Anyone remember the tiny little review I did ages ago for a tiny game called Love Letter?
Well, apparently that tiny little game has spawned a tiny little parody. World, meet Munchkin: Loot Letter.
You know it’s going to be silly if it’s in the realm of Munchkin.
A quick refresher: in Love Letter, your goal is to get your love letter to the princess. You’ve got a small deck of cards which are numbered, and there are various amounts of those numbered cards – there are far more of those lower number cards than higher number cards, and there’s only one 8 – the princess. Once you get the princess, you pretty much win the game unless someone forces you to discard her.
Well, Loot Letter is pretty much the same – only there’s no princess. Only loot. And Ducks of Doom, and a Dread Gazebo. And a lot of potted plants.
I got the chance to play Loot Letter with some dear friends over dinner recently, and it was quite a bit of fun. J and Kasi had played it on their own previously, and found out there’s a lot less strategy involved and a lot more luck when playing with just two players. Adding a third player, though, made things more fun, and introduced more strategic moves to try and win the loot. Even though I goofed up a few times by not entirely thinking through some of my moves (like using a Dread Gazebo to swap hands with someone without really thinking about the effects of someone else ending up with the cards in my hand), I somehow managed to win the most loot!
If you’re in need of a short game to pass the time while waiting for food at a restaurant, or for a TV show to start, but don’t feel like something sappy, then Munchkin: Loot Letter is the game for you.
One comment
I enjoyed this review because it shows how a small card game can still feel tense and clever without needing a huge ruleset. Loot Letter sounds like the kind of game that works best when it is quick to teach, easy to replay, and full of little decisions that matter more than they first appear. I always appreciate games that keep the table moving while still giving players something to think about every round.