Munchers was a series of educational/edutainmentcomputer games produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) for several operating systems. They were popular among American schoolchildren in the 1980s and 1990s and were the recipients of several awards. The two original games in the series were Number Munchers and Word Munchers.

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As of 2017, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is offering the Munchers brand as a licensing opportunity on its website.^[1]

Number Munchers[edit]

Number Munchers is the first educational game in the Munchers series. Designed to teach basic math skills, it was popular among American school children in the 1980s and 1990s and was the recipient of several awards.^[2] An updated 3D version, Math Munchers Deluxe, was released in 1995.^[3]

Modes of play[edit]

There are five different modes of play in Number Munchers to advance players' mathematical skills. These modes include Multiples, Factors, Primes, Equalities, and Inequalities.

• Multiples - The objective is to find multiples of the number given. If presented a 3, one would select numbers like 3, 6, 9, 12, etc.
• Factors - In this mode you find factors divisible by the number given. If the number is 12, one would choose to eat 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.
• Primes - This mode helps players find prime numbers that are only divisible by 1 and themselves. e.g., 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13.
• Equality - This mode gives players the chance to find equations equaling the current number. If given the number 6, one would 'munch' 3 x 2, 3 + 3, 12 / 2, and so on.
• Inequality - This mode gives players the number and they must select the equations that DO NOT equal the current number. If given 6, one would eat equations such as 4 X 2, 18 / 9, and 3 + 5.

Troggles[edit]

The Troggles are monsters with two legs and a large head, whose goal is to eat Muncher and/or disrupt his progress by rearranging things on the board. Levels 1, 2, and 3, contain only one Troggle on the grid at any given time. A second Troggle appears starting with level 4, and a third appears starting with level 8. After approximately level 18, the game (especially the movement of the Troggles) accelerates to make responsible munching more difficult.

There are several type of 'Troggles.' Each type of Troggle moves in a specific pattern. There are five species of Troggle, each of which has an English and a mock-Latin (binomial) name:

• Reggies (Trogglus normalus) (magenta on Apple II, red in DOS, purple on Macintosh) - simply moves in a line unless redirected by a safety square in its path.
• Bashfuls (Trogglus timidus) (green on Apple II, blue in DOS, pink on Macintosh) - moves in an arbitrary manner on the gameboard, unless approached by a Muncher, in which case he moves away from the Muncher. Became purple in later releases in the series.
• Helpers (Trogglus assistus) (green on Apple II and DOS, magenta on Macintosh) - this ant-like Troggle eats all answers, leaving nothing behind. Became purple in later releases in the series.
• Workers (Trogglus laborus) (purple and white on Apple II and DOS, magenta and white on Macintosh) - this Troggle adds new answers and/or changes existing answers as he moves around.
• Smarties (Trogglus smarticus) (green on Apple II and Macintosh, yellow on DOS) - has large teeth and glasses, and the most difficult Troggle to avoid; always follows the Muncher on the board.

Safety squares occasionally appear to help protect Muncher from the Troggles. These are temporary havens identified by four small white rectangles on the corner of the square. No Troggle may enter a safety square; if one appears on a square a Troggle currently occupies, that Troggle dies (but may be replaced afterwards). Safety squares may disappear as quickly and randomly as they appear; hence, one must take caution not to remain in one for long.

In addition, Troggles are quite cannibalistic; if one Troggle enters a square already occupied by another, or if two of them enter one square at the same time (even if they are of the same species), one Troggle will eat the other (however, another Troggle may re-enter the board afterwards).

Levels[edit]

Players can choose from the five modes of play, or choose a 'challenge' mode, which randomizes these modes. In the Multiples mode, Muncher must munch all numbers which are multiples of the number given; for example, if the designated number is 3 then Muncher must eat all 6's, 9's, and 12's and avoid numbers such as 7. In Factors the muncher seeks to ingest the factors of a given number, in Primes he craves prime numbers, and in the Equality and Inequality modes the muncher devours expressions such as 2+4 which are equivalent or not equivalent (respectively) to the designated number.

Game play begins with four Muncher lives (the one currently in play, plus three others in reserve). After scoring a certain number of points, the player gains an extra life. Players lose a life if they munch an incorrect answer. Additionally, five different types of enemy (or 'Troggle') appear throughout the game. Players lose a life if they make contact with a Troggle.

Cutscenes[edit]

As in the other games in the series, a player is awarded with a cutscene (reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner escapades) after every third level; in this game, these are dubbed as 'Great Moments in Muncher History'. While these scenes are numbered (Act 1, Act 2, etc.), the order they appear in varies from game to game. Once all six have been shown, they begin to repeat themselves (starting with the scene after Level 21). The six scenes are as follows:

• A Muncher is chased by a Reggie across the screen twice, then the Muncher gets in an old-timey automobile, outruns the Troggle, and the Troggle falls down and gives up.
• Two Munchers reenact the story of William Tell.
• A Muncher races a Bashful up a mountain, plants his flag, and sings a song (Ding Dong! the Witch is Dead).
• A Muncher prank-calls a Smartie and sings the nyah-nyah taunting melody.
• A Muncher beats two Troggles in a beauty contest. Later releases of the game replaced this cut scene with one in which a Muncher stumbles through his house in the dark and then turns on the light, only to discover that he has broken all of his furniture.
• A Muncher carves his own image into Mount Rushmore.

Easter egg[edit]

As an Easter egg, between December 1 and 25, the Muncher would wear a Santa Claushat. This only worked on a computer that had a built-in clock or that was never turned off, as the built-in clock was not common at the time the games were popular.

Word Munchers[edit]

Word Munchers is a spin-off of Number Munchers designed to teach basic grammar skills. It was popular among American schoolchildren in the 1980s and 1990s and was used as a teaching aid widely used in schools.

Though the gameplay was the same as in Number Munchers, specific to Word Munchers were the modes of play, which includes parts of speech such as verbs or adjectives. Teachers had the options to select the vowel sounds and how difficult the word sets would be, such as whether or not to include words that break pronunciation rules.

Gameplay[edit]

In all the Munchers games, the player controls a green 'Muncher' character across a grid of squares containing a short numerical or word expression. The objective is to consume all and only the grids containing information satisfying a specific criterion (determined by the mode of play) while also avoiding the deadly 'Troggle' monsters which roamed the grid.

Eating a grid containing information that did not match the criterion of the play mode chosen or being caught by a Troggle resulted in the loss of a life.

If all grids containing information matching the criterion were eaten from the screen, the level ended and the player was presented with an amusing short scene, similar to Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner scenes, in which the Muncher foils the Troggles' plans to catch it and often destroys the Troggle in some comical manner. The game gets continually faster and harder each level.

Versions[edit]

The Munchers series included:

• Number Munchers
• Fraction Munchers
• Word Munchers
• Super Munchers
• Math Munchers Deluxe (a remake of Number Munchers)
• Word Munchers Deluxe (also a remake of Word Munchers)
• Math Munchers for the 21st Century
• Word Munchers for the 21st Century
• Knowledge Munchers Deluxe (Originally released as 'Trivia Munchers Deluxe')
• Troggle Trouble Math (a spin-off)

The original version only allowed navigation through the keyboardarrow keys. Later versions featured better graphics and added mouse support.

References[edit]

1. ^'Licensing Opportunities'. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
2. ^'Awards of Excellence 2005'. www.techlearning.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
3. ^'MINNESOTA EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING CORPORATION (MECC) ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF MATH MUNCHERS DELUXE' (Press release). Academic OneFile. PR Newswire. 1995-10-24. Retrieved 2019-06-25.

External links[edit]

Movie Munchies Game

• Muncher series at MobyGames
• Number Munchers can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive

If you are tired of always being the hero and being tasked with saving the world, then you’ll surely appreciate a change of pace in games where you get to be a monster. As we’re going to find out, monsters are not always vile creatures, they just require a bit of understanding. They are complicated creatures. For the gamers who are mischievous enough to try on the role of the bad guy, we compiled a list with 10 of the best games that allow you to feel firsthand how it is to be the monster in a video game.

Evolve
Somehow opposite to Dead by Daylight, in Evolve a group of four players called “hunters” need to work together in perfect harmony in order to kill the fifth player known as the “monster”. Set on the industrialized alien planet Shear, this first person shooter allows you, as the monster, to consume wildlife and evolve in order to become stronger and retaliate each time a hunter is after you. The assortment of monsters you can choose from is quite generous, for example you can choose to be the Goliath, the Kraken, the Wraith, the Behemoth and the Gorgon. All equally deadly in the hands of the right player.

Dead by Daylight
A group of survivors, usually comprised of four players, must do their best and elude a fifth player that takes the role of a dreadfully-looking killer. The action takes place at night and in an enclosed area; locations such as an isolated forest, a haunted asylum or a dark marsh being just some of the possible sceneries. As the killer, the player also has a varied choice of characters, all equally monstrous and cruel: the Hillbilly, the Nurse and the Hag being some of the blood curdling monsters that will be hunting down the players that are trying to escape.
Rampage (PlayStation 2)

Rampage started as an arcade game and was later ported to consoles such as the Atari 2600, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2. In this absolutely classic title, the player takes the role of one of the three monsters available and proceeds to go razing all the buildings in a city, while also destroying taxis, tanks and police cars with the purpose of scoring points and passing on to the next level. The game’s main characters are George, a King Kong-like gigantic gorilla, Lizzie, a Godzilla-like dinosaur and Ralph, a giant werewolf. Up to three players can simultaneously partake in this insanely satisfying nostalgic gaming title.

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Monster Loves You!
You are a new born monster, you live in the city of Omen and small children’s fingers are your favorite all time snacks. Throughout your life journey you will have various choices you can make and they will greatly shape your personality, transforming you into a despicable or gentle adult monster, depending on how you decide to tackle with the game’s challenges. The increasing tensions between Monsters and Humans provide the excellent environment for making judgment calls such as terrorizing a kid lost in a dark forest, just for fun, or helping him get home safe to prove that not all monsters are bad.

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Depth
Depth is a first-person shooter with asymmetrical multiplayer elements where the conflict lies between treasure hunting divers and the natural inhabitants of the ocean: sharks. The player has the liberty to decide if he wants to be a peaceful and curious underwater treasure hunter or the blood thirsty shark that must chase his human pray all over the bottom of the ocean. Additional abilities are gained if you manage to successfully eat the opposing team. So, if you always imagined what it would be like to be on the other side in Jaws, it’s high time you played Depth!

Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse
Stubbs is a zombie who wants nothing more than to eat the brains of the people from Punchbowl, Pennsylvania. By taking control of this green skinned monster you’ll be able to create your own zombie army that increases in number proportionally to how many humans’ brains you manage to devour. Stubbs isn’t able to wield conventional weapons so you must use melee attacks and other improvised weaponry if you want to beat up people and, again, transform them into fellow zombies.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
In Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines the player takes the role of a male or a female character who is killed and subsequently revived as an unexperienced vampire. You are able to customize your character and become a part of one of the seven available clans, each giving you unique traits and abilities. As expected, this game has Blood as a highly important currency, being obtained from draining rats, taking supplies from a blood clinic or drinking it directly from people. The last option is the toughest one since you need to keep the victim alive, killing it will ultimately result in you losing your humanity points and slowly turning into a mindless beast.

War of the Monsters (PlayStation 2/4)
War of the Monsters is a 3D fighting game set in the aftermath of an Alien invasion. The scientists of the world’s nations invented a series of super weapons that managed to destroy all the flying saucers but the green radioactive fluid that was fueling them spread all across the planet, infecting humans and transforming them into violent monsters. The player is able to choose one of the thirteen available monsters and get into fights with others of his kind, bringing mayhem and destruction all over the city!

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Kain, a newly resurrected vampire, is trying to find the people who murdered him to take his revenge but also to find a cure to his new vampiric curse. His quest takes him through the fictional land of Nosgoth, dominated by humans and vampires alike, where he will eventually end up slaughtering the Circle of Nine, an immoral oligarchy of godly sorcerers. Kain starts to slowly grow accustomed to his new body as a vampire and even starts to forsaken his initial plan, feeling that this curse he tries to remove might actual be his blessing. Future installments of this impressive gaming series will also let players dive into the dark and tormented lore as Kain or as his wraith lieutenant Raziel.

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Aliens versus Predator (1999)
Like the 1994 eponymous gaming title for the Atari Jaguar, Aliens versus Predator features three different campaigns, each playable as a distinct species: Alien, Predator or human Colonial Marine. Each of these characters have different abilities, purposes and weapons. If you choose to play as the Predator you’ll have wrist blades, a throwing disc, and shoulder-mounted energy weapons, while if you go for the Alien you’ll be able to climb across walls and ceilings and you’ll have only your claws, tails and jaws to help you kill enemies, especially those pesky humans.