January 23, 2011: The Munchkinomicon Attacks

Our next Munchkin booster, Munchkinomicon, arrived at the warehouse ahead of schedule. Rumors that the factory did everything in their power to get the sanity-draining expansion out of their hands as quickly as possible are simply dirty lies. Why would anyone ever want to escape the terrible power of the Munchkinomicon? It's madness to suggest that this expansion drives anyone insane, right?

Another new Munchkin booster -- Munchkin Monster Enhancers -- also reached the warehouse ahead of schedule. But while we'll be shipping Munchkinomicon out so that it reaches stores in February, we'll hold onto Munchkin Monster Enhancers until March. Why would we do that?  I know it's hard to believe, but not everyone wants multiple new Munchkin boosters in the same month, and we're doing what we can to stay on schedule -- or beat it just a bit -- without unleashing too many new cards at once.

So why would these even reach the warehouse at the same time if we're just going to sit on one of the two expansions until March? Because we printed the two boosters together. I know it sounds mad -- MAD!! -- but by ganging two Munchkin boosters together at the factory we can save on manufacturing costs, shipping costs, and on safety testing costs (you may remember I discussed child safety testing back in October of 2009). It's the little tricks like this that help us keep the MSRP on Munchkin expansions as low as possible while manufacturing and shipping costs continue to climb. And I suspect everyone out there would rather pay less than more for their games . . . unless we come up with a rule that gives a bonus for every dollar over the MSRP that you pay for a Munchkin game. Hmmmmmm. I should talk to Andrew and Steve about that . . .

-- Phil Reed