 Comparison of cards from English and German versions. | |
| Manufacturers | DeLano Services (most) 360 Manufacturing (mass market) |
|---|---|
| Publishers |
|
| Players | 2–6 [1] |
| Setup time | 1 minute |
| Playing time | 5-30 minutes [1] |
| Chance | High |
Fluxx is a card game, played with a specially designed deck published by Looney Labs. It is different from most other card games, in that the rules and the conditions for winning are altered throughout the game, via cards played by the players.
Fluxx was created by Andrew Looney on July 24, 1996 as the first game for his and his wife's part-time game design company, Looney Laboratory. [2] [3] The original print run was for 5,000 units [2] and was released in 1997. [3]
The game was successful and was licensed a year later to Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) for wider distribution. ICE went bankrupt two years later and Looney Labs resumed publication and distribution. [4] By March 2001, Labs was considering putting out another standalone deck version called Fluxx++ using card created by the Fluxx playing community with Fluxx Blanxx and Fluxx: Goals Galore, an expansion consisting of goal cards, based on its Origins 2000 5 Goal cards promo pack. [5] Labs created Fluxx Lite, a slimmed down 56 card deck to lower the price for discount superstores, in design by March 2002. [6]
In 2003, Amigo Games, a German game company, licensed and published a German language version of Fluxx. [7] The in design Fluxx Reduxx was indefinitely placed on hold as of July 14, 2005 to focus on EcoFluxx. Looney Labs registered the Fluxx trademark. [8] By October 2005, Stoner Fluxx had been released and EcoFluxx was in play testing, and scheduled to be released later that month [9] followed by Family Fluxx. [10]
In November 2006, Looney Labs issued a Spanish language edition of the game. [7] The October 10, 2007 release of a zombie-themed version brought the first of a new card type, the Creeper [11] and Ungoal. [12] In 2008, Toy Vault and Looney Labs co-published and released Monty Python Fluxx. [13] Fluxx edition 4 was released in December 2008 and was the first set to have the Meta Rule subtype card, which stemmed from a Fluxx Tournament rule. [14]
In 2008, Zombie Fluxx won the Origins Award for Traditional Card Game of the Year. [15] Stoner Fluxx was placed back in print under the Full Baked Ideas imprint of Looney Labs on November 13, 2009 after being out of print for four years. Full Baked was launched with expectation of a future release of a drinking variant and other mature subject versions. [16]
Two variants were re-released on March 5, 2010, EcoFluxx and Family Fluxx, with Eco being a new edition. [10] In February 2011, the Surprise subtype of cards were introduced in the Pirate Fluxx themed variant. [17] In March 2011, the German language version 2nd edition was released by Pegasus Games. [18] By May 2011 over 1 million decks of all Fluxx versions had been sold while Pirate Fluxx was getting into bookstores that month. [19]
On August 1, 2012, Looney Labs got a simplified, less expensive general market version with redesigned packaging of Fluxx into Target stores. [2] For the summer 2012, Fluxx was number 10 in ICv2's Top 10 Card/Building Games (hobby channel). [20]
A Cartoon Network version of the game was made available as a Target exclusive from mid-August 2014 until Easter 2015, while in July the Regular Show Fluxx was released to the hobby market. [21] The fifth edition of the regular Fluxx game was made available beginning in 2014 as the 4.0 edition ran out. Looney Labs teamed up with The Doubleclicks for a Fluxx theme song. [22]
A new expansion of the game, Fluxx Dice, plus two new licensed variants were scheduled to be released in the summer of 2015. [23] With a delay of the first variant to be released at the polled requested of the retailers, Looney Labs pushed back the dice and the other variant to stagger the releases to spread out the impact. [24]
A series of educational variants were released in 2017 and 2018. [25] In partnership with Gale Force 9, two Fluxx versions of Star Trek were released in August 2018. [26]
The first edition deck consists of 84 cards with four types of cards: Keepers, Goals, Actions, and New Rules. While the game begins by requiring players to simply draw and play a specific number of cards, the mechanic mutates when a New Rule card is played. The card may change the number of cards drawn or played per turn, the number of cards held per hand, or the Keepers played. [9] The Goal cards change the Keepers needed to win the game. [2] Games last from 5 to 30 minutes. [27]
Later sets sometimes included new card subtypes, depending on the theme of the set. These included Creeper cards that block or make goals more difficult to obtain; [10] Ungoal cards, which have conditions where the game ends with no winner; [12] and Surprise cards, a 2011 addition, which allow players to negate other types of cards which could prevent a victory and can be played at any time, though they have other effects when played on one's own turn. [17]
The first Fluxx tournament at Origins 1997 had an extra rule calling for an increase in the Basic Rules each time the deck was reshuffled which was kept for future tournaments. On August 28, 2008 via their Wunderland blog, Looney introduced "Meta Rule" cards for players to print at home and add to standard decks [28] or place in the primary deck Edition 4.0. [14]
Early edition decks had 84 cards [9] while newer standard decks have 100 cards, [29] while Lite versions (Family, Spanish, SE) consist of 56 cards. [10] [30] [31]
There are also versions of Fluxx that have been released using entirely different themed sets of cards while playing by the same set of rules.
Many of the version can be combined with each other to make a "mega Fluxx" deck (as all these versions have the same card back style). [10]
Several expansions have been produced, including:
| Publication | August 2013 |
|---|---|
| Players | 2-4 |
| Playing time | 15 to 30 minutes |
Fluxx: The Board Game is a board game implementation of the card game released in August 2013. [40] This game was awarded the Parents' Choice Recommended Seal Fall 2013 for Games. [41]
The game moves the Keeper card items to spaces on the board while adding the "Leaper" card type. The board is separated into 9 movable tiles with four spaces each except for the start tile with the initial set up of 3x3 square. Besides the Keeper spaces there are 1 octagon space per title and two teleport spaces for the whole board. Moving on to one teleport space allows the player to move to the other teleport space. The octagon may hold any number of pawns while the keeper spaces can only have one with an incoming pawn pushing out the current pawn. There are two peg boards that track, the number of goals needed to win and current rules. [40]
All start with a hand of three cards and a color card in face up to indicate the pawns they control. They each get to make a free rule change. New general rules affecting the tiles include rotation, moving and allowing wraparound tile movement. The game only has Action, Goals, New Rules and Leaper type cards. Action cards can change force a change in player color. A Leaper card counts as a card play but allows you to move a pawn to the item on the board. Goals cards are stacked near the board with top most card the current goal. [40]
Looney Labs gives away promotional cards related to Fluxx at conventions such as Gen Con and Origins. They have given away cards such as Composting and Jackpot, which later appeared in EcoFluxx and Family Fluxx respectively. They have also given away promo cards for Christmas to members of their online mailing list and in High Times magazine. Game Technicians (previously known as Mad Lab Rabbits), voluntary game demonstrators for Looney Labs, give away promo cards to people interested in the game.
Fluxx was available to play for free via the Volity network [59] and was also available to be played online via the CCG Workshop, using the gatlingEngine to adjudicate most of its rules automatically. However, both Volity.net and CCG Workshop are no longer operating. [60]
In December 2012, Fluxx was released by Playdek as an app on iOS operating systems (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple TV) by purchasing it from the Apple App Store. It uses the "mass market" deck developed for Target Stores, removing some of the more esoteric themes (such as Cthulhu) and complex rule cards. [61]
The base game won the Mensa Select Game Award in 1999. [62] Rick Loomis comments: "Fluxx makes a good game for a group that has one of those annoying 'I-must-win-every-game' types. The rest of you can enjoy yourselves as the game spins out of his control (as it surely will) and perhaps he'll eventually learn to lose gracefully. Meanwhile, Fluxx will be busily exercising everyone's logic synapses as you attempt to deal with the chaotic situations that occur because of the cheerful clash of rules." [63]
An ICv2 review of the Batman variant by Nick Smith gave it 4 out of 5 stars as "The Fluxx series of games is not for everyone." But the game worked well with the Batman theme: "The game-themed victory conditions are good, and the thematic elements were very well thought out. This may be the best-designed Fluxx set in some time, and it can be a lot of fun for casual fans to try to achieve the thematic victory conditions." [1]
In a review of Fluxx in Black Gate , M Harold Page said "Playability-wise, the rules are on the cards themselves. Complex though play can be, playing the game is simple. My 7-year old manages fine with a little help to start her off, and my 11-year-old has sessions with his friends." [64]
Icehouse pieces, or Icehouse Pyramids, Treehouse pieces, Treehouse Pyramids and officially Looney Pyramids, are nestable and stackable pyramid-shaped gaming pieces and a game system. The game system was invented by Andrew Looney and John Cooper in 1987, originally for use in the game of Icehouse.
Andrew J. Looney is a game designer and computer programmer. He is also a photographer, a cartoonist, a video-blogger, and a marijuana-legalization advocate.
Zendo is a game of inductive logic designed by Kory Heath in which one player creates a rule for structures ("koans") to follow, and the other players try to discover it by building and studying various koans which follow or break the rule. The first student to correctly state the rule wins.
Martian Chess is an abstract strategy game for two or four players invented by Andrew Looney in 1999. It is played with Icehouse pyramids on a chessboard. To play with a number of players other than two or four, a non-Euclidean surface can be tiled to produce a board of the required size, allowing up to six players.
Chrononauts is a family of card games that simulates popular fictional ideas about how time travellers might alter history, drawing on sources like Back to the Future and the short stories collection Travels Through Time. The game was designed by Andrew Looney and is published by Looney Labs. The original game and a variant each won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game.
Looney Labs, Inc. is a small game company based in College Park, Maryland, United States. It is named after its founders, Andrew Looney and Kristin Looney, and is best known for creating the Fluxx line of card games. The company has three U.S. patents and eight Origins Awards.
Aquarius is a card game created by Andrew Looney and published by Looney Labs. The game play has some similarity to the game of dominoes. The card design and feel of the game is influenced by the Hippie movement and the art of Peter Max. The game has been released in two editions. The First Edition deck contained 5 Goal cards, 15 Action cards and 40 Element cards. The current Second Edition deck has 5 Goal cards, 18 Action cards, 55 Element cards and 1 "Wild" card.
Ticket to Ride is a railway-themed German-style board game designed by Alan R. Moon. It was illustrated by Julien Delval and Cyrille Daujean and published in 2004 by Days of Wonder. The game is also known as Zug um Zug (German), Les Aventuriers du Rail (French), Aventureros al Tren (Spanish), Wsiąść do pociągu (Polish), and Menolippu (Finnish).
Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system Fate, Blades in the Dark, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, all of which have won multiple awards.
Pandemic is a cooperative board game designed by Matt Leacock and first published by Z-Man Games in the United States in 2008. Pandemic is based on the premise that four diseases have broken out in the world, each threatening to wipe out a region. The game accommodates two to four players, each playing one of seven possible roles: dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher, operations expert, contingency planner, or quarantine specialist. Through the combined effort of all the players, the goal is to discover all four cures before any of several game-losing conditions are reached.
Dominion is a card game created by Donald X. Vaccarino and published by Rio Grande Games. It was the first deck-building game, and inspired a genre of games building on its central mechanic. Each player begins with a small deck of cards, which they improve by purchasing cards from a common supply that varies from game to game. Cards can help the player's deck function, impede their opponents, or provide victory points. As of December 2022, fifteen expansions to the original Dominion have been released.
Cryptozoic Entertainment is an American publisher of board and card games, trading cards and collectibles based on both licensed and original intellectual properties. The company is well known for its "Cerberus Engine Game", the catch name for its series of deck-building games. Cryptozoic's first game was based on DC Comics characters, having been released in 2012. The Cerberus engine is utilized in various games; all Cerberus games are compatible with each other, allowing gamers to intermix different decks and characters from different universes.
Sentinels of the Multiverse is a cooperative card game published by Greater Than Games and released at Gen Con 2011. Players control a team of comic book-style heroes battling a villain. Each player controls one or more heroes, while a villain and environment deck each run themselves. A given game includes 3 to 5 heroes, 1 villain and 1 environment, which can be mixed and matched to create a number of different scenarios. The core game comes with 10 heroes, 4 villains, and 4 environments. The board game has also been made into a video game.
The My Little Pony Collectible Card Game is a two-player collectible card game based on the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. It is produced by Enterplay LLC under license from Hasbro, and follows from Enterplay's previous work to produce a trading card series based on the same show.
Dead of Winter is a Semi-Cooperative strategy board game for two to five players designed by Jonathan Gilmour and Isaac Vega through Plaid Hat Games. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested colony. Players are faction leaders who must work together to ensure the colony's survival through incoming zombies and lack of supplies. In addition, players have individual, secret win conditions that they must meet to be victorious.
Love Letter is a card game introduced in May 2012 and designed by Seiji Kanai. Its first English-language edition was produced in the United States by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) until 2018, when Love Letter was acquired by Z-Man Games.
Sheriff of Nottingham is a multiplayer bluffing board game designed by Sergio Halaban, Bryan Pope, Andre Zatz and originally published Arcane Wonders as the first in their Dice Tower Essentials line. Sheriff of Nottingham was released on October 10, 2014. In the game, players take turns acting as the Sheriff while the other players try to bring goods into the city. Players must declare what goods they have in their bag and the Sheriff may choose to let them pass or inspect their goods to see if they are carrying the goods they claim. A player may lie, bribe, or mislead to get the most points scoring goods into the city without being caught.
Evolution is a 2014 board game where 2-6 players build a highly competitive ecosystem of herbivores, carnivores and scavengers. Players adapt their existing species and evolve new ones in response both to the abundance or scarcity of food, but also the behaviour of other species in the ecosystem. The scoring system rewards players whose species have high populations, consume the most food and are the most diverse. It was designed by Dominic Crapuchettes of North Star Games, working with Dmitry Knorre and Sergei Machin, who had previously released a similar game in Russia.
Oz Fluxx is a 2012 card game published by Looney Labs.