Munchkin

I've always loved tabletop games. My dad and I played a lot of checkers when I was a child, and I joined the chess club at school in 4th grade. My grandparents had a excellent selection of games that were generally above my level of comprehension, but they would always help me learn the rules.

My interest in gaming was renewed when I found out about Tabletop on Geek & Sundry. I'd been playing some Settlers of Catan with a group of friends, but not as often as I'd have liked. The boys were probably about 3 and 5 years old, and not quite ready to play advanced games, but we got started with Memory, Candyland, and Go Fish. In the meantime, I started building my collection of tabletop games that mostly collected dust on the shelves of my home office.

Steve Jackson Games' Munchkin was the first game that I purchased after seeing it played on Tabletop. Although it sat on the shelf for a couple of years, it has become one of the boys' favorite games in our collection. SJ Games describes it as a dungeon adventure, minus the roleplaying. That's a pretty accurate description.

If you're reading this blog, it is very likely that you're already familiar with Munchkin or one of its many iterations.  At present we own the Deluxe base game, the first expansion deck, and a Marvel-themed Munchkin.  There are several other versions that I'd like to add to our collection, but the base game is more than enough for hundreds of hours of gameplay. 


In Munchkin, each player is trying to beat their opponents to get to level 10.  In order to do so, they have to upgrade their munchkin through item upgrades and defeating monsters.  If a player is unable to beat the monster that they encounter, they can ask for help from other players, but will likely have to be persuasive through offers of shared spoils.  For more on rules and gameplay, check out this Flash tutorial from SJ Games. 

Genevieve wanted to play; but mostly she wanted to roll the d6.

In order to make Munchkin (the base game) more accessible to children, I suggest the following: 

• Before playing, examine the cards to ensure that the content is fit for your childrens' perusal.  There are suggestive themes on some of the cards, but those can be easily removed from the deck to make the game 'age-appropriate'.
• There are Munchkin versions that are even more kid-friendly, such as Munchkin Wonderland and Munchkin Treasure Hunt, which are aged 6+.
• Encourage your kids to focus on helping one another beat monsters, instead of only looking out for their own benefit. 
• Stress the importance of negotiation when asking other players for help. 
• I often offer to give the boys all of the treasure from beating a monster, since I get to gain a level with their help.   
• If offering to split the treasure evenly, let the assisting player pick which items they would like from the loot. 
• Encourage counter-offers!  Kids get frustrated if their deals don't go through.  Help them understand what makes assisting others mutually beneficial.
• Suggest that they focus on slowing down the player who is in first place, rather than pursing a 'vendetta' against a player that did something to them. 
• There are lots of cards for small hands to hold.  I heartily recommend using card holders like these from Gamewright.

One of the things I like the most about Munchkin is that the game seems to have its own way of leveling the playing field.  For instance, during our most recent playthrough, Benjamin and I were more than halfway to level 10, while Isaiah was still at level 1.  He hadn't been drawing very beneficial cards, and was unable to play anything from his hand.  After a few more rounds and a bit more luck, Isaiah had caught up to Benji and I.  It didn't hurt that Benjamin and I were primarily focused on slowing each other down, and happy to help Isaiah who didn't seem like much of a threat. 


In the final rounds of the game we were all close to winning.  I chose to press my luck and used an ability that would either keep Benjamin from winning, or cause me to lose a level...I did not have good luck...twice.  Essentially, that took me out of the running.  Isaiah was able to catch up to Benjamin on level 9, and ended his turn thinking that Benji would win on the next round.  We were all quite surprised when Benjamin pulled the Divine Intervention card, which gives a free level-up to any player whose Munchkin is a cleric.  Isaiah had the only cleric in play.  I'll leave you with his reaction: