Munchkin: Looking Back, Looking Forward

2015 is almost over. Like Janus, I'd like to look back in review and forward in anticipation.

This year, one of Steve's dreams came true with Boom! Studios' monthly Munchkin comic book. The adventure of Spyke, Flower, Brother Skeeper, and their friends kept comic fans in stitches. (As a note of personal pride, Munchkin #9 featured my first published comic story. I'm hoping to have more stories in the comic in 2016 . . . all I have to do is write them.)

USAopoly continued making great games, including three new additions to the Munchkin line: Munchkin Adventure Time 2 – It's a Dungeon Crawl!, Munchkin Zombies: The Walking Dead, and Munchkin The Nightmare Before Christmas. Atlas Games got into the fun with Munchkin Gloom. And AEG published Munchkin Smash Up. Thanks to all these partners!

We got to work with Funko on our first Munchkin vinyl toy: three different versions of Spyke, each with its own Munchkin card. Lots of these can be found on desks around the office!

Of course, we had plenty of fun ourselves. Munchkin Oz showed up at Target. Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe was the first Munchkin game to debut as a Deluxe set. We revisited Star Munchkin with two new expansions, Star Munchkin 3 – Diplomatic Impunity and Star Munchkin Cosmic Demo, as well as a new Star Munchkin Deluxe. Our super-successful line of Munchkin boosters continued, and we found a new way to package them that made many retailers much happier. Behind the scenes, we expanded our team: Devin Lewis has been sharpening his card design skills (Munchkin Dragon's Trike, Munchkin Undead), and we added great artists such as Katie Cook (Munchkin Love Shark Baby, Munchkin Kittens) and Phil Foglio (Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe). And we finally got John Kovalic to write a set (Munchkin Kobolds Ate My Baby)!

Let's not even talk about the office water leak that threw all our work into disarray for months. It's enough to say that the team worked like champs to keep the pipeline moving, and in some ways we may have emerged from the deluge as a better team than we were before. (One more shout-out to Shelley and the whole Orange Coworking team, who made the transition not just bearable, but fun!)

Enough retrospection!

As we've mentioned once or twice, 2016 is the 15th anniversary of Munchkin's debut (at Gen Con in 2001, back when it was in Milwaukee). We have lots of plans to celebrate. Our biggest splash will be the Guest Artist Editions; we've announced seven of them, which is (spoiler alert!) not the full set. Working with all these great artists has given us a ton of new talent for the Munchkin line, and you'll get to see the results of this with some Munchkin releases later in the year.

Speaking of Gen Con, we're looking forward to celebrating 15 years with our fans there in time-honored fashion! We'll have plenty of news to share about our Indianapolis plans soon.

Of course, we also have a schedule packed with great new games, expansions, and accessories, including one of the most-requested Munchkin accessories ever and a new game announcement I don't even want to hint at! You'll just have to watch the New Releases page or the Daily Illuminator (or right here, of course!) for the latest scoops about Munchkin . . . and then go to the forums to talk about them with other Munchkin fans around the world!

We've been working hard (with lots of other people!) to prepare for 2016. I can't wait for y'all to see what we've cooked up!