Overview

 

Objective 

 

Collect the most gold before the end of the game.

 

The Quick & Dirty on Game Play

 

On your turn, roll one of the dice and move that number of spaces. You may land on a blank space, a picture of a die (roll again), a treasure space (draw a free treasure card), a monster space (move to that monster's room), or in a monster's room.

 

Once in a monster's room, the player "fights" the monster by adding up the monsters power, adding up the players own power, and comparing the two numbers. If the player wins, that player takes additional treasures. If the player loses, they have to run away (i.e., move out of the room and discard a treasure). There's an option to request help from another player during a fight with a monster. If the second player agrees to help, the two players join forces to fight the monster.

 

Enjoyment Quotient

 

Score: Good

 

The Fun

 

The Monster and Treasure cards are pretty funny (and a little naughty, too). While monsters can pick up extra points for being "slimy" (+3) or "ticked-off" (+2), they don't get any extra points if they're "boring" or "peaceful." The players, on the other hand, get treasure bonuses for things like "fuzzy green leftovers" (+4), "smelly socks," (+1), and "broccoli smoothie" (+4).   

 

Players land on special spaces (treasure, roll again, monster) nearly every turn, which keeps the game interesting.  The option to request help from another player when fighting a monster is a nice touch as it draws that player into the game between turns.

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While there is some luck of the draw to this game, there is also some strategy in deciding when to use one-time treasures, which monsters to fight, and when to request or offer help.

 

The Frustration

 

The game runs long, and there's not a lot of direction to it. Players just continue fighting monsters until all the Treasure cards have been drawn, which can start to feel a bit repetitive.

 

Also a minor clarity issue: There's an image of what looks like a goblin on one side of the dice with no explanation. It took some poking around on the Internet to discover that it's just a fancy symbol for "one." 

 

The Math Factor

 

Score: Good

 

Difficulty

 

Munchkin Treasure Hunt requires players to:

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• Add single- and (occasionally) double-digit numbers (totaling up to a maximum of around 24)

• Identify relative number sizes 

 

Frequency

 

Math only occurs when a player is fighting a monster. While not quite every turn, these fights occur frequently. On these occasions, the player must add the monster's power to the number on the monster card then add the bonuses on their permanent treasures (and perhaps their one-time treasures) to the number on the die. The player then compares the two numbers to determine whether they have defeated the monster.

 

If the player has not defeated the monster, there's another math opportunity if that player requests help from another player or adds in more of their one-time treasure cards.

 

Conclusion

 

Munchkin Treasure Hunt is an amusing game with lots of built-in math opportunities. The math here feels more undercover than in some other games, so this is a great pick for sneaking in addition practice. Just make sure you have enough time to commit to the game—play can run 45 minutes to an hour.