Around the World Fluxx

Happy 2024 everybody! 2023 was a roller coaster ride for TheRatHole.ca, full of health issues and other major life changes for virtually every member of our team. 2024 is starting off with a bang, as yes, this was supposed to go out at the beginning of January. That said, one of the most important things we want to get back on track this year is our technically bi-monthly Looney Saturday series. Since travel has been a major factor in my life in the last few years, it seems fitting to begin the year with one of Looney Labs’ newest releases: Around the World Fluxx!

Around the World was one of two travelling around Fluxxen released at the same time, with the second being Around America Fluxx. Now, you hopefully noticed that our name and URL both end in DOT CA. CA does not stand for California but rather for Canada. Being a proudly Canadian company, we’ve made it a guiding principle to avoid specifically Americentric games. So Around the World Fluxx was a pretty obvious choice. 

For anyone who hasn’t played Fluxx before, the rules are simple… until they aren’t. At the beginning of the game, the Basic Rules are that each player will Draw 1 card and Play 1 card. How do you win? In the beginning, you don’t. As cards are played, the rules will change. Some changes will tell you how many cards to Draw and Play, but others will give players limits, bonuses, or free Actions during their turn. That still doesn’t address how you win, does it? Well, there are also Goal cards that will be played that give a current win condition. If you have the appropriate combination of Keeper cards played in front of you when a matching Goal is played, you immediately win. Even if someone else plays the goal by choice or forced by rule. 

Goals and Keepers are primarily where the theme of a Fluxx game shines. Goals cards have a pair (usually) of Keepers on them that are (again, usually) connected in some way. For Example “Great Pyramids” requires the Giza Necropolis (aka The Great Pyramids of Giza, in Egypt) and Chichén Itzá (in Mexico). “World Class Stages” requires the Sydney Opera House (in Australia) and the Colosseum (in Italy). “European Union” is one of the reasons I said that Goals are usually a pair, requiring any 3 of the six European Keepers. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t also shout out “Puzzling Stone Faces” which requires Moai (the heads on Easter Island) and the Gaza Necropolis (which includes the Sphinx in Egypt). 

Around the World Fluxx is one of the first sets that has a slightly different graphic design than sets of the past almost-30-years. Illustrator Katie Melrose’s art fills the entire window of the Keeper cards, including a background. In the past, Keepers would have the same clean and simple design as the other cards and rarely have more than the most basic image on a white background. In the older designs, you would likely only have a single building from Timbuktu (in Mali) or maybe a penguin to represent McMurdo Station (in Antarctica) but this beautiful new design shows off full landscapes. The new style is very much visually appealing, but I’m going to wait for a few more sets (like the just-released Camping Fluxx) to decide if it makes cards more, or less, visually distinctive on the table compared to previous sets. But it is very pretty, to be sure. 

If you have never played a game of Fluxx, there is almost certainly a theme for you, From travel and the world around us, to STEM, to Star Trek. Literature and laughs. You name it, Fluxx has it. But somehow the Looneys continue to find something new. Every game of Fluxx and every theme for Fluxx is both the same and completely different. One of the more interesting cards in this set is “When Was That (Built)?” The bottom of each Keeper card has the date that the featured location was built or founded. If the player NEXT to the player who plays the Keeper card knows/guesses that date, they get to draw an extra card.

If you look around TheRatHole.ca you’ll find a ton of Fluxx reviews. Looney Labs doesn’t pay us for those reviews –although most of them were reviewed from promotional copies– we continue to review them because it’s a great game. Every version. Every time. If you have never played a game of Fluxx, you should.

You can find more Looney Labs goodness online at www.looneylabs.com or on their Facebook page: facebook.com/LooneyLabs.