Michael Coene
United States
Ellicott City
Maryland
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There is a place for Super Munchkin, it's just not often found on my game table. There a couple friends that attend my game nights who swear by the Munchkin series (and Steve Jackson in general), and actually it was their enthusiasm for this game that got me looking at the world of board games more closely to begin with.
Super Munchkin, especially when compared to other light card games I have like Bohnanza, Eco Fluxx or Apples to Apples, is totally arbitrary and requires very little strategy. You basically draw cards that add to your power level (pretty much every card does this), and you either have a power level high enough to kill the monsters power level or you don't. If you kill a monster, you gain a level (not a power level, more like an experience level like in RPGs). The first to reach ten of these experience levels wins. That's it. It takes a while to do, and it doesn't take much thought to do it.
There's an added element of being able to "team-up" with another player to combine power levels to defeat a monster. You can say, for example, I'll give you this card that has plus 3 to your power level and one random card if you help me kill this monster. The player can then bargain with you, accept, or decline entirely. That's the only part of the game that gets interesting, really.
I'll admit that the cards are nice, they're colorful and sport funny themes like "Too-Much-Coffee Man". And sometimes at a game night, you get sick of thinking and just want to draw cards and play them (usually once everyone has had a bit to drink). But honestly, most people would rather play Apples to Apples if they don't want to think too much, or Eco Fluxx, since at least those don't require you to do any math. Unless you or your gamer friends are serious Steve Jackson fans, I don't see any reason to add this one to your collection.
On a side note, I've also played Munchkin Cthulu and found that that was even worse, we ended up taking out the cultists entirely, which was the one thing that set it apart from the others design-wise (though we enjoyed the theme).
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Where does Super Munchkin belong?
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Posted Sat Nov 7, 2009 8:23 pm