Munchkin is a stand alone card game that combines roleplaying with complete and utter silliness.  It is for 3 to 8 players and the standard run time is an hour but it can definitely go on longer than that.  Friends and I have played the game for 2 hours or more.  You start out as humans with no armor or weapons.  You are dealt 5 cards and within those cards you can have weapons, armor, race, classes, monsters or other cards.  The races in the game are dwarf, elf, halfling and half breed. Classes include warrior, cleric, and wizard.  Some of the expansions add to these things.  You begin at level 1 and work your way up to level 10 to win.

You take turns knocking on the "door" which are cards with doors on them behind the door could be anything from a curse to monster enhancers to a monster.  Your weapons and items have bonuses to them which add to your level.  If you pick a monster if you can defeat it depends on if your level plus any enhancements is higher than the level of the monster.  If it is you win the battle, if not you have to run away.  In order to run away you need to roll a six sided die.  If it is 5 or 6 you ran away if it is less, you suffer the bad stuff which could be anything from losing an item to death.

If you win  you get treasure from the monster, the monster cards tell you how many treasures you get to take.   If your level is lower than the monster's level  you can also ask your friends for help. They can either help you for stab you in the back and help the monster with monster enhancers. The basics of the game is you use items, fight monsters.   The monsters include the Potted Plant, Lawyers, Stoned Ogre, Floating Nose and so one.

The game is full of random puns such as the boots of butt kicking or board sword being usable only by females.  One of the curses in the game is also changing another players (or your own) sex so that they lose items or  you can use items.   This is also a game that encourages you to cheat with cheat cards.  Those allow you to use items you would otherwise not be allowed to use.  You level up by defeating monsters, using go  up a level cards (like whine at the GM) or you can sell items that equal 1000 gold pieces.

The illustrations for the cards are humorous as well.  Steve Jackson who created the games puts a lot of fun into his cards and games.  It is hard not to find humor in half of the cards with in the game.  Some of them require the user to perform something such as singing a song or something along those lines.

Whether or not the game is kid friendly is at the discretion of the parents.  There are some things that are adult humor related such as the Crabs bad stuff being you lose all armor that is worn below the belt and some of the items have words that some parents might not find suitable for children.   Many children would be caught with a fit of giggles, but as I stated it would be at the discretion of the parents if it is appropriate for their children.
 

Recommended: Yes