Fluxx
by Mike on Aug.27, 2009, under Games, NCCG
Ever tried to find a game that you can play and teach to Grandma and a 10 year old? Well Fluxx is the game you’re looking for.
In Fluxx, players take turns playing any of 4 types of cards:
Keepers which help you achieve the goal of the game.
Goals which alter how the game is won.
Actions which are jenky moves to help you win, or just plain shake things up.
Rules which alter the very fabric of the game.
Everything you need in order to play is printed right on the deck of cards. If you can read, you can play Fluxx. Odds are even if you can’t read, you can still play Fluxx. Fluxx is so simple, while also being so dynamic that both gamers and non-gamers alike can have fun playing in the exact same game.
Fluxx is also one of the cheaper games out there, ringing in at roughly $12. Especially when you consider the re-playability and longevity of the game. I’ve had my deck for over 5 years and its still just as fun every time I haul it out.
Fluxx also comes in a wide variety of flavors. You can get Eco-Fluxx with environmentally themed cards. Family Fluxx which is a little simpler to let the little ones in. Zombie Fluxx if you really have a craving for a little brains after dinner. Stoner Fluxx if… well you know. Monty Python folks if you can find a 1oz. bird that can carry a 2lb. coconut. On top of all the flavors of Fluxx they offer a variety of “expansion” packs that let you add Jewish or Christian or even make your very own Fluxx cards. Most of all of these cards are interchangeable so you can combine all your favorite flavors into one giant deck of fun. All of this leads to infinite re-playability, and a bucket of fun that just never runs dry.
Add to all of this the fact that Fluxx is so incredibly portable you can fit the entire game in the pocket of a jacket and you’ve got a go anywhere solution to all of your gaming needs. I’ve played Fluxx in everything from a bar, to the beach.
Fluxx is hands down one of my absolute favorite games. I’ve never found another game that packs as much fun per dollar and is so accessible.
On this weeks cephalopod scale Fluxx gets:
10 Nautili
August 27th, 2009 on 5:53 pm
I’m certain I couldn’t teach fluxx to my 90 year old grandmother, and given the quality of ten year olds I’ve met I dont think they’d grasp it either. I think the game you’re looking for for teaching to the very old and the very young is Apples to Apples
August 27th, 2009 on 7:19 pm
Apples to Apples is also a great game, and will be featured in a couple of weeks.
I taught Fluxx to my 88 year old grandfather, and my 13 year olds sister both grasped it.
But you’re right Apples to Apples is easier. It also has a much more nebulous end condition, and it has fairly little strategy involved. Even less than Fluxx which is fairly strategy light unto itself.
Apples to Apples however makes a supreme drinking game.
August 28th, 2009 on 9:28 pm
‘TIS A SILLY GAME…
Having just picked up Monty Python Fluxx, I had to try it tonight. Unfortunately, I couldn’t round up any of my card-playing gamer-savvy friends… so I tried teaching the game and playing with my parents. *laughs* My mom picked up on it fairly easily and won the second game. My dad’s brain hurt through both rounds he was present for. He one the first game by luck, since he didn’t really get what was going on, but I’ll give him credit – he was extremely tired and I dragged him into it. I won the third game.
All games were fairly quick, quicker than I remember most of my regular Fluxx games going. The art on the cards is superb. New “Creeper” cards adds a bit of a twist, one that didn’t have much effect the first three rounds (the first round they pretty much all came out at once, not enough shuffling had been done to the deck yet)… However that did stall my dad’s win. I’m sure it would have been more fun with people who knew Monty Python more than my parents do, or if my dad had been awake enough to make use of HIS Monty Python Knowledge.
For a first trial, I give the game 4/5 instead of the 5/5 I would give Original/2.0 Fluxx. This probably plays a lot closer to Zombie Fluxx or 4.0, if you’ve played either of those (I did a lot of reading on all the versions earlier today). I miss things like being able to hide a Keeper. We also didn’t get all of the really wacky cards that are available in this deck in play… We probably saw about 50-60 of the 100 cards in play. Having looked through all of the cards beforehand, I know this game has a ton of potential. If I play it with the right crowd, I have good feeling that this game will also get 5/5 and either be tied with or beat out Original/2.0 Fluxx.
August 28th, 2009 on 9:32 pm
More on Monty Python Fluxx
In the matter of strategy, it seems to me that less strategy and more luck is required in this version of the game than Original/2.0 Fluxx. (If only I knew for certain which version of regular Fluxx my friend has! I can only guess because there were no notes on LooneyLabs.com as to what were the changes between Original and 2.0! … if there even WAS a 2.0, in which case, I would have been playing the Original version.)
Even so, strategy as to which cards you wish to play, and in what order you play them when rules like “Play All” are in effect, can have a drastic change in results.
August 29th, 2009 on 8:19 am
Greatings, Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Joker