Publisher: Looney Labs
Designer: Andrew Looney
Year: 2012
Genre: Frantic Fluxx card game
Players: Two to six players
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 10 to 40 Minutes
MSRP: $16.00
This is my second dip into the Fluxx universe, and this time I’m headed over the rainbow. Oz Fluxx is the latest incarnation of the game of Fluxx. If you can’t tell from the title, Oz Fluxx has all the trappings of the Emerald City. There can’t be many people on the planet who haven’t seen The Wizard of Oz, or maybe even Wicked, so the cards should invoke a feeling of nostalgia.
The game itself is still fairly chaotic as are all Fluxx games, so I do understand why some people don’t like it. Everything is up to the luck of the cards for the most part, but I have learned that there is a wee bit of strategy that you can use, if you play your cards right (Ha!)
First the basic rules. You play the basic rule card to start the game, which states “Draw 1 Card” and “Play 1 Card”. Each player gets three cards each and then the first player to make a move and draw a card gets to go first
Initially there are no rules for winning the game. The winning conditions are called goals and they are played on the table as you play the game. If a player satisfies a goal’s conditions, then that player instantly wins. The problem is that there can only be one active goal card at a time, and the other players can replace the goal card with a new goal card whenever they want. There is an exception in this version of Fluxx because there is a “Double Agenda” rule card that allows two active goals at the same time, and if you satisfy either goal you win. This is a nice little card that helps to cut down on games lasting too long.
The conditions on the goal card involve having two other cards, called keeper cards, in play. You play keeper cards in front of you on your turn. If you get the right combination of keeper cards that match a goal card, then you win, even if it isn’t your turn.
Then there are the rule cards. There are rules cards that everyone can play to change the basic rules. You might end up drawing four cards, but only playing one. Then you might get a hand limit of two cards and thus end up discarding cards every turn. The rules change constantly. Other players can steal your keeper cards too, or make you discard cards, or turn you into a newt (that’s how you know she’s a witch).
The main difference between this and all other versions of Fluxx is of course the theme. If you are an Oz fan then you will like this version, as long as you enjoy a chaotic game where anybody can win at any time. For example, in my last game the cards were flying hard and fast. There was a “Play All” rule in play, plus other rules that led to drawing five cards to start your turn. So each turn we were drawing and playing five cards. We were burning through the deck like gangbusters. This led to a LOT of rules being played and it started to get complicated, but then after two rounds a “Clear All” card was played and the rules all disappeared.
At this point I had a lot of keepers in play (as did everyone), so with the right goal I could win. Unfortunately, I also had the Wicked Witch of the West Creeper card, and you can’t win with a creeper card in play. Then I draw the goal “Fly, My Monkeys”, which indicates that you win if you have both the Witch and her Flying Monkeys. A few turns later I had played that goal, and then stole the Flying Monkeys creeper card from another player, and won instantly. So the secret is to be able to adapt your strategy to take advantage of the chaotic environment, roll with the punches as it were. Don’t plan for long term; plan for the next turn because the game can change at any moment.
It is light and entertaining and sometimes frustrating. As with any version of Fluxx you will either like it or you won’t. It’s not for serious gamers, but it is a nice family game. It does get a bit harder to win with more players, as the “screw the other player” cards come up more often. If someone had used that surprise card to cancel my playing my goal, I wouldn’t have won.
One little touch my son noticed that I’m sure isn’t noticed by a lot of people is that the Wicked Witch of the West stands on the west side of her card (the left), and the Wicked Witch of the East stands on the east side of her card (the right). Yeah, no big deal, but an interesting little touch that shows they do put a lot of thought into the cards.
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