January 10, 2025: What's In The Box?

[RoboAdmin]

January 10, 2025: What's In The Box?

Read this article on the Illuminator.

[Alden Loveshade]

In one of my fondest childhood memories, the game was "what's in the box?"

Yes, it was a box under the Christmas tree, but with a difference. All the presents were wrapped as usual--except one. That was a fairly large, plain, unwrapped cardboard box. For me.

Finally, I got to open it--and inside found a real, live rabbit! That was the first rabbit I took care of. Which was followed by hundreds.

[pmpappas]

"Whose handwriting is that?!" we'll muse as we pass the paper around like careless archeologists.

That was the impetus for three anecdotes that I hope at least tangentially fit the bill. Preface them with "I bought some Munchkin stuff cheap (always except maybe my RTX bookmark) and...

1) ...while sorting / putting it away I came across a Munchkin World NYC Bookmark. You see them from time to time so I wasn't surprised, but when I put it away I forgot to do one important thing - turn it over. (wait for it). A short while later I got another and while putting it away remembered I didn't look at the back of the last one. This bookmark is designed to have SJ, JK, and the Red Pen of Doom aka the late great Andrew Hackard sign it. You guessed it - all three signatures are there and based on what I have and have seen there is little doubt they are authentic.

2) ...while quickly flipping through some promo cards I encountered a played but good shape Hireling: Cavalry Captain! Definitely did not expect that. Shortly after I encountered another that was near mint! Seriously? Two? How? A bit of googling indicates they were given out in pairs. Sorry, not for sale. ;-)

3) ...I had put together an almost complete set of +8 Bag o' Munchkin Babes & Pawns with the acquisition of a bubblegum pink Flower. The only pawn missing was a frosted Spyke. It dawned on me there was an apparent GITD Spyke pawn and some munchkin dice sitting on a table from a previous purchase, which I had not yet put away. Knowing the GITD and frosted Spyke look similar, and since I needed to put the dice away, I took a closer look at the pawn. You guessed it - it was frosted not GITD! Heck yeah! And as if that wasn't enough, I realized the pile of dice was the +10 Bag o' Munchkin d6.

4) But wait, there's more! And it's not Munchkin. ;-) I was looking at the used / discounted games at my LGS, as I often do. I saw a used Knights of the Dinner Table: Orcs at the Gates game. That's not something you see everyday. It has an expansion, Orcs – The Reckoning, which is an even rarer sight. Hoping against hope, I popped the lid on the box and saw the OTR instruction sheet! The contents were poorly organized and it was going to take some time to confirm all the parts were there, but it looked promising and was so cheap I took the chance. A bit of sorting and googling confirmed it was 100% complete.

May you have many such archeological gaming adventures.