Munchkin

I know Sage has already done a game review, but this is a more in depth explanation. 

Munchkin brings you the essence of all that dungeon crawling experience-and without that messy role playing, too!

Basic rules. I am going to walk you through all the basic necessity of the first turn.

So first we Deal out 4 of each deck (doors and treasures) to each people. So far no one has any race, class, weaponry, or armor. If you have any of these in your hand you should feel free to put them down. Classes and races mean you get to do any of the things that it says on the card, weapons and armor add to your fighting score. (Some restrictions apply, such as only used by dwarf, not used by wizard, or only used by gentlemen.) There are also curses, monsters, and potions/pretty balloons - those stay in your hand for now..  okay. Take a deep breath, because this is very long, very complicated, and kinda silly.

So, pretend it is your turn. (in reality, we roll the dice and then argue whether it is oldest, youngest, highest roll, lowest roll, and if that little munchkin symbol in the ones place means anything.) Anyways, you first knock down the door. If it is a curse, that curse now applies to you. If it is a monster bonus/or a monster make-the-monster-into-a-weenie, then you can put it into your hand, and save it for later (hehehe). If it is a race or class, you get to choose whether or not to put it down, meaning you are that race or class, and can do all of the things that it says on the card, or you can put it in your hand and worry about it later.

With me so far? Next are the monster cards. If you get one of these, you have two options. if you can fight it on your own, with the added bonuses from your weapons/armor, then great, you get to keep all the treasure cards that it says on the bottom of the card, and get an extra level. If you can not defeat it, or someone adds something to make the monster stronger, such as a wandering monster (get to that in a minute) then you can ask for help. Various other people may then say “okay, i will help you for last treasure”, or 2 and 4 or whatever combination, then you can pick whichever has the best offer, or can actually help defeat. If you then defeat the monster, you have to lay its treasure cards down one the table, and then divide them up. For instance, if your helper said 1 and 3 out of the 4 cards, he would pick first, then you, him, you.  If, even with that, you have less than the monster (to win you have to have one more fighting level, warrior class wins ties), then you have to run away. Roll the die. You escape on a 5 or more. If it is less than a 5, then the bad stuff happens to you.

If you win the treasure - some possible treasure cards are level ups, weapons, armor, potions, tubas, balloons, and other various things. these you can play immediately, or save for later. Oh, and a couple more things on monsters. There are two ways another monster can join the first one in the fight.  The first is if both monsters are undead. If the first monster is undead, and other players have an undead card in their hand, and wish to make you miserable, they may add as many undead monsters as they wish. The second way is a wandering monster card. If another player has a wandering monster card and another monster, he may play both of these, and that monster is now part of the fight (note: if you lose against  multiple monsters, then you have to run away from them separately, but if you win you get more levels and treasures.) Other ways monsters can level up (or down), are a monster level up card, such as +10 enormous, or minus 5, baby, or a potion, which can be added to your side or the monsters by anyone, and gives the fighting bonus it says on the card. there is also a cloning card, which doubles one monster, complete with fighting skill, and one treasure card that makes the monster flying away, leaving treasure and no levels.

Some races and classes can discard cards to get a bonus, or something else like that, and some monsters have grudges against certain species, or are terrified of them, and get more or less fighting bonuses because of that. Other things with races and classes are dark, which gives you a level for every time you help the monsters win, and then there is super munchkin and half breed, which can make you have all the advantages and none of the disadvantages of  one race or class, or all of the advantages AND disadvantages of two races /classes. I think that covers most of everything, because if it tried to explain everything, we would be here all day.   Have fun, and for more information later about the game, or if you just want to have a laugh, search Tabletop munchkin in YouTube.