I'm a Munchkin

So, we did it. We played "Munchkin ^TM" the game from Steve Jackson Games.

It was a hoot!

As with other SJG products, the biggest selling point is the fun. SJG (and, I gather, SJ himself) really understands how to use humor and the culture of the audience to feed the game experience. To that end, Munchkin ^TM has lots of cards that make you laugh, and when they interact with other cards, you laugh harder.

This also means, however, that the game generates queer questions -- cards which seem to contradict one another; imprecise definitions of "death" and "defeat;" arguments (fun arguments, but arguments nonetheless) about what the rules really mean.

And in Munchkin ^TM, that's not bad! In fact, it's part of the fun. I'm glad to know, now that I've played once, that there is a FAQ on the SJG Munchkin ^TM site. But even so, I know there are questions we had during our first game which are not yet answered. And that's OK!

A SJG product is about having fun! You can get 95% of the rules figured out after one session, and if you learn another 2 or 3% before your next time, then you can have impassioned arguments about how things should work, until house rules fill in the rest.

So, Munchkin ^TM was a hit. I'll gladly play it again. Mike and Paul and Pete will get a real kick out of it. Anyone who has even been tangentially associated with fantasy role-playing will "get" the jokes on the cards, and other people will enjoy the nonsensical word play and ludicrous situations.

And, for posterity, Big Dog and Pieman shared the first-ever victory when the Dudes played. They did it with Divine Intervention. And, they did, in fact, make fun of the rest of us. It was great!












Can I just say it's amazing to me that "Munchkin" was not somehow trademarked or copyright protected by the L. Frank Baum estate?