Munchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Character Creation
• Card Management
• Starting and Finishing the Game
• Conflicts Between Cards and Rules
• Turn Phases
• When You May Take Actions
• Character Stats
• Treasures
• Combat
• Interfering With Combat
• Monsters
• Death
• Traps
• Combining Other Munchkin Sets
• Super-Sized Munchkin
• Faster Play Rules
• The Munchkin Network

Setup

Three to six can play. Divide the cards into the Door and Treasure decks, as indicated by the card backs. Shuffle both decks separately and deal four cards from each deck to every player. Deal one random Character card to each player.

Character Creation

Everyone's characters start at Level 1. Place a marker on the spot marked as 1 on your Character card. If you're playing the Deluxe edition of the game, you start at Level 1 by placing your Character standee on the location labeled 1 on the mounted level tracker. Each character has a unique Team-up ability, described on their Character card. Munchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters can be Human or Mutant. At the start of the game, your character's race is shown on your Character card.

Look at your starting eight cards. If you have a Stance or a Rank 1 Kata card (p. 3), you may (if you like) play one of each card type face up in front of you. If you have any usable Items or Ally cards (p. 3), you may play them by placing them in front of you. If you have any doubt about whether you should play a card, you could keep reading, or just go ahead and do it!

Card Management

DOOR AND TREASURE DECKS: Place the Door and Treasure decks face down in the middle of the table. If you're playing with the Deluxe edition, place the Door and Treasure decks in their corresponding locations on the mounted level tracker. Keep separate face up discard piles for the two decks. If a deck runs out, reshuffle the discards and make a new deck. You may not look through the discards unless you play a card that allows you to do so!

CARDS IN PLAY: These are the cards on the table in front of you, showing your Stance, Katas, Allies working with you, and the Items you are carrying, equipped or not. Persistent Traps and some other cards also stay on the table after you play them. All cards in play must be visible to the other players.

YOUR HAND: Cards in your hand are not in play. They don't help you, but they can't be taken away except by cards that specifically affect "your hand." At the end of your turn, you may have no more than five cards in your hand (see Charity, p. 2).

Cards in play may not be returned to your hand—they must be discarded or traded if you want to get rid of them.

Starting and Finishing the Game

Decide who goes first by any method of your choosing. We suggest you let the person who most recently ate pizza go first, but it's up to you.

Play proceeds in turns, each with several phases (see Turn Phases, p. 2). When the first player finishes his or her turn, the player to their left takes a turn, and so on.

The first player to reach Level 10 wins... but you can only reach Level 10 by killing a monster, unless a card specifically allows you to win another way.

Conflicts Between Cards and Rules

This rulesheet gives the general rules. Many cards add special rules, so in most cases when the rulesheet disagrees with a card, follow the card. However, ignore any card effect that might seem to contradict any of the rules listed below unless the card explicitly says it supersedes that rule!

1. Nothing can reduce a player below Level 1, although card effects might reduce a player's or a monster's combat strength below 1.
2. You Go Up a Level after combat only if you kill a monster.
3. You cannot collect rewards for defeating a monster (such as Treasure or levels) in the middle of a combat. You must finish the fight before gaining any rewards.
4. You must kill a monster to reach Level 10 and win, unless otherwise stated by a card.

Any other disputes should be settled by loud arguments, with the owner of the game having the last word.

Turn Phases

Your turn begins as soon as the previous player's turn ends and it's broken up into a number of phases. First equip and arrange your cards the way you want, then go to phase 1.

(1) KICK OPEN THE DOOR: Draw the top card from the Door deck and turn it face up. If it's a monster, you must fight it (see Combat, p. 4). If the card is a Trap, it applies to you immediately and is discarded, unless it has a persistent effect or you keep the card as a reminder of an upcoming effect (see Traps, p. 5). If you draw any other card (Stance, Kata, monster enhancer, etc.), you may either put it in your hand or play it immediately if you want to and it is legal to do so.

(2) LOOK FOR TROUBLE OR LOOT THE ROOM: If you fought a monster in phase 1, skip this phase and go to phase 3. If you did NOT draw a monster when you opened the door, you have two choices: either Look for Trouble or Loot the Room.

Look For Trouble: Play a monster from your hand and fight it, just as if you had found it by kicking open the door. Don't play a monster you can't handle, unless you're sure you can count on getting help (see Teaming-up, p. 5)!

Loot The Room: If you don't have a monster you want to fight, you draw a second card from the Door deck, face down, and place it in your hand. If it is a monster, you can save it for later, either to fight when you Look for Trouble or to join a combat by using a Wandering Monster card. If it is a Trap, save it to play on a player when the time is right! You can play a Kata or Stance immediately, if you want, or save it in your hand for later.

(3) CHARITY: If you have more than five cards in your hand, you must play enough cards to get you to five or below. If you cannot, or do not want to, you must give the excess cards to the player with the lowest Level. If players are tied for lowest, divide the cards as evenly as possible, but it's up to you who gets the bigger set(s) of leftovers. If YOU are the lowest or tied for lowest, just discard the excess. As soon as you are finished with Charity, the next player's turn begins.

When You May Take Actions

AT ANY TIME:

• Discard a Stance or Kata.
• Play a Go Up a Level or Ally.
• Play a Trap.

AT ANY TIME... WELL, AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT IN COMBAT:

• Trade an Item with another player (the other player may not be in combat, either).
• Change which Items you have equipped.
• Play a card that you have just received (some cards may be played even during combat; see above).

ON YOUR OWN TURN:

• Play a new Stance or Kata (at any time).
• Sell Items for levels (except when you are in combat).
• Play an Item (most Items cannot be played during combat, but some One-Shot Items can; see One-Shot Treasures, p. 3).

Character Stats

Your character, in addition to the Character card itself, is basically a collection of Allies, weapons, armor, and Items, and you have three key stats: Level, Stance, and Kata(s). For instance, you might describe your character as "Level 6 Leonardo, Aggressive Stance, armed with Shredder's Claw, Samurai Armor, and accompanied by Alopex."

LEVEL: When the rules or cards refer to your Level (capitalized), they mean the number in the space where your marker is (or standee if you are playing the Deluxe edition). You gain a level when you kill a monster, or when a card says that you do. You can also sell Items to buy levels (see Items, p. 3). You lose a level when a card says you do. Your Level can never go below 1. However, your combat strength can be negative, if you get hit by a Trap or suffer some other kind of penalty. When you gain or lose a level, you indicate this by moving the marker on your Character card up or down the numeric values. If you're playing the Deluxe edition, you move your standee up or down the numeric values on the mounted level tracker.

STANCE: Characters may be in the Aggressive, Defensive, or Technical Stance. Each Stance has special abilities, shown on the cards. You gain the abilities of a Stance the moment you play its card in front of you, and lose them as soon as you discard that card. You can discard a Stance card at any time, even in combat: "I don't wanna be Aggressive anymore." You may play a new Stance card at any time during your turn, or as soon as you get one if it is not your turn. You may not have more than one Stance in play at a time.

KATAS: There are 15 of these super abilities. You gain the advantages the moment you play the card in front of you, and lose them as soon as you lose or discard that card. Each Kata has a Rank of 1, 2, 3, or 4. You may have any number of Katas in play, as long as their total Rank does not exceed your Level.

Katas are treated much like Stances. You can't trade them to other players, but you may play a Kata from your hand at any time you can legally use it. You may not play Katas that you cannot legally use. But, you may discard Katas at any time and replace them with Katas from your hand. If your Level goes down to less than the total Rank of your Katas, you must discard some Katas so that their total Rank is once again less than or equal to your Level.

When you die (see Death, p. 5), you keep all Katas you have in play, just as you keep your Stance. Some Katas require you to discard a card to use them. You may discard any card you have in play or in your hand to activate the Kata.

ALLIES: You may have only one Ally accompany your character at a time. When you draw an Ally, either face up or face down, you may play it immediately or keep it in your hand to play later, at any time, even during combat. While in play, your Ally may grant you combat bonuses or special abilities. You can choose to discard your Ally and play a new one whenever you like, but you may not trade an Ally away to another player. Allies can be discarded at any time to use a Team-up ability (see Team-up Abilities, p. 5).

Treasures

Treasure cards include permanent and One-Shot Items, as well as some special cards that are not considered Items. Any Treasure card may be played to the table as soon as you get it, or at any time on your own turn except during combat (unless the rules below or the card itself says otherwise).

ITEMS: Most Treasures are Items. Items have a Gold Piece value. ("No Value" is equivalent to zero Gold Pieces, and a "No Value" card is considered an Item.)

All Items you have in play are considered "carried." Items that are actually giving you a bonus or some other benefit are "equipped." You should indicate Items that are not equipped by turning the cards sideways. You may not alter the status of your Items during a combat or while Running Away, so make sure you are happy with what you have equipped before entering combat.

Anyone can carry any Item, but there are limits to what you can have equipped and actively use. Some Items have icons to identify their type.

A character may only equip: one Headgear, one Armor, one Footgear, up to two One-Hand, or one Two-Hand Item... unless you have a card that lets you ignore these limits, such as an Ally or Cheat!, or unless one of the cards says otherwise. If you are carrying two Headgear cards, for example, you can only equip one of them at a time.

You cannot discard Item cards "just because." You may sell Items for a level, trade Items with other players, or give an Item to another player who wants it (see below). You may discard Items to activate some special abilities. And a Trap or a monster's Bad Stuff (see Running Away And Bad Stuff, p. 5) may force you to get rid of something!

TRADING: You may trade Items (but no other cards) with the other players. You may only trade Items from the table—not from your hand. You may trade at any time except when you or your trading partner are in combat—in fact, the best time to trade is when it's not your turn. Any Item you receive in a trade must remain in play.

You may also give Items away without a trade, to bribe other players—"I'll give you my Sai if you don't help Casey Jones fight Krang!"

You may show your hand to others. Dunno why you'd want to, but whatever.

ONE-SHOT TREASURES: A Treasure card that says "Usable once only" is a One-Shot. Most of these are used during combat to strengthen the players or the monsters, and may be played from your hand or from the table. Some have other effects, so read the card carefully! Discard these cards as soon as the combat is over or their effect is resolved. One-Shot Treasures with a Gold Piece value may be sold for levels, just like other Items.

OTHER TREASURES: Other Treasure cards (like Go Up a Level cards) are not Items. Most of these cards say when they can be played, and whether they stay in play or are discarded. Go Up a Level cards may be played on yourself or any other player at any time, even during combat. Discard them once they are played. Exception: You cannot play a Go Up a Level card to give a player the winning level.

SELLING ITEMS FOR LEVELS: At any point during your turn, except during combat or Running Away, you may discard Items worth a total of at least 1,000 Gold Pieces and immediately go up one level. ("No Value" cards are the same as zero Gold Pieces.) If you sell Items worth 1,100 Gold Pieces total, you don't get change. But if you can manage 2,000 worth, you can go up two levels at once, and so on. You may sell Items from your hand as well as those you are carrying.

You may not sell Items to go to Level 10.

Combat

A monster enters combat against you if you find it when you Kick Open the Door or play it from your hand to Look for Trouble.

To resolve combat, simply compare the monster's combat strength to yours. Your combat strength is equal to your Level plus any bonuses or penalties you receive from Katas, Stance abilities, Items, Allies, and Traps. You and the other players may also play One-Shot Items or use Stance abilities to help or harm you in combat. Your combat strength can be negative, if you get hit by a Trap or suffer some other penalty.

A monster's combat strength is its Level, plus or minus any modifiers it has from its powers or cards played on it. Some Door cards may also be played in a combat, such as monster enhancers (see below).

If the monster's combat strength is equal to or greater than yours, you lose the combat and must Run Away (see Running Away And Bad Stuff, p. 5). If your combat strength is greater than the monster's, you kill it and go up a level (two levels for some really big monsters). You'll also get the number of Treasures shown on the monster card.

Sometimes a card will let you defeat a monster without killing it. This is still "winning," but you don't get a level. Unless the card says otherwise, you don't get the Treasures, either.

If you kill a monster (or monsters!), discard them and any other cards played, and claim your rewards. Note: someone may play a hostile card on you, or use a special power, just as you think you have won. When you kill a monster, you must wait a reasonable time, defined as the time required to take, chew, and swallow a bite of pizza, for anyone else to speak up. After that, you have really killed the monster, and you really get the level(s) and Treasures, though they can still whine and argue.

Interfering With Combat

You can interfere with another player's combat in several ways, including:

USE A ONE-SHOT ITEM: You could help another player by using a One-Shot to strengthen that player's side. Of course, you can "accidentally" strengthen the monster with it, instead...

PLAY A MONSTER ENHANCER: These cards (usually) make a monster stronger... and give it more Treasure. You can play these either during your own combats or during someone else's combat.

ADD A MONSTER FROM YOUR HAND: to join the combat by using a Wandering Monster card.

TRAP THEM: if you have a Trap card.

Monsters

If drawn face up, during the Kick Open the Door phase, monsters immediately attack the person who drew them.

If you get a monster card any other way, it goes into your hand and may be played during your own turn to Look for Trouble, or played with the Wandering Monster card to join another player's fight (see Fighting Multiple Monsters, below).

Each monster card is a single monster, even if the name on the card is plural.

MONSTER ENHANCERS: Certain cards, called monster enhancers, raise or lower the combat strength of individual monsters. (Penalties to monsters are still considered enhancers.) They also affect the number of Treasures the monsters are worth. Monster enhancers may be played by any player during combat. All enhancers on a single monster add together. If there are multiple monsters in a combat, the person who plays each enhancer must choose which monster it applies to.

FIGHTING MULTIPLE MONSTERS: Some cards (notably Wandering Monster) allow your rivals to send other monsters to join the fight. You must defeat their combined combat strengths in one fight to kill them. Any special abilities, such as forcing you to fight with your Level only, apply to the entire fight. If you have the right cards, you can eliminate one monster from the combat and fight the other(s) normally, but you cannot choose to fight one and Run Away from another! If you eliminate one monster, but then run from the other(s), you don't get any levels or Treasure.

TEAMING-UP: If you cannot kill a monster on your own, you may ask any other player to help you. If the first player refuses, you may ask another player, and so on, until they all turn you down or someone helps. Only one player can help you; add that player's combat strength to yours. Anyone can play cards to affect your combat, however!

You'll probably have to bribe someone to Team-up with you. You may offer your helper any Item(s) you are currently carrying, or any number of the Treasure cards the monster is worth. If you offer your helper part of the monster's Treasure, you must agree which of you gets first pick. You may also offer to play any cards from your hand that you legally could, such as Go Up a Level cards, on your helper.

The special abilities or weaknesses of the monster also apply to your helper, and vice versa. For instance, if your helper has the same Stance as you, the bonus or penalty is not applied twice.

If someone successfully helps you kill the monster, discard it, draw Treasures (see Rewards, below), and follow any special instructions on the monster card. You level up for each monster killed in combat. Your helper does not go up any levels. You draw the Treasure cards, even if it was your helper's special ability that defeated the monster, and distribute them according to the agreement you reached.

TEAM-UP ABILITIES: If a player agrees to help you, both of you may use the Team-up ability on your Character cards. You may also choose to discard an Ally to use your Team-up ability. Your Team-up ability comes into effect immediately when you Team-up with another player or discard an Ally.

REWARDS: When you kill a monster, you go up one level per monster, unless the monster card says otherwise. You also get all its Treasure! Sweet! Each monster has a Treasure number on the bottom of its card. Draw that many Treasure cards, modified by any monster enhancers played on it, face down if you killed the monster alone, but face up, so the whole party can see what you got, if someone helped you. Treasure cards can be played as soon as you get them, even if you are the helper.

If you defeat a monster through non-lethal means, you do not get the level and you may or may not get the Treasure, depending on the method.

RUNNING AWAY AND BAD STUFF: If nobody will help you... or if somebody tries to help, and the others interfere so you still cannot win... you must Run Away. You don't get any levels or Treasure. You don't even get to Loot the Room. And you don't always escape unharmed...

To Run Away, roll the die. You escape on a 5 or higher. Some Katas, Stance abilities, and Items might make it easier or harder to Run Away from monsters and some monsters give you a bonus or penalty to your roll for that monster only. If you fail to Run Away from a monster, it does Bad Stuff to you, as described on its card. This may vary from losing an Item, to losing one or more levels, to Death (see below).

If you must Run Away from multiple monsters, you roll separately to escape each one, in any order you choose, and suffer Bad Stuff from each as soon as you fail to Run Away from it.

If two players Team-up and still can't defeat the monster(s), they must both Run Away. They roll separately, and each player chooses in what order to Run Away. The monster(s) CAN catch them both.

Once you have resolved all Run Away rolls, discard the monster(s).

BEST ITEM: If the Bad Stuff says that you have to lose your "best Item," it means the Item that provides you the most combat strength at that moment. Obviously, if your character can't use an Item, it provides 0 strength—even if it would be "better" in the hands of another character!

Death

If you die, you lose all your stuff. Once you have died, you don't have to Run Away from any remaining monsters. You keep your Stance, Kata(s), and Level (and any persistent Traps on you)—your new character will look just like your old one. At this point, you may choose to play as a different character by swapping out your Character card for any card not claimed by another player.

LOOTING THE BODY: As you depart the mortal realm, lay out your hand beside the cards you had in play (except the cards listed above). If you have an Item attached to a Cheat! card, separate those cards. Starting with the player with the highest Level, everyone else chooses one card. In case of ties in Level, roll a die. If your body runs out of cards, tough. Once everyone gets one card, discard the rest. Looted cards go into the players' hands. Dead characters cannot receive cards for any reason, not even Charity, and cannot level up or win the game.

At the beginning of the next player's turn, you are no longer dead, and your new character appears and can help others in combat with your Level, Character, Stance, and Katas... but you have no cards, unless you receive Charity or gifts from other players.

At the start of your next turn, draw four face down cards from each deck and play any legal cards you want to, just like when you started the game. Then take your turn normally.

Traps

If drawn face up during the Kick Open the Door phase, a Trap card applies to the player who drew it.

If acquired some other way, such as by Looting the Room, Trap cards go into your hand and may be played on any player at any time. Usually, a Trap affects its victim immediately (if it can) and is then discarded. However, some Traps give a penalty later in the game or have a persistent effect. Keep these cards until you get rid of the Trap or the penalty takes effect. (Persistent Trap cards may not be discarded to power abilities. Nice try!)

Note: If someone plays a "your next combat" Trap on you while you are in combat, it counts in that combat! The same is true for a "your next turn" Trap played during your turn.

If a Trap can apply to more than one Item, the victim decides which Item is affected.

If a Trap applies to something you don't have, ignore it. For instance, if you draw DISARMED! and you have no Hand Items equipped, nothing happens; discard the Trap. (Some Traps have alternate effects, though, so read the card!)

There may be times when it will help you to play a Trap or monster on yourself, or to "help" another player in a way that costs that player Treasure. Feel free, bro.

Combining Other Munchkin Sets

Munchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is based on the same game play found in the original Munchkin game, Super Munchkin, and dozens of Munchkin expansions and accessories. When integrating Munchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into any Munchkin set, use the combining rules from Munchkin 7—Cheat With Both Hands as a guide. You can always download the most up-to-date version of those rules, and all others, at munchkin.sjgames.com/rules.

Super-Sized Munchkin

Studies have shown that 8.4 out of 9.7 Munchkin players just can't get enough of the game. Here are some ideas to take your Munchkin games to new highs – or lows:

COMBINING DIFFERENT MUNCHKIN SETS: You can mix two (or more) base sets and expansions together for a genre-crossing mega-Munchkin adventure! Space plus Old West? Kung fu vampires? No problem!

EXPANSIONS: These add still more monsters to kill, new Treasure to loot, and sometimes entirely new kinds of cards. Ask for all the Munchkin sets and expansions at your local game or comic store – find it using our Store Finder, gamerfinder.sjgames.com – but if you don't have a local store, we'll be happy to sell them directly to you at warehouse23.com.

TURN IT UP TO EPIC!: Playing to level 10 just isn't enough for some people. To satisfy their insane cravings, we've created Epic Munchkin, a new set of rules that gives all your Munchkin sets that high-octane boost you need to make it up to Level 20! Look for it at munchkin.sjgames.com/epic – it's completely, absolutely FREE!

All of the Above!!!

Faster Play Rules

For a faster game, you can add a "phase 0" called Listen at the Door. At the start of your turn, before doing anything else, draw a face down Door card, which you may play or not. Then arrange cards and Kick Open The Door normally. If you Loot the Room, draw a face down Treasure, not a Door.

You can also allow shared victories – if you reach Level 10 in a fight where you had a helper, the helper also wins the game, no matter what level that player is.

The Munchkin Network

Visit munchkin.sjgames.com for news, errata, updates, Q&A, and much more.

To discuss Munchkin with our staff and your fellow munchkins, visit our forums at forums.sjgames.com.

Check out munchkin.sjgames.com for reference cards, play mats, and dozens of links.

Other ways to connect to the Munchkin social network:

• Our Twitter feed often has Munchkin news (or bonus rules!): twitter.com/SJGames.
• Connect with other fans on our pages for Munchkin (facebook.com/sjgames.munchkin) and Steve Jackson Games (facebook.com/sjgames).
• We post lots of pictures of new Munchkin stuff to instagram.com/stevejacksongames.

Use the #PlayMunchkin hashtag on social media to get our attention!

The URL for the standard and Deluxe games are:

munchkin.sjgames.com/tmnt munchkin.sjgames.com/tmnt/deluxe/ munchkin.sjgames.com/tmnt/ultimate/