Wednesday evening at Origins, I played Steve Jackson Games’ new Munchkin Quest board game. For those not familiar with the Munchkin series of games, they’re card-based games loosely based on the roleplaying game concept. The objective of the main Munchkin card games is to collect loot and advance your character to level 10 before anyone else does.

Munchkin Quest adds a game board element to the traditional Munchkin card game. The board consists of door and room tiles which are placed randomly on the game table as players choose to enter the room. A room may contain a trap, a monster, and/or treasure. As players collect treasure and kill monsters, they gain levels. When they reach level 10, they must go back to the entrance tile and defeat a randomly-selected “Level 20″ monster to escape and win.

The general sequence of play goes something like this:

• You move your character on the game board. If you choose to move through a door with no attached room, one is randomly drawn and placed on the table. Door tiles are attached to the room tile.
• If you’re the first character to enter a room, a card is drawn that may represent a monster or a trap. If it’s a trap, the trap’s actions are resolved and a monster card is drawn. The character may choose to fight the monster or run away.
• When a monster is placed on the board, a special die is rolled which has sides matching the players’ colors. Whichever color is rolled determines which player rolls for that monster. It also determines which character that monster has an affinity for (that is, which player the monster most wants to fight). When a monster moves, if it passes through a room containing the player whose color matches the monster’s color, it stays in the room to fight that player on his or her next turn.
• Players may choose to assist each other in fighting a monster. If they do so, they can negotiate how the spoils of victory will be divided. For example a level 5 player assisting a level 2 player may ask for all the treasure from the monster in exchange for assistance.
• After a room has been cleared of monsters, a player may search the room for loot. A roll of the dice determines what is found in the room. Rooms can become “looted out” if too many successful searches are made in them.
• Some rooms have bonuses or penalties associated with them. These can affect combat or cause trouble for the players.
• To prevent another player from winning a battle, players may use certain cards they hold to affect the combat in different ways. A card might make the monster in the room tougher, add more monsters to the room, etc.

Up to this point, Munchkin Quest probably sounds like a typical “dungeon hack and slash” game. It is, and it isn’t. The Munchkin games are all very tongue-in-cheek, and Munchkin Quest is no exception. One of the room tiles is labeled “the ladies room” and female characters get a bonus there. One of the possible monsters you could fight is a “level 1 potted plant”. At one point, I drew a loot card depicting a weapon called the “two-handed sword”, which was an ordinary sword with two hands attached to it. This allowed me to wield the sword and two other weapons. A later “cheat” card allowed me to use a fourth weapon even though I had no hand to carry it in. By the end of the game, I was wielding something like 5 or 6 different weapons.

Munchkin Quest is silly in some other ways. On one hand you might play a card that makes you a warrior, which gives you certain benefits. Later, you might play a card that changes you into a wizard. Another might change you from male to female, which could be a problem if you’re using items that are meant for a specific sex.

It’s a fun, funny, and lively game to play – especially if you have several players. I recommend checking it out if you get a chance.