I don’t mean to sound hyperbolic, but this might be the best thing to happen to cereal gaming since that time I beat Chex Quest 3 in one sitting with only a bag of Doritos (Nacho Cheese over Cool Ranch, to set the tone) as my copilot.
Monster Cereal—the annually/autumnally recurring trio of Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry Cereals—news usually leaks early, about August or so, so it’s only fitting that a teaser for this year’s Halloween M.C.s would hit a month earlier.
The news came courtesy of Board Game Freak, with Dinosaur Dracula helping broadcast.
While the very existence of a physical cereal card game has my credit card feeling warm, Monster Crunch!, dubbed “The Breakfast Battle Game” becomes infinitely more desirable for its resurrection of cherry-flavored Frute Brute and orange née vanilla Yummy Mummy. Observing this situation critically, I think there’s a 50:50 chance this was either done because the pair are coming back in cereal form this year, and the card game designs will match their box art, or because General Mills is historically cool with throwing the canine–Egyptian duo pity references but no cereals, a post-’80s revival that only happened once, in 2013.
You never know with General Mills, so I would pick a safer Halloween Cereal to place bets on. Like whether or not pumpkin spice will steal another spot from pecan pie.
But what we do know is a brief overview of the gameplay:
It’s ok to play with your food! Pick your favorite Monster Cereal character and battle to see who can “eat” the most cereal.
In this fast-paced game of luck and strategy, players collect as many Cereal Cards in their Bowls as they can. Each Monster has special powers to give you an advantage and help you gobble up the most cereal. Use Milk Tokens to combine Cereal Cards and take bigger bites. The Monster Cereal character that munches the most wins the game!
Monster Crunch! The Breakfast Battle Game features Boo Berry, Count Chocula, Fruit Brute, Fruity Yummy Mummy, and Franken Berry.
—description from the publisher
Now that sounds a bit like Hungry Hungry Hippos glitched into a Mario Party Mini-Game, but they had me at “milk tokens,” which is now what I’ll call all currency. Unfortunately, the provided pictures don’t let us decipher what each monster’s special power is, but I think we can safely assume Boo Berry can throw his hat like Oddjob.
Look for more details about this cereal’s release soon. I call Yummy Mummy for the first game!