Munchkin". The game summarizes itself with the following: "Kill the Monsters. Steal the Treasure. Stab your Buddy." The game is played by taking turns flipping over cards and following the instructions on the cards. The cards are divided into two decks, "Doors" and "Treasures" which loosely simulates navigating through a dungeon, fighting monsters, and collecting treasures but without any of the serious role-playing stuff.

You start by "kicking down the door" by flipping over a card from the "Doors" deck. If you flip over an item card, you can equip the items (e.g., weapons, armor, etc). If a monster card is revealed, you must fight it or risk having "bad stuff" happen to you. The outcomes of combat are determined by adding your level (from 1 to 10) to your bonuses (from your items) and if that total number is greater than the monster's level, you defeat the monster and go up a level and collect some treasure (by flipping cards from a Treasure pile).

If you cannot defeat a monster, you risk having "bad stuff" happen to you unless you can run away by rolling either a 5 or 6. If you roll less than a 5, then you'll suffer whatever the "bad stuff" is which usually results in anything from losing items, losing levels, or even death. When you die, everyone else gets to loot your body (cards), you lose all of your cards, and then you eventually come back again.

In a fight, you also can request the help of one other player in exchange for some treasure or other arrangement. At that point, their bonuses are combined with yours when resolving the combat. However if the two of you still don't have enough combined points to defeat the monster(s), then each person must individually try to run away or facing having "bad stuff" happen to them.

One interesting twist is that other players can affect the outcome of anyone's combat. They can use cards that add bonuses to the monsters to make them stronger. They could use cards that reduce your bonuses or make you discard some of your cards. They could force other monsters to join the combat to make it even harder to win. Toward the end of the game when you get closer to reaching level 10, other players will tend to gang up on you to try to prevent you from winning.

The game is unique because the cards are intentionally worded to be slightly open to interpretation. That means that most cards have intended uses such as "Go Up A Level". A card like that would naturally be used on yourself to go up a level. However, one funny scenario is another player is fighting a monster which he cannot beat. Higher level monsters usually will not attack low level players so the "bad stuff" would not apply to them. However, you could use the "Go Up A Level" card on that player instead of yourself to force them to go up a level and be affected by the "bad stuff". Imagination and creativity are rewarded in this game and often with hilarious results!

We all really love this game. It's simple to get into, the cards and artwork are cute and the game purposely does not take itself too seriously. It's also hilarious when we're all backstabbing each other. On top of being a great game, it's relatively inexpensive at around $20. Munchkin also comes in many other standalone "flavors" with their own themes such as a Pirates theme, a Kung Fu theme, and even a Star Wars theme. Two or more of these sets can also be combined to make each new game a unique experience.

For more information about Munchkin, visit their official page.