7 or more players?

[Really Impressive Title]

I likely won’t have this problem very often but what better time of year to find 7 or more people in a room than the holidays. Family are in town, friends are off work... and people wanna play games.

Let’s say I have a monster box completely full of munchkin cards and expansions. Everything is thoroughly shuffled and we’re not running out of cards anytime soon. — So what happens when you play with 7 or more? Does the game just get exponentially longer? Has it proven to be boring with everyone else waiting for their turn? Do dog piles become insurmountable?

Chaos is Munchkin’s bread and butter. What makes 6 the chaos sweet spot?

[Andrew Hackard]

I have played with seven players (never more, I don't think, because at that point you can have two four-player games instead). With a single set, you run through the decks quickly. With expansions, it's less unwieldy.

One problem is simply that it's a long time around the table. Even if every player's turn takes three minutes, that's almost 20 minutes before it's your turn again. Sure, there are things you can do when it's not your turn, but realistically you're going to be waiting for a while.

Another problem is that, with six people trying to stop you from winning the game, it's far more likely that the first several attempts to go for the win will be frustrated -- which, again, makes the game longer.

It's not that it's unworkable, but it's not what I would call a fun experience.