July 16, 2016: Are We Playing Munchkin, Or Writing Code? We Just Don’t Know

So this is pretty cool: The guy who designed X-Wing, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition wrote a blog post about how board gaming teaches core concepts of coding, and he mentions Munchkin!

Designer Jay Little says in his post, "Munchkin showcases two other important coding concepts. Syncing your data and writing clean code."

Hey, man, thanks for noticing. We try.

He explains that the many editions and expansions of Munchkin all work because they draw from a standardized language of terminology. Which is true. He also points out that this is why the general public can easily write and suggest Munchkin cards.

The article's an interesting read. Little points out how games make players think about concepts like conditional statements and order of operations, which are important in writing code. You should read it because it mentions Munchkin. (I have to say that. You should actually read it because Little is a unique figure in the gaming industry and he has interesting things to say. Don't tell anyone I said that.)

-- Ariel Barkhurst