#11/52. A Game With a One-Word Title - Fluxx

You can purchase Fluxx from Amazon

Fluxx is a card game that falls into a game category called Next Step Games. In my last post, I mentioned that Qwirkle was a Gateway Game for new/non-gamers. a Next Step Game is a game for people who have tried Gateway Games and want to try harder, more challenging games. Fluxx is an excellent game to introduce those folks to.

In Fluxx the game starts with only two rules:

1. Draw One
2. Play One

There are five types of cards:

1. New Rules (Yellow Cards):  If you play a New Rule card this adds a new rule to the game (beyond Draw One/Play One)
2. Actions (Blue Cards): Actions allow you to do things like draw more cards, take cards from others, get rid of certain cards, and play more cards
3. Goals (Pink Cards): Goals set the end conditions for the game, but they can change as each player plays a new goal card it replaces the previous goal card
4. Keepers (Green Cards): Keepers allow you to meet the goal conditions. You place these in front of you as one of your plays.
5. Creepers (Black Cards): Creepers are played as soon as you take these cards into your hand and then you draw another card to replace the Creeper. Creepers prevent you from winning as long as they are on the table in front of you. 

Fluxx Cards

Each player is dealt a hand of three cards. On his or her turn each player draws a card and plays a card from his or her hand. Some of the New Rules increase the number of cards that you can draw into your hand or the number of cards that you can play from your hand. Some regulate the number of cards that you can keep in your hand or the number of Keepers that you can have in front of you. 

The game ends when you have the Keepers in front of you that meet the conditions of the current Goal card on the table. The Goal could be Chocolate Milk (Chocolate Keeper and Milk Keeper) or Milk and Cookies (Milk Keeper and Cookies Keeper) or Toast (Toaster Keeper and Bread Keeper) just to name a few. There are also some Goals that DO allow you to win with the right Creepers in front of you like Death and Taxes (Death Creeper and Taxes Creeper) or War and Death (War Creeper and Death Creeper) for example. Mostly, however, the Creepers keep you from winning if you have them on the table in front of you. 

My niece, Nicole

The fun in Fluxx is trying to keep all of the ever-changing rules and goals straight as you play. Some of them are just so silly that you cannot help but laugh when they are played. Some games go very quickly and others can last up to 30 minutes. I've taught this game to co-workers, friends, family, and even my (at the time) 93 year old Grandma. Funny story...Grandma would win the game and then say, "This is such a stupid game!" I'd grin at her and ask, "Want to play again?" She would say, "Sure." and grin back at me. Then she'd win the next game. 

In my last blog I mentioned that my niece, Nicole, was here for a visit. We played this game after we played Qwirkle. We played three hands of this. I won the first hand. Nicole won the second hand. I won the third hand. The third hand I won because Nicole set up the winning conditions for me. :-)