It appears that John Kovalic has been pretty busy lately given the announcement at GTS of two new Munchkin hybrid games, both of which are due out this fall.  Fireside Games has announced the fall release of Munchkin Panic!, a new semi-cooperative board game that combines the all-for-one gameplay of Fireside’s Castle Panic! with the all-for-me ethos of Steve Jackson’s burgeoning list of Munchkin games, while AEG simultaneously announced the fall release of Munchkin Loot Letter, which manages to combine Munchkin acquisitiveness with the romanticism of Seiji Kanai’s popular Love Letter game.
 
In Munchkin Panic! Munchkin monsters have discovered the Castle Panic Towers and are on the rampage.  In the new game’s innovative mechanics, players combine cards to hit and slay the monsters before the Castle is destroyed.  The new card combos available in Munchkin Panic are created from a mix of cards from the two games.  Each defeated Monster becomes a trophy and yields its treasure to the victor.  Players can work together, but they have to balance their self-interest with the necessity to survive in this ingenious hybrid game designed by Anne-Marie De Witt.
 
Munchkin Loot Letter manages to take the romance (and those silly princesses) out of the popular Love Letter game and replace all that smooching and kissy stuff with a Munchkin-esque pure pursuit of loot.  The stripped down Munchkin Loot Letter, which features just 16 cards, is easy-to-learn, quick-to-play, and highly enjoyable.