The self-propagation theory

A thought occurred to me after a game of Ascending Empires tonight, as I put the game away into my game closet.  I looked over the variety of games there, thinking about the ones I liked and the ones that just didn't seem to get as much playtime.  I picked up Munchkin and looked at it and thought about why Munchkin, despite it's enjoyable humor and appealing theme, didn't get played much anymore.

The last couple of times I played Munchkin, at least that I remember, one person got stuck around level 2.  Every time it was their turn, they kicked down the door to find either a monster far too powerful for them, or a new class or race that didn't really help.  They never became powerful enough to help anyone else... so they couldn't really play.  At least, not the main part of the game, the fun part.

Anybody got wheat? I got two logs!

Catan can be a very frustrating game sometimes.  Despite the statistics and probabilities, sometimes the dice keep popping up with numbers that aren't yours, even if your numbers are quite good.  When that happens, you can't collect resources, and that makes it very hard to build, expand, and sometimes play.