As
many copies as have been sold in the fifteen years – almost a million according
to publisher Looney Labs – Fluxx the Card Game is divisive a design. The
problem for many players is that the game is purely random, is too chaotic, and
can last anywhere from two minutes to sixty minutes… That there is no way in
which any one can win other through random chance. To an extent, this is true,
but Fluxx the Card Game is a game about change and adapting to that change,
from one turn to the next. Personally, I quite like playing Fluxx, although I
prefer the versions without the Creeper mechanic unless thematically appropriate
as in Martian Fluxx or Zombie Fluxx, because otherwise, the Keepers slow the
game down. Now Looney Labs has turned Fluxx into a board game, and the question
is, will Fluxx the Board Game be as good or as bad some think that the card is?
Designed
for between two and four players, aged eight and up, Fluxx the Board Game uses
much of the same mechanics as the card game, but as its title suggests, it uses
a board and playing pieces. What the board represents are objectives to be reached
– such as Cookies, Money, the Rocket, Dreams, and so on – and matched to the
Goals given on the Goal cards. These objectives can be reached by moving a
player’s pieces around. A player simply has to have his pieces on these
objectives to gain a Goal, and where in Fluxx the Card Game a player only needs
to have his Keeper cards match one Goal card in order to win, in Fluxx the
Board Game, a player has to match and win multiple Goal cards in order to win.
This being a ‘Fluxx’ game though means that everything is subject to change. Just
as in Fluxx the Card Game, the number of a cards a player must draw, play, and
discard fluctuates during Fluxx the Board Game, but being a board game, the
number of times a player can move his pieces, the actual colour of the playing
pieces he can move, the number of Goals he needs to acquire in order to win,
the board layout, and the rotation of the tiles are all also subject to change.
The
board consists of nine square tiles. One of these is the Start Tile, the other
eight represent the playing area. Each of the eight tiles is divided into four
spaces, three of which are objective spaces for Goals and one of which is either
where there can be more than playing piece or portal that links to a portal on
another tile. Together these nine tiles are arranged into a square with the
Start Tile at the centre. Two additional tiles serve as the Control Boards. One
for the Goal cards, five of which are randomly placed face up in a stack; the
other a peg board used to indicate how many cards a player draws, plays, pieces
he moves, and his hand limit as well as if he rotate and move tiles, and move
off the edge of the board and onto the other edge. A set of pegs are slotted
into the spaces.
The
cards are also divided between the familiar – to anyone who has played Fluxx
the Card Game, and those new that take account of the new playing area. Action
cards will be familiar and do various things such as ‘Taxation!’ which forces
rival players to each give you a single card or ‘Discard and Draw’ which lets a
player effectively change his hand. New Action cards interact with the board
and playing pieces. For example, ‘Back to Square One’ forces the playing pieces
of every other player back to the Starting Square and ‘Rotate Colours’ forces
players to change the colour of the playing pieces they control. New Rule cards
like ‘Hand Limit’ will be familiar although instead of the limit being set by
the card, the player now shifts the appropriate peg on the board, whilst
‘Rotate On’ and similar cards turn the board movement on or off. Goal cards
remain unchanged from Fluxx the Card Game except for setting the objectives
that the players need to move to claim each Goal card. The new Leaper cards
send playing pieces to a particular Objective, like ‘Music’ or ‘The Eye’, or to
any ‘Octagon’ or ‘Portal’ space. Lastly, the Color cards determine which
playing pieces a player currently controls.
At
the start of the game each player gets to adjust the control pegs up once and
receives a hand of three cards and a color to determine his initial playing
pieces. Five Goal cards are placed on the Goal Control Board all face, the
uppermost one setting the initial objectives.
On
his turn each player draws a number of cards, then plays cards and moves
pieces, and then discards cards, all according to the positioning of the pegs
on the Control Board. A player is free to play cards and move pieces in any
order that he wishes, and this is where the game begins to get interesting. To
start with, if a player moves a playing piece into a space already occupied, it
bumps the playing piece already there into an adjacent space – except for
Octagon spaces which can hold more than one playing piece. That is the least of
it because a player can also examine the cards in the Goal stack, though not
change their order, so thus he knows what Goals and what Objective spaces he
needs to reach throughout the game. Plus a player may also have Goal cards in
his hand and these can be played onto the top of the Goal stack to claim. What
having this knowledge of the Goals and their Objectives throughout the game
means is that a player can actually plan both his card use and his moves. If he
is clever, it is possible for a player to use his cards and move his pieces to
gain more than a single Goal in just one turn.
What
these together add is a strategic element to Fluxx the Board Game that is not
present in Fluxx the Card Game. They also serve to counter the random element
so often criticised in Fluxx the Card Game. Not completely though, as the cards
drawn and the actions of rival players still effectively have a randomising
effect. The great thing is, is that it does all this without adding anything in
the way of complexity.
If
there is anything disappointing about Fluxx the Board Game it is the Control
Boards and the pegs. The latter do not always sit easily in their holes and it
is sometimes difficult to keep track of which peg is meant to sit in which
hole. That said the other components are decent enough and the playing pieces
are pleasingly differentiated by both colour and shape. The rules are clearly
written, but another pleasing touch is
the inclusion of a box that explains the differences between Fluxx the Board
Game and Fluxx the Card Game.
In developing Fluxx into Fluxx the Board Game, the designer has created a game that is more thoughtful than Fluxx the Card Game. Still a light game though, so suitable for a family audience, but still just enough of a challenge so as not to bore a gaming audience.
Nice review, thanks! (FYI, When referring to Keepers in your first paragraph. I think you mean to refer to Creepers. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! That is what I meant to say and is now fixed.
ReplyDelete