Munchkin News

Munchkin, Now With Added Registration

We are pleased to announce that Steve Jackson Games has been granted registrations on two trademarks: the Munchkin logo and the Super Munchkin character seen on the original Munchkin box and elsewhere. That's a fussy legal distinction; essentially, it means the U.S. government recognizes that, in the sphere of tabletop games, we own those brands. Trademarks are specific to segments of the market: There are companies in other areas also using Munchkin as a brand name, and some of them have registered the trademark as well, but as long as they don't start making games and we don't start making whatever it is they make, we're good.

What this means for you, as Munchkin fans, is that the Munchkin logo and the Super Munchkin character should include the "circle-R" designation wherever they appear, including on fan pages. There's more about our requirements in our Online Policy, as well as a very brief introduction to the distinctions among trademarks, copyright, and other forms of intellectual property. It's worth a read. It does NOT mean you have to stop talking about Munchkin (please don't!): the point of trademark law is to give people a way to talk about your products without seeming to claim ownership.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me (clicking my signature below will do it).

-- Andrew Hackard

You Kick Open The Door And Find An OGRE

I haven't been talking about our recently concluded Ogre Kickstarter in this space, because, well, it's not Munchkin. However, when the elephant in the room is actually a giant cybernetic tank that has just raised more than 20% of your total revenue from 2011, it's probably worth a mention. Here are a few questions y'all might have (and if not, I still want to answer them, so there).

Why are you even talking about this? It's not Munchkin . . .

First of all, because fans of Ogre and SJ Games, including some of you reading this, pledged over $923,000 to help make Ogre bigger and better. That kind of dedication demands recognition and thanks. So -- thank you, very much, for making Ogre the most-funded tabletop game in the history of Kickstarter. Every pledge is a mark of support for Ogre, for the company, and for Steve himself, and we are absolutely NOT taking that lightly. We've made a lot of commitments and we are going to honor them.

For my part, I'm a fan of Kickstarter, so I have been consulting on the Ogre campaign for a couple of months now. While Phil was in China, I ended up spending a LOT of time working with Steve to help shape the final days of the drive. Not many things would be important enough to take me away from Munchkin development, but this was definitely one of them. (Fear not: Munchkin Apocalypse is still on schedule!) I suspect I'll be giving Ogre some of my time for a few weeks yet. And when the games actually arrive in Austin, it'll be all hands on deck -- packing over 5,000 games and sets of extras is a HUGE undertaking, and we'll all be pitching in!

(Special commendations to Sam Mitschke, who put in VERY long hours and wrecked his laptop getting all our videos put together!)

OK, so how does this affect Munchkin?

In the short term, not much at all; I'm not involved with Ogre development, and I have already taken on a larger share of Munchkin development because we knew Steve's time was going to be eaten up by this project. We'd planned for Ogre's success (although maybe not the degree of success we've seen!) so it wouldn't get in the way of Munchkin.

In the longer term, Steve's going to be focused on writing new Ogre content for a while, and we'll be hiring an Ogre Czar (title not final) to help shepherd Ogre the way I've been shepherding Munchkin. And yes, some resources that probably would have gone to Munchkin may be going to Ogre instead . . . although not as much as you might think, considering the amount of support Ogre fans have given us. (Have I said "Thank you" enough? No! Thank you!) We can't ignore the level of support the Kickstarter showed us! Luckily, we've planned so far ahead that most of the Munchkin releases for the first half of 2013 are already in development. We'll have time to make adjustments if we need to.

Will you be doing a Munchkin Kickstarter?

We don't have any plans for one. It's a very different beast from Ogre (and from Car Wars, for which we have already promised a Kickstarter at some point down the road), and a Kickstarter doesn't seem appropriate for a game that's trucking along very nicely. I'm not going to say "never," but it's not on our radar.

-- Andrew Hackard

Alert Your Local Game Stores!

Munchkin The Guild and the Munchkin Cthulhu Kill-O-Meter start shipping to our distributors today, which means they should be in your Friendly Local Game Store very soon indeed!

We cannot officially advise you to pitch tents and set up a campsite by your store's Munchkin shelf . . . but we wouldn't blame you if you did.

-- Andrew Hackard

An Epic Update

A little over a week ago, we released a major update to Epic Munchkin, adding the Epic rules for the classes from Munchkin Axe Cop and Beating a Dead Horse, and for the races and class and race enhancers from Munchkin 8 - Half Horse, Will Travel.

Epic Munchkin is a free download from e23, and if you register before you download it, you'll be notified the next time we post an update . . . probably more or less when Munchkin Conan hits stores this summer.

-- Andrew Hackard

Frequently Asked Questions . . . Answered!

We recently posted a large update to the Munchkin FAQ. Check it out!

-- Andrew Hackard

Signs Of The Apocalypse

Last week, John turned in the last of his art for Munchkin Apocalypse, due in stores late this year. This means that as soon as playtesting is done and the final rulesheet is written, this game can go immediately into production . . . in fact, Alex Fernandez is already coloring some of the art! Way to go, John, and thanks!

Now John gets a break to soak his drawing hand before tackling the next Munchkin project. Wish we could tell you what it was . . .

-- Andrew Hackard

Looting and Monster-Killing . . . Now At Your Local Library!

The Galveston Daily News recently reported on a monthly event, "Board Games You’ve Never Played," at the Moore Memorial Library in Texas City, aimed at getting young adults into a wide variety of non-electronic games. The article observes that Munchkin Quest was "among the favorites" at the last event, which we attribute to an unfortunate lack of surprise backstabbing in chess.

Check out the article at the link.

-- Leonard Balsera