How to Win the Munchkin Way!

Lowder, James, ed.  The Munchkin Book.  Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2016.  
         ISBN: 978-1-939529-15-2

 If you have played any role-playing game in the past 30 years, be it D&D, Top Secret, Boot Hill, The Fantasy Trip, Traveller, or others not named and have not played Munchkin or its variants, what are you waiting for?  Go out and buy one of the basic sets that tickles your fancy. gather a group of like-minded "friends" and experience the hilarity of kicking in doors, fighting assorted monsters, gathering treasure, aiding and abetting mayhem while trying to be the first to get to Level 10.  OK, now that you have done that, read the rest of the review.

The Munchkin Book is The Official Companion to the Munchkin game system.  The fifteen essays, foreword, and introduction will certainly entertain and inform.  Steve Jackson opens the book with "Munchkin by the Numbers," a look at how Munchkin came about and plenty of numbers in regard to sales, variants, number of cards accompanied by stories related to the numbers.  Andrew Jones delves into the psychology of game theory as applied to the Munchkin universe.  The monsters gain a voice in Jennifer Steen's letters addressed to the maddening wandering adventures who keep disturbing the ducks.  Then Bonnie Burton blends Munchkin with romance in Flirting 101.  Liam McIntyre provides a play-by-play of a Munchkin Hollywood game (just a thought concept at the moment) that provides newbies plenty of game fodder to digest.  And the book ends with John Kovalic trying to choose his favorite cards from the various starter sets .  Of course there have to be cards separating the essays that can be used in Munchkin to "abuse" the printed rules and make for even more mayhem!  As the cover says: "Read the essays, (Ab)use the rules, Win the game!"