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Lang presented the game in the BGG booth during the 2016 GAMA Trade Show, but here's my take for those who want it in writing: The Munchkin CCG is a 2-4 player battle that leans heavily on bluffing. The game will be sold in three starter packs — each with two pre-set decks of cards that feature a different hero, such as warrior vs. bard or thief vs. cleric — with booster packs of randomized cards being sold separately.
Each hero has a health value and a special ability; the warrior, for example, can zap a hero or monster for 1 damage. A la Hearthstone, players start at level 1 and advance one level a turn to a maximum of ten, although a SJG rep assures me that few games last that long.
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Preparing for my turn at BGG.CON 2016
At the start of a turn, you get money from the bank up to whatever your current level is, untap everything, draw a card, place any cards in your stash into your hand, then start doing stuff.
On a turn, you can have at most one location in play, with any new one played replacing your existing one; you can have loot in play with star power up to your current level; you can play hirelings for defense; and you can play monsters to attack the opposing hero, but when you play a monster, you play it face down, placing zero or more coins on it. If the opponent wants to run away, which they can do once per turn, you get the coins back and place the monster face down in your stash. If they want to face the monster, you flip it over; if you didn't pay enough, you take one damage and lose the monster; if you did, the opponent can use hirelings, loot, or both to defend themselves against the monster; the opponent can also play mischief cards from hand to surprise you. If the monster lives, it goes to your stash, while any opposing hirelings and loot are tapped and unavailable for use later in the turn.
And this is where all the bluffing comes in, as with morphing creatures in Magic: The Gathering. Which monster do you want to play in which order? Once an opponent sees you have something, they get to guess whether you're attacking with that or something else. Can you psych them out to waste loot on Blandy McBlanderson so that you can punch through with something else? Can you do it again?
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Sample cards from the bard deck; art not finished
If the opponent puts up no defense or you hit with more damage than the loot absorbs, you damage the hero, with the damage points piling up over time until one of you is dead.
Due to the constantly increasing levels, everything in the game scales up over time, but because of the nature of combat — one creature at a time, please — the board doesn't bog down with creature standoffs. The game is all about the solitary face-off and trying to prepare for it so that you don't get hurt too badly if you guess wrong. (You do get a mulligan at the start of play, allowing you to ditch high-cost cards to redraw so that you're not a punching bag for the first few rounds.)
The bard's power — tap to return a card from the stash to your hand — seemed odd given the nature of the game. If the bard bluffs and I run away, the bard gets the money back and can simply return the card to hand to play it out once again, which makes my running seem pointless, but I've played the game only once and don't know everything in the decks, so I could be talking through my hat here.
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Sample cards from the thief deck; art not finished
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On a turn, a player takes three dice from the cup and rolls them. Set aside dice showing loot and Batman, then decide whether to reroll alarms. If you do reroll, first draw dice from the cup so that you again have three dice. Keep playing until you either have three or more Batman symbols — which means you were caught and score nothing — or you decide to stop; if you stop, score one point for each loot.
The villain powers provide some variety and push players in different directions during the game. Poison Ivy can ignore one blue Batman, Catwoman doubles blue bills, Joker scores extra for each set of dice on the table, and Riddler rolls four dice on the first turn, then decides what to keep and what to return to the cup. No heavy decisions here, with this being a press-your-luck affair in a race to collect thirty loot first.
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Some small changes were made to details of the game, but the gameplay remains the same, with everyone trapped and looking for a way out through Room 25 — assuming they can find it in time.
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Couldn't avoid glare with this shiny box and multiple spot lights!
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In the game, one player is the fugitive and is trying to play cards to reach #42 and escape, while the other player hunts for the first, revealing cards along the way, which then provides clues toward which other cards might be in play.
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Some of the cards in the game, showing the final art
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Quote:
In One Card Wonder, each player receives a card that shows a wonder of the ancient world and a set of support buildings. The multiple stages of the wonder must be built from the ground up, while the buildings may be built in any order. Players have four worker meeples and a personal supply of resources, and a general supply of resources also exists. The resource supply bag moves from player to player to indicate who is the active player.
On a turn, you take one of four actions. You may draw three cubes from the cloth supply bag, then add one to your personal supply, placing the other two in the general supply. You may take all resources of one type from the general supply. (You may hold only eight resources at a time in your supply, so if after drawing or taking you have more than eight resources, you must return some to the general supply.) You may build a level of the wonder or a building by paying its resource cost from your supply; your workers mark individual buildings as you build them, unlocking abilities. Finally, you may sell pairs of matching goods to the supply in exchange for coins. Coins can be used as a wild resource, but they also appear in the cost of some wonders. Resources sold or used to build are returned to the supply bag.
In games of four or more players, players may also trade. Trading occurs off-turn, that is, it can involve anyone except the active player. You may negotiate and trade freely with other players, but you must stop negotiating once you receive the supply bag and become the active player. The longer you spend on your turn, the more opportunity your opponents have to make deals.
The first player to complete their wonder wins!
On a turn, you take one of four actions. You may draw three cubes from the cloth supply bag, then add one to your personal supply, placing the other two in the general supply. You may take all resources of one type from the general supply. (You may hold only eight resources at a time in your supply, so if after drawing or taking you have more than eight resources, you must return some to the general supply.) You may build a level of the wonder or a building by paying its resource cost from your supply; your workers mark individual buildings as you build them, unlocking abilities. Finally, you may sell pairs of matching goods to the supply in exchange for coins. Coins can be used as a wild resource, but they also appear in the cost of some wonders. Resources sold or used to build are returned to the supply bag.
In games of four or more players, players may also trade. Trading occurs off-turn, that is, it can involve anyone except the active player. You may negotiate and trade freely with other players, but you must stop negotiating once you receive the supply bag and become the active player. The longer you spend on your turn, the more opportunity your opponents have to make deals.
The first player to complete their wonder wins!
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• Other upcoming games on display or available for demo at BGG.CON included:
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Moa reimplements Martin Wallace's Liberté to retell the conflict between birds and mammals in New Zealand;
due out from APE Games at SPIEL 2017 in October
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Dark is the Night from APE Games pits hunter in firelight against monster in the dark on a board much smaller than their convention demo
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Issue double-sided commands Major General: Duel of Time, with one command affecting each player as long as they're visible
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Tiny Epic Quest was being played on the Gamelyn Games table every day
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Artwork from Days of Wonders' Yamataï, due out in May 2017
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3 to 4 Headed Monster, released by Tasty Minstrel Games after first being announced in 2014
Other TMG offerings newly available at BGG.CON 2016: The Oracle of Delphi, Orléans: Invasion,
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