Munchkin is an amazing board game. This parody of fantasy tabletop RPGs is not only hilarious, but also well-designed and fun enough to be enjoyable as a game in its own right. Fortunately, the game has achieved the success it deserves. It sold very well,and received numerous expansions.
The expansions are just the beginning, though. Each of them brings a large number of new cards into Munchkin’s various decks, but they’re still ultimately the same game, in the same setting, with a lot of the same trappings. Fortunately, there have also been a number of Munchkin spin-off games that mess with the premise and genre of the original. If you’re looking to bring Munchkin’s comedic parody action into another genre or setting, we’ve gotten together a list of the best versions of this game you can find.
Munchkin Deluxe
The original(ish)
We begin with the deluxe version of the original game. This larger box with a deluxe game board is the perfect place to start if you’re looking to get into the basic game.
There’s no more appropriate place for us to start. Before we get to the variations, we need to cover the original. Or, rather, the deluxe edition. The original Munchkin was a pure card game, lacking the board that this version, now the most popular, uses to keep track of everyone’s level. This version introduced that, making it super easy to see what level everyone is.
Other than that, it’s the same as the smash-hit game, a wonderful parody of Fantasy TTRPGs full of awesome references, delightful art, playful humor, and cartoony violence. If you’re not already into Munchkin, this is where you start.
Star Munchkin Deluxe
Aim for the stars
Another deluxe edition, this game takes Munchkin and gives it a sci-fi theme, and, in doing so, verifies the assertion that almost anything is better in space. It has the same great humor and art as the original.
A great number of things get better when you move them into space.Some might even argue everything does. This game certainly does a good job with the transition. Star Munchkin takes the same core gameplay and sense of humor you’re already in love with and moves it into the stars, bringing sci-fi-themed weapons, monsters, classes, races, and abilities. In doing so, it becomes a parody of Sci-fi RPGs. If you’re a group that likes to game in space, that plays sci-fi RPGs like Starfinder, Dune, Magitech Chronicles, or Star Wars, this is the game for you.
Munchkin Cthulhu
Lovecraftian horrors and humors
Here to parody another major genre of tabletop RPGs, Munchkin Cthulhu allows you to bring the fight to unfightable monsters, and have a ton of fun while you’re doing it.
There are a handful of stock settings widely associated with Tabletop RPGs, and one of the more prominent of these is the Cthulhu mythos. Responsible for some of the best horror literature in existence, and, more importantly for us,many of the best horror TTRPGs out there, this setting, invented by H. P. Lovecraft, is normally full of deadly serious monsters and other terrors.
However, parodies of the Cthulhu mythos is nearly as old as the mythos itself, and it’s very well-executed here. It’s quite fitting for Munchkin to parody this setting, given the amount of tabletop gaming that takes place in it, and the game’s style of humor pairs especially well with something that’s usually so brutal and serious. At the same time, this game has some new mechanics that make it more difficult, meaning that brutality isn’t totally gone. There really is a risk of going mad or becoming indoctrinated as a cultist, and if everyone becomes a cultist, the game ends immediately.
Munchkin: Critical Role
Get in on a ton of new in-jokes
Here to parody one of the most popular pieces of secondary TTRPG culture, Munchkin: Critical Role beings in loads of elements from the hit show that popularized Actual Play into an internet phenomenon.
Munchkin parodies a wide variety of aspects ofD&Dculture. Its cards are full of interesting and amazing references pertaining to gazebos, common D&D spells and mechanics, and RPG tropes. It’s very fitting, then, that something that has become such a large part of TTRPG culture as Critical Role has should get its own version of Munchkin.
Critical Role is an “actual play” podcast where a bunch of voice actors play D&D together. As the purpose of D&D is to craft a story together, a game run by a bunch of people whose proper skillset is storytelling, all supported by good production values, is quite a bit of fun. Like any gaming group, there are tons of memories and in-jokes associated with Critical Role, and they’ve been packed generously into this game for you to enjoy.
Munchkin Marvel Edition
One of pop culture’s most popular settings
Here to parody Supers RPGs in general and Marvel, the most popular superhero setting out there, in particular, this game is full of heroic gadgets and villainous foes, plus loads of comic book references to enjoy.
There are also a lot of superhero TTRPGs. It’s easy to see why. Superheroes are the most archetypal form of wish fulfillment out there. Every child on earth spends time pretending to be one, and this game lets you pretend to be many of your favorite Marvel characters in a comedic setting.
Full of references not only to Marvel, but to comics in general, this game is great for anyone nerdy enough to appreciate it, and, thanks to the popularity of the MCU, that’s more people than ever before.
Munchkin Scooby-Doo
Incredibly iconic enemies
Munchkin is all about fighting monsters. The whole point of it is to distill that element off the top of TTRPGs for people who want to kick back and relax. Well, outside of D&D itself, there are few repositories of amazing monsters quite like this one.
Who comes to mind when you think about the idea of fighting monsters? D&D adventurers, to be sure. There are also monster hunters like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Winchester brothers from Supernatural. If you’re like us, this was probably not one of the first franchises you thought of, but looking at it, it’s easy to see how it fits. Scooby-Doo is a franchise with an even older and richer history than D&D itself, full of iconic monsters to fight, and with a great cast of characters to play as.
This game has references to all of that history, with monsters from the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You? cartoon series and running gags from recent series like Mystery Incorporated.
Munchkin: Disney
[Insert dated joke about Disney also owning Marvel]
There has scarsely been a stronger collection of fairy tales than the Disney library, so it’s quite fitting that there should be a Disney edition of something that parodies the fantasy genre.
Much of fantasy literature is derived from fairy tales. D&D isessentially derived from Fantasy Literature. Munchkin is a parody of D&D. It’s easy to see, then, why there would be a natural synergy between Munchkin and Disney’s corpus, which is essentially a collection of fairy tales. Even the Disney films that are not actually based on a pre-existing fairy tale or myth are still deliberately structured like fairy tale stories.
This game takes full advantage of this, allowing you to team up with Disney heroes and fight Disney villains. This is one of the few groups to rival the Scooby-Doo and Marvel versions in terms of how iconic they are, and it’s a ton of fun for anyone who’s remotely interested in this line of films.
Munchkin Zombies
The brains are yours to devour
Emerging from the astute insight that Muchkin players essentially act like monsters, this game is here to give you the zombie experience you’ve long craved, just like you crave brains.
Munchkin is founded on the observation that the way many Tabletop fantasy adventurers behave isn’t really that heroic when you think about it. A lot of adventurers just kind of kick in doors, slaughter whoever’s inside, and take their stuff. It doesn’t take much to make that villainous, and this game is here to finally drop the pretense and have you just play a monster.
As a zombie,you will wander the post-apocalyptic wastelandin search of brains. The “monsters” in this game are survivors, and your powers are an enormous number of zombie traits that make you a more effective killer. If you love zombies, or playing as the villain, this is the game for you.
FAQ
What is the most popular Munchkin?
The original, by far. It’s where everything started, and it parodies the most common genre of Tabletop RPG, the fantasy adventures with which the genre originated.
What is the difference between Munchkin base game and deluxe?
Munchkin Deluxe and Star Munchkin Deluxe both come with game boards that make keeping track of all your cards and levels super easy. The original versions of both games, and the other games on this list, do not, and instead use role cards to keep track of everyone’s levels. The games are mechanically identical, but the game board makes everyone’s level a lot easier to keep track of.
Are all Munchkin games the same?
The deluxe versions of Munchkin and Star Munchkin are mechanically identical to the base games, but different versions of the game are not mechanically identical to each other, because the contents of their decks are not the same. The core rules are similar enough that anyone who knows one of the games can play them all, and some cards from disparate games happen to be mechanically identical (especially if they have simple effects) but there will be effects in each game that do not exist in the others.
