For more than twenty years, Looney Labs has produced a popular and fun series of games that can be enjoyed by all experience levels—Fluxx! With simple (but ever-changing) rules, smart graphic design, and engaging themes, the dozens of Fluxx variations can entertain any crowd.
Looney Labs, a longtime supporter of International Games week and gaming in libraries, has graciously donated copies of the latest version, Fairy Tale Fluxx! In this game, players will be bringing together lost loves, going on quests against monstrous beasts, or seeking legendary treasure. As you plan your moves, beware that other players might thwart your plans, or create twists of fortune!
Fairy Tale Fluxx also features the art of Mary Engelbreit, the renowned artist and illustrator. With the king and queen, prince and princess, dragon and fairy godmother—and more—rendered in her classic and whimsical style, Fluxx is certain to appeal to an even wider audience than before.
The game consists entirely of a deck of cards, and a page of rules. The cards come in four varieties: Rules, Actions, Keepers, and Goals. On your turn, you draw and play cards, following the rules currently in play. At the very beginning, you draw a card from the deck and then play a card from your hand.
Keeper cards are played in front of you, and each represents some character or trope from traditional Western fairy tales. Action cards affect the cards in play or in players’ hands—swapping hands, exchanging cards, discarding Keepers, and so on. A goal card is played in the middle of the table, and represents the current victory condition—some combination of Keepers; if you have that combination in front of you, you win! Rule cards change the rules of playing cards—how many you draw, play, or keep in your hand every turn. The game changes all the time, hence the name—Fluxx.
Even though the rules can—and do—change all the time, the rules in play are always very simple, require no memorizing, and in practice the game can be played by people across all age and experience levels—although players with developing reading skills might need someone with stronger reading on hand, just in case.
Thanks again to Looney Labs for their generous donation! Please check out their entire product line for other games, from the rest of the Fluxx family to other easy-to-learn card games, to the endlessly flexible Pyramid Arcade!
I LOVE playing Fluxx! If you’ve never played before, this would be a good version to start with because it only has the four basic types of cards – keeper, rule, goal and action cards. Through “Gaming in the Library”, I teach my college students how to play, and a couple of them have bought their own set of cards so that they can play with family and friends.