James Lowder - The Munchkin Book: The Official Companion--Read the Essays * (Ab)use the Rules * Win the Game

Ed Greenwood

James Lowder

Steve Jackson

Andrew Zimmerman Jones

Andrew Hackard

David M. Ewalt

Jennifer Steen

Joseph Scrimshaw

Randy Scheunemann

Jaym Gates

Dave Banks

Matt Forbeck

Christian Lindke

Bonnie Burton

Colm Lundberg

Liam McIntyre

John Kovalic

Copyright 2016 by Steve Jackson Games

Munchkin is copyright 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 2016 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.

Munchkin , the Munchkin characters, Warehouse 23, the all-seeing pyramid, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are trademarks or registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. All rights reserved.

Dork Tower characters copyright 2016 by John Kovalic. All Rights Reserved.

10300 North Central Expressway, Suite 530
Dallas, TX 75231
www.benbellabooks.com
www.smartpopbooks.com
Send feedback to

First E-Book Edition: February 2016.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.
978-1-939529-15-2

Executive Editor, Steve Jackson Games: Miranda Horner
Copyediting by James Fraleigh
Proofreading by Brittney Martinez and Sarah Vostok
Text design and composition by Publishers Design and Production Services, Inc.
Front cover by Kit Sweeney
Full cover by Sarah Dombrowsky
Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing

Distributed by Perseus Distribution
www.perseusdistribution.com

To place orders through Perseus Distribution:
Tel: 800-343-4499
Fax: 800-351-5073
E-mail:

Significant discounts for bulk sales are available. Please contact Aida Herrera at .

Why I Love to Dance in Pants Macabre 2016 by Ed Greenwood

The Space Between the Cards 2016 by James Lowder

Munchkin by the Numbers 2016 by Steve Jackson

To Backstab or Not to Backstab: Game Theory and the Munchkin Dilemma 2016 by Andrew Zimmerman Jones

Madness in 168 Easy Steps 2016 by Andrew Hackard

Monty Haul and His Friends at Play 2016 by David M. Ewalt

Monster Grievances 2016 by Jennifer Steen

Screw You, Pretty Balloons: The Comedy of Munchkin 2016 by Joseph Scrimshaw

On with the Show: Confessions of a Munchkin Demo Pro 2016 by Randy Scheunemann

Munchkin as Monomyth 2016 by Jaym Gates

From Candy Land to Munchkin : The Evolution of a Young Gamer 2016 by Dave Banks

The Emperor of Fun: An Interview with Phil Reed 2016 by Matt Forbeck

How Playing Munchkin Made Me a Better Gamer 2016 by Christian Lindke

Flirting 101: Throwing the Dice in Munchkin and in Love 2016 by Bonnie Burton

The Charity Rule 2016 by Colm Lundberg

Munchkin Hollywood 2016 by Liam McIntyre

My Favorite Munchkin 2016 by John Kovalic

All game rules and art 2016 by Steve Jackson Games

I n the game of life, some of us are gamers.

Yes, those people in jeans and T-shirts or, ahem, costumes who sit around playing games.

We love our roleplaying games. And some of us really love games that parody them, that let us laugh at ourselves. Laugh at those other gamers, I mean the immature, play-to-win munchkin sorts, not us, oh no, nothing to see here, maam, please just move along... no, a little farther, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway, this flood of love brings many of us inevitably to Munchkin .

A parody game. That can also be played as one of the most competitive card games going. (Move over, Crazy Eights, and put away those shinguards, bridge players.) A game that inspires ardent devotion and the purchase of a seemingly endless number of expansion sets that just add to the fun, not to mention the standalone Munchkin variants that skewer other genres, to say nothing of the Munchkin boardgame and, of course, T-shirts and shot glasses and

Why, yes, I did just say shot glasses.

We love the game enough not just to argue over the rules all gamers argue over almost every rule in nigh every sort of game, including, my police officer friends tell me, the so-called rules of life but also to have the rules major-league revamped in the Great 2010 Changeover. (Which included fixing a too-powerful card called, our fellow munchkins help us and, yes, that was a Munchkin -subtle joke, there Kneepads of Allure.) We love the game enough to talk about it for hours on end.

In fact, let me tell you about the time my

All right, I can see your eyes glazing over. That tells me youre a gamer. Non-gamers havent learned how deadly what follows those words can be unless theyre married to a gamer, or best friends with one. Then they know what that lead-in promises, but also just how dreadfully important such stories are to the gamer telling them. They also have a coping strategy: You Had To Be There, yes, but just keep smiling and nodding and saying Uh huh and asking breathlessly, So what did you do then ... ? Eventually the earnest teller will run down and you can flee. ( Always have an escape route planned in life, whether you need to sneak out of a mind-numbing office cubicle so you can feel fresh air on your face, or so you can spend quality time with the pet African elephant youre not supposed to have, or so you can avoid the boss when he comes looking for a scapegoat with that look in his eyes.)

Anyway, let me tell you my about the time my story because I promise! its not about my four-armed, two-headed, prehensile-tailed drow paladin with her twin ninja star-firing rapiers and pneumatic show armor, which has chase lights around the breastworks and self-oiling hips. Not this time. No, its about why Munchkin matters to me . And should, to you.

When were young, if were lucky, theres time for fun in life. Time to play, time to daydream, time to dawdle, time to get muddy, to discover books... time for ourselves. As the years move along, rules creep in, and obligations, and the need to make bucks and it all takes so much time. All those demands gobble up a lot of the hours in which we used to have fun. Worries proliferate, stakes become higher, stress and tension visit us a lot more often or even become constant companions, and life gets grayer. Boo hoo, happens to all of us, I know, and when my father and grandfather were young, they walked the proverbial uphill both ways to school and back, and had to work blahblahblah.