Tabletop Thursday Review - Star Fluxx

A long, long time ago, in space, the final frontier. We explore in the starship Reference (it's bigger on the inside), collecting keepers and avoid becoming lost. We search for the meaning of life, but.. I can't let you do that, Dave.

Star Fluxx is short card game with simple rules. Well, rule. There is only one:

At least at the start of the game there is only one rule. Each player begins by being dealt three cards, and then each player takes a turn follow the rule(s). In the beginning, there is only Draw 1 Play 1.

You'll be dealt a variety of other cards. Each has their effect written down, and change the game accordingly.

• Yellow card are New Rules, which impose hand limits or let you draw/play more cards.
• Blue cards are actions, and have a variety of effect.
• Purple cards are traps, usually played to cancel out one of the other types.
• Pink cards are goals.
• Green cards are keepers. In Star Fluxx, they are all sci-fi references.

Keepers and Goals are the ultimate win condition. Have the keepers matching the goal condition, and you win.

But if you play a goal and SOMEONE ELSE has those keeper, they'll win instead. Why would you ever do this? Sometimes you don't have a choice; if a new rule comes up saying you have to play ALL your cards, you have to play ALL of your cards, even if it makes another player win.

There is another class of card exclusive to Star Fluxx, the Creeper:

When one of these comes up they can ruin your day. They don't count as a draw or a play, and you cannot win while you are in control of one (unless the goal specially mentions that creeper).

With the set up out of the way...

While the packaging suggests Star Fluxx be played with 2-6 players, there really isn't a limit to how many can join. Depending on the luck of the draw, or tricks played by other players, games can last a few minutes to much longer. I think my personal record is a game having lasted nearly an hour before a winner was declared. But that was a rare occurrence, most games last about 15 minutes.

The biggest draw of the game is the randomness to it. No two games are going to be alike. The goals are always changing, the rules are always changing. You could be "one turn away from victory" only to have the hopes dwindle away by the next player's choices. It can be played while waiting for friends to arrive, in between other, larger, time-consuming games or just on its own - over and over.

Star Fluxx get an unworldly Board of Dice rating of: 5/5

I can't speak any more highly of this game. It is fun, fast and competitive. No two games are alike, but you'll start to find certain keepers become your favourites. 

Star Fluxx can be found on Amazon or at your local game store. There are many varieties of Fluxx, from Monty Python to Lovecraftian Horror to Batman.

If you'd like to see a game of Star Fluxx in play, check out Wil Wheaton's TableTop. This episode first showed me the game, and I went out to buy it right away.

Stay tuned next week where Board of Dice will review: Boss Monster.