September 1, 2014: Almost Random, Or: What Nearly Happened With The Munchkin Booster Packs?

Including the Warehouse 23 exclusive packs, there have now been over two dozen Munchkin booster packs released since 2009. These packs have proven popular with Munchkin players, with each pack offering a chance to introduce something a little different and fun to the Munchkin game. And with the established format -- every single pack is fixed -- buy one copy of Munchkin Skullkickers (for example) and you've got every single card in that expansion. 

That almost wasn't the case. While working through ancient email I stumbled across the very first discussions of booster packs for Munchkin from back in 2008. The original talk included the idea of making these randomized expansions for Munchkin, dropping a bit of a "chase card" element into the game. We quickly changed direction and settled on the "buy one and you have them all!" format we've used for every Munchkin booster pack to date, but it's still fun to read these old planning mails and think about the direction we could have taken the boosters.

What other secrets are hiding inside the 36,000+ emails I've archived since 2007? Well, maybe I'll share some of those in the future. Maybe. After all, as I review older mail I'm finding some incredible ideas we never moved forward on and maybe the best way to share some of these ideas is by executing them and getting new goodies out to stores.

-- Phil Reed