Two Munchkin related news articles in one day? You bet! Keep my kids away from this one. Two of their current favorites, Munchkin and Smash Up, mixed together in what I’m hoping will be something really awesome.

This is a base set that can be played on its own, or mixed with other Smash Up sets. Smash Up: Munchkin, however, isn’t just your normal game of Smash Up with a Munchkin theme slapped on. Two new card types have been added to the game: Treasure and Monsters. Monsters will hang around bases to mess you up, while Treasures give you new rewards when smashing a base.

Smash Up: Munchkin will be out in September for $34.99 from AEG.

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A new Munchkin game based on the Oz stories by L. Frank Baum is hitting retail. Exclusive to Target stores, Steve Jackson Games’ Munchkin Oz features 168 John Kovalic-illustrated cards and a six-sided die for a suggested price of $25.

Steve Jackson Games will also be distributing related promo cards and other “goodies” at conventions, as well as through the company’s online store, Warehouse 23.

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While there wasn’t much new for me to see at Connecticon this year, I did manage to get a peak at an advance copy of Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe. The game is just what you’d expect, a re-themed Munchkin. This time around, however, the art is done by Phil Foglio. Since it’s a deluxe version there’s a great board in there, which really seems to have become a necessity lately when playing Munchkin.

Steve Jackson games is currently still working on production, but Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe will be priced at $29.95 when it comes out. The box will contain: 168 cards, 12 standies, gameboard, rulesheet, and a six-sided die. It’s a pretty sweet looking set, and I’ll probably pick it up since my kids have gone a bit Munchkin Crazy lately.

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Last fall, Steve Jackson Games announced that its most popular title, Munchkin, would be getting an old-timey Victorian makeover in the form of Steampunk. This week, the company officially announced the upcoming limited release this August with a wider release in October.

Renamed Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe (there is no non-deluxe version), the game comes with 168 cards illustrated by Phil Foglio, 12 standees, six player cards, a gameboard, the rulebook, and a six-sided die.

For this release, Steve Jackson Games decided to offer an exclusive early release to hobby shops in the form of a promotional Launch Kit, which includes three copies of the game, three Munchkin posters and three stacks of new promo cards. Hobby shops that signed up for the early release Launch Kit will get their wares by August of 2015.

The game will have a wider release two months later, again exclusive to hobby shops. By January of 2016, the game will be globally available through mass-market distribution.

Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe will retail for $29.95.

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Tuesday at the GAMA Trade show, Renegade Game Studios and Steve Jackson Games announced a patnership to produce Munchkin Trading Cards. To be clear, these cards, available in the fall, are not a game, just trading cards of the kind with images on one side and character facts on the other. However, in addition to the typical sticker and autograph cards, inserted in to random packs will be actual unique playtest cards from the Munchkin game development team, new one-off rule cards, and original hand drawn sketch cards (at least one per box of 24 packs). While the total number of cards in a pack has not yet been set, MSRP per pack should be $3.50.

Also announced at the show were Munchkin Gloom from Atlas Games, Munchkin Smash Up from AEG, and Munchkin Zombies Walking Dead and Munchkin The Nightmare Before Christmas from USAopoly. The last is an October release and the rest are set for Gen Con.

Coming direct from Steve Jackson are Munchkin Steampunk (a hobby channel exclusive through December), Star Munchkin 3 (with a single extra card, for a total of 113, only in the first print run), and Munchkin Stocking Stuffers (a bundle of five Christmas-themed packs plus some gift stickers).

And possibly in the works are Munchkin vending machines, either for game cards or for tchotchkes, like mini figures and dice. At the moment, no concrete steps have yet been taken for these. However, the retailers at the show voiced strong support.

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USAopoly surprised me at Toy Fair. I mostly know them for their licensed versions of Monopoly, Clue, Risk, Yahtzee, etc…, but a handful of original titles filled their booth this year. Before I get into those, I’m going to post a gallery of all the licensed products that are new.

OK! There’s a lot of material to cover above.

Monopoly

The Legend of Zelda version is new as of last year, and has been an excellent seller. New to the scene are Mass Effect, Pokemon, Jurassic World, Doctor Who: Villains, Firefly, and Penny Dreadful.

Yahtzee

There’s Back to the Future (the Flux Capacitor case lights up!), Firefly, The Legend of Zelda, and new versions for The Avengers, Age of Ultron. These I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of, but the dice come in either an Iron Man or Ultron head.

Clue

Doctor Who. It rhymes.

BANG!

It was really cool to see that there’s a Hereos of the Storm version, and a comic book Walking Dead version. Also, Halo.

Munchkin

A Walking Dead expansion for Munchkin Zombies was shown, as well as Adventure Time Munchkin. I actually took a copy of the latter home from a Steve Jackson party, and it’s pretty sweet. USAopoly did an excellent job of capturing the feeling of the show and fitting it in with the equally zany world of Munchkin.

Puzzles

Two beautiful Legend of Zelda puzzles. One is of the Hyrule Map, and the other is a colorful piece from The Wind Waker.

Risk

I wasn’t able to take pictures of either Risk title I saw, but they’re both very exciting. The first is an Avengers: Age of Ultron version that comes with little painted miniatures of the Avengers. The packaging said something about “collect them all,” but the rep showing me around didn’t know what that was about. It could be a pretty interesting mechanic if there were an element of randomness to the figures in the box.

The second, and by far one of the most exciting licensed products, was the Game of Thrones version of Risk. This thing was huge. It comes with 2 giant boards depicting Westeros and Essos, and the game is played over both maps at once. The pieces were amazing in their detail, and the box was minimal and beautiful. This is one I’d go out of my way to purchase.

OK. That horizontal line above is where we break from the licensed copies of classic and well known board games and get into original titles USAopoly is putting out.

TacDex – $9.95

TacDex is a newer game to the USAopoly line, and is a War-style card game developed by Richard Borg. Already having a Pirates! deck, they’ve now added a Super Mario Brothers deck, Walking Dead deck, and Halo deck. I was told you can mix and match the decks, if so desired. Right off the bat I’m interested because of Richard Borg’s involvement.

Rollandia

Rollandia is a really cool looking game where you’re rolling dice to try and build your castle. You need to roll groups of numbers to build each piece, and there’s a component of using your already-claimed numbers to effect other players. The whole look and feel of the game caught be totally by surprise after seeing such a huge amount of licensed Monopoly, Clue, Yahtzee, etc… games. Nothing against those, but it’s always nice to see new and innovative titles hit the market.

Nefarious – $29.95 – Ages 13+

Rollandia was really cool looking, but one look at Nefarious and I had already moved on. In Nefarious you’re playing evil scientists trying to take over the world. You do this by inventing devices, performing espionage, and doing research. Visually stunning, designed by Donald X. Vaccarino, and slick looking game play make this one to keep an eye on.

Pass the Blame : The Party Game for Irresponsible and Telestrations 8: After Dark  – $29.95 and $19.95 – Ages 17+

Two adult games following the new trend in the wake of Cards Against Humanity. Both party games involve compromising situations and foul thoughts. Pass the Blame has situations cards that players must write excuses for. Not as filthy as Telestrations After Dark, but it can get a bit dicey. Telestrations After Dark has you playing a game of Telephone, but with sketches. One player sketches a phrase, the next guesses what the phrase is and tries to draw it again, and so on. This one is a bit more intentionally dirty with terms like “doggie style”, “human centipede”, and more.

Wonky

Wonky comes with a box of mostly-cube-like pieces and cards that tell you what color cubes to place and where. Players have to follow the directions on the cards and build a tower as high as they can without it falling. A quick, easy, family game.

Tapple

A word game with an interesting twist. A card is drawn with a category, after which each player takes turns naming something in the category and tapping down the letter the word started with. Once a letter is tapped down it can’t be used again. Players who can’t think of a word are knocked out.

Lift It

This one had a pretty cool hook to it (pun intended.) Lift It has you trying to build certain structures with the pieces provided, but you must do in within a time limit, and by only using your hook on a string to pick up and place pieces. Some challenges are even cooperative, where 2 players need to each hook pieces and work togehter to build something. I gave this a shot, but was met with an almost insurmountable challenge trying to get my shaky, carpal tunnel ridden hands and wrists to do as I asked.

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Steve Jackson Games is opening a pop-up Munchkin store in New York City, February 13-15, right around the time of Toy Fair 2015. The store will be called Munchkin World NYC, and will be at 353 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036.

Steve Jackson games has posted a schedule of events taking place at the store on their website.

Since I’ll be in the area, I’m going to try and make it over to check it out, get some pictures, and see what kind of craziness SJG has in store.

…

Get it?

Sigh.

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Steve Jackson Games has announced a pop-up store in New York City to coincide with Toy Fair NY 2015. In addition to items in the Munchkin line, the store at 353 W. 46st (between 8th and 9th Avenues) will feature a open gaming space, a three-day Munchkin Invitational event, and signings by Steve Jackson, John Kovalic, and Andrew Hackard.

Munchkin World NYC will open on Friday, February 13, 2015 and close Sunday the 15th. Toy Fair NY 2015 runs from February 14th through the 17th.

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Oh dear, more Munchkin.

Munchkin: Princess is a 15 card booster pack that contains cards compatible with any version of Munchkin (though the card backs match the original.)

The 15 cards contain new monsters. new treasures, and 2 princesses! A small rule sheet is also packaged inside with everything you need to add these 15 cards into the game.

Do you love Munchkin? Do you love princesses? This set is for you! … Then again, this set it probably for you even if you just love Munchkin. You know that. Steve Jackson knows that. Now give him your money.

Munchkin: Princesses will be available this month for $4.95.

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