Proposing the board game Munchkin: MLB Edition

So my wife and I picked up a game called Munchkin: Marvel Edition a while ago and quickly fell in love with this fun game, which combines strategy with chance while you choose to assist or destroy fellow players in the game.

You start off as a base character and eventually rise through the ranks to eventually become a level 10, thus winning the game. Along the way, you collect all sorts of items and allies to assist you in winning. To level up, you have to defeat the card you draw each hand — in Marvel’s case it would be a villain from one of the various comics.

We love this game and it has made us bigger fans of all things Marvel. Whenever we go out shopping, she’s equally as eager to pick out T-Shirts of Captain America and Black Widow, and in the past when I had to drag her to the theaters to see the latest movie, she is now highly anticipating next summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

My wife is now a fan of Marvel. I’d like her to be a fan of baseball. Would a Munchkin: MLB Edition help?

The basics of the game would have you start at level 1 as a draft pick/minor leaguer and work your way up to level 10 which would be a Hall of Famer.

The allies could be certain major league All-Stars from around the league from any point in baseball history who help provide you with extra points. While the enemies could be opposing players or possibly teams from all around baseball, whether it be in the majors or minors.

There are also equipment cards, which also give you extra points towards defeating opponents. These cards are meant to be as armor, where you can have a piece of head gear, body armor, two hand pieces, and two leg pieces. It’d be easy to incorporate that into baseball as you could have Wade Boggs’ bat, Roberto Clemente’s hat, Willy Mays’ glove, and so on.

Another facet of the game is the ability to join affiliations that also give you extra points. For baseball, it’d be very easy to assimilate as you’d take the six league divisions and assign bonus for each.

Meanwhile, the game also features trap cards which can be detrimental to players. It’s easy to find ways to incorporate these as you can force other players to go through slumps, be accused of PED’s, suffer injuries, or be heckled mercilessly by fans.

During a round of play, the player draws a card and they lay it face up in the center of play for everyone to see.

The card you have to face is Roger Clemens, the cards you have allow you to overtake him, but barely... then, one of the treacherous other players decides they want to take you out.

So, they have a trap card ‘Ty Cobb’s Spikes’ which strips you of any equipment you had active at that point. This is a critical blow and makes it so no longer have the advantage over Clemens. Things look bleak, but in your hand, you hold ‘George Bett’s Pine Tar’ which can be used once then discarded.

The card brings your player back up to the needed level to defeat Clemens.

After defeating Clemens, you move up another rung on the ladder on your way to the Hall of Fame and you can also collect more treasure cards.

Now, it’s the turn of the player who dared to try and take you out...time for revenge. That player flips the card from the deck to reveal Esteban Yan! It seems like an easy win for them, but not so fast.

In your own hand, you hold the key to their misery.

First you play a ‘Big Market’ trap card that takes all of the player’s allies and turns them against him bringing him to a stalemate. However, there is still some fight in them, as they play a One-Shot card of their own: The “You can put it on the board -- YES!!!” home run call, giving them the edge.

You decide now is the time to drill the final nail in the coffin through, and play the ‘Mitchell Report’ card against them putting any hope they had of defeating Yan away.

As a result, they are stripped of a level instead of gaining one and they lose all of their active cards in play, sweet justice...

My wife hates baseball and barely tolerates my obsession, but when I proposed the idea of this style of game, said it might even make her a fan of the game and baseball in general. Let’s make it happen!