The Journey Begins

Week 1

About midway through my first class in Intro to Game Design, we played our first game called Munchkin. Munchkin is a card game made by Steve Jackson Games. It was written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic. In the game you are dealt eight cards, four from the treasure pile and another four from the door pile. With those cards you can customize your character with armor, weapons, and classes. The goal for the game is to reach level 10, starting from level 1, by either killing monsters that all have different power levels, selling cards that are worth hundreds of gold, or by helping others. Each choice can gain you a level. Killing monsters can give you one or two levels, selling up to 1,000 Gold gives you one level and if you are an elf you can gain a level by helping others in fights.

The core aesthetics of the game are challenge, fantasy, fellowship, and competition. Challenges you have to overcome are the power difference between you and the monsters. Other players can also buff or nerf the monster or you to make things more challenging. Fantasy wise, you are able to become multiple classes and races. For, example you can be a warrior elf or a wizard half-ling. During combat you are able to ask for help from another player to defeat a monster or you are able to team up to buff a monster to defeat a player possibly stopping them from winning. Between the three to six players you are competing to reach level 10 first to win the game.

What I like about the game is the accessibility. It took us about five to ten minutes to understand the basics of the game such as the process of a player’s turn and what we can and can not do. The only thing left to learn is how to combo cards well to your advantage. After one session of playing the game, I cannot say what I dislike about it. Although there is always room for improvement.