Fluxx has become so much more than just a game. Fluxx has become its own gaming empire, with the original game now up to 5th edition, translations into 6 different languages, and more themed variants, expansions, and promotional material than you can count. In the past, our reviews at TheRatHole.ca have skewed mostly to Science Fiction (gee I wonder why?). So on my most recent trip to a comic book/gaming store, I was excited to find something more in a Fantasy direction: Fairy Tale Fluxx. The first thing that I love about this game is that it isn’t just Fairy Tale Fluxx. It’s The Mary Engelbreit Fairy Tale Fluxx. I am always intensely happy when I see the artist for a project get properly acknowledged and respected, and there is no greater respect than having your name on the cover. If you don’t know Mary Engelbriet, she’s become something of a folk art phenomenon. She’s illustrated children’s books, calendars, and greeting cards; had her work made into T-shirts, craft kits, and decor. She has a distinctive style that is child-like while still being relatable. It’s hard to look at one of her drawings without smiling. The images in this deck seem to be mostly inspired by her books of Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales and Mother Goose stories.
In case you need a quick refresher, Fluxx is a game about change, meaning that the entire purpose of the game is to never play it the same way twice. The game starts with only 2 rules: you draw a card at the beginning of your turn, and you play one card. At the start of the game, you don’t even know how to win yet, because the Goals come later. The longer you play the game, the more the game changes: Rules can (and will) change, New Rules will be added, Actions allow you to do something unique once only, and Goals tell you which Keepers you need to win the game. When things get too complicated, there are a few cards that allow you to undo or reset things, but don’t count on it. This game embraces chaos without hesitation.
Unlike many of the themed Fluxxen that were previously reviewed here, Fairy Tale Fluxx does not have any Creeper cards, those negative Keepers that make it harder to win the game. That, combined with the fact that most of the Goals require only 2 Keepers, gave me a feeling of a simplified “my first Fluxx” game. But I don’t think that was the intention; Looney Labs recently removed the Creepers from their “5th edition” games, creating a “core game” to which players can choose to add such things as Creepers, Surprises and Meta Rules. To be completely honest, the only reason that this version of Fluxx seemed simple was in comparison to my last game, which was an Every Star Trek Fluxxen meta game with over 500 cards.
Just because players are looking for cards like The Queen, The Witch, and The Giant instead of very specific Intellectual Property characters doesn’t make this game any less interesting or fun. In fact, I already have a few favourite cards. There’s an Action card called Your Wish is Granted!, which reads “Choose one: 1. Steal a Keeper in Play and put it in front of you / 2. Discard any two cards in Play (New Rules, Keepers or Goals) / 3. Draw three cards”. There’s a New Rule called Magic Spell that allows anyone who has The Witch, The Wizard, The Fairy or The Genie as a Keeper in front of them, to draw the top card of the deck and play it as a Free Action. There’s also a very thematically appropriate Action called Robin Hood, which reads “Move a Keeper from the player that has the most Keepers to someone who has the fewest. If everyone has the same number of Keepers, move a Keeper wherever you want”. My favourite Goal so far, just because it made me laugh, is She Turned Me into a Frog, which requires The Frog, and The Witch. One of the most powerful card combos in the deck (in my opinion), is the New Rule Goal Mill, which lets you discard Goal cards from your hand to draw new cards, combined with Magic Spell. As long as you have at least one Magical Keeper, you have 2 free chances per turn to get the card you need.
You can find more Looney Labs goodness online at www.looneylabs.com or on their Facebook page: facebook.com/LooneyLabs.
