New Player Question

[CasualTerror]

Me and my friends recently discovered the amazing world of Munchkins. We've ran into a couple things that we don't understand. There are a couple things that are mentioned on the cards where we don't know what it means. Like carrying items and turning cards sideways. Why would you do that, when would it be useful?

What is drawing Face-Down and Face-Up? Is that the difference between the Kicking Down the Door phase and Looting the Room phase?

[bonetm]

Welcome to Munchkin and to the forums. You'll probably find very useful to read the Munchkin FAQ, lots of questions can be solved with this. I would also recommend reading the rules again.

Like carrying items and turning cards sideways. Why would you do that, when would it be useful?

Item card are defined as being something with a Gold Value (even if it says "No Value", but NOT a card that hasn't got one printed value, such as a Go Up a Level Card). Items can be played to the table. Sometimes, these Items will give you bonuses. But there is a limit of Items you character can use at the same time (he only has one head, two feet, one body...). So, some of these Items are labeled as 1 Hand, 2 Hands, Footgear, and so one. It means they take the "slot" of head, feet, body, hands, etc...

So, Items you character can benefit from are the ones he is WEARING. But you can CARRY, but not WEAR, an infinity quantity of Small Itens. This means you can have on the table (same thing as Carry) any small Item, but you can only gain the bonus (same thing as Wear) one Item of Footgear, one Item of Headgear, one 2-Handed, or two 1-Handed Item and so on.

So, if you have two Footgears (for example), you can Carry them both (i.e. have them on the table), but can only Wear one. The other may be kept on the table, but turned sideways, to indicate that you are NOT wearing it. You can't just discard cards (but usually is not the best idea to just discard them, anyways). Itens being carried can be stolen, lost to Curses, traded or sold to obtain Level (if you can come up with 1000 Gold, that is).

[bonetm]

Originally Posted by CasualTerror

What is drawing Face-Down and Face-Up? Is that the difference between the Kicking Down the Door phase and Looting the Room phase?

Drawing face-up or face-down is exactly what it is written. When you Kick the Door (or any time you draw a face-up card, in fact) you MUST show everyone what card is it. Then you proceed to resolve the card (if it is a Monster, during the Kick the Door phase, you must fight, if it is a Curse, it affects you, etc). Sometimes, the card will read they must be played immediately, most of the times, if the card doesn't fit neither category, it goes into your hand, and can be played if you wish.

A face-down card is drawn and you don't have to show it to anyone. It goes directly to your hand. So, if you Kick the Door and it is a Race card, you could play a monster from your hand and Look for Trouble. If you don't have a monster (or don't have to fight whatever you got), you can draw a card and don't have to show to anyone.

Bear in mind that the same applies to Treasure cards, specially when you fight alone (you get face-down Treasures) and when you have one helper (you get face-up Treasures).

Also, always read the card: sometimes you'll be given instructions to draw a card in a specific manner.

[CasualTerror]

Ok so I was right about the difference between face-down and face-up. But I don't understand why you would carry items. You don't get the bonus of a carried item, right? A curse that would, for example, lose your headgear would make you discard your headgear that your wearing and carrying, correct? Why wouldn't you just keep that item in your hand to avoid that? Or are we with playing house rules, lol?

[EvilPhreak]

One of the reasons people turn items sideways is to reduce their hand size, remember you can only have 5 cards in your hand, so putting cards into play can help with that and also make it so you dont have to give cards away as charity.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by EvilPhreak

remember you can only have 5 cards in your hand,

At the end of your turn. That's one of the rules I have to emphasize with new players, who start freaking out when their hand gets too big even when it's nowhere near their turn.

[MunchkinMan]

Originally Posted by CasualTerror

Ok so I was right about the difference between face-down and face-up. But I don't understand why you would carry items. You don't get the bonus of a carried item, right? A curse that would, for example, lose your headgear would make you discard your headgear that your wearing and carrying, correct? Why wouldn't you just keep that item in your hand to avoid that? Or are we with playing house rules, lol?

I'm going to use strictly game terms here, and want to have a complete and correct answer in one place:

Any Item, and I mean any Item, you have in play is carried, as is stated in the rules. Items you are carrying and deriving a bonus or special ability from you are using. Items you are carrying but not using are to be turned sideways so that people know you are not using them. We're in the process of discussing a few things, but as of right now, if a Curse or Bad Stuff says, "Lose the Headgear You Are Wearing," that means the Headgear you are using, not all the Headgear you are carrying, whether you're using it or not, and that will not change. I think we're leaning to officially saying that if a Curse or Bad Stuff says, "Lose Your Headgear," it means all the Headgear you are carrying, i.e., used and unused, but I don't think Andrew ever officially stated what our rumination and collaboration session turned up.

As for keeping stuff in your hand: Remember that you are limited to having a maximum of 5 cards in your hand at the end of your turn. You can't hold on to all the cards you want to because you must execute the Charity phase at the end of your turn. The last thing you want to do is hold on to a bunch of good cards you can't use at the moment just to have to give them to the lowest Level player(s).

And with respect to the face-down, face-up issue: As Igor said, it's not just related to kicking down the door (face up) and looting the room (face down). A face-up draw, regardless of when it's happening, means that everyone must be able to see the card after you drew it. Face-down means only you have to see it (and can therefore put it into your hand).

[bonetm]

Another reason I see for you to put cards sideways is trading. You can't trade from you hand, so If there is an Elf-only Item and you are not a Elf, you should put it down and carry it and offer the trade.