Fluxx - Rules and Gameplay

Rules and Gameplay

The game starts out with just two basic rules, presented on a card placed in the play area at the start of the game: each player draws one card, and plays one card during his turn.

In addition to this Basic Rules card, there are five types of cards in the core game: New Rule, Action, Keeper, Creeper, and Goal cards:

• New Rule cards can be played to change the rules or add other rules. Examples are Draw 2, Play 3, Reverse Order or even Inflation (formerly X=X+1), which increases numerals on other cards played (so Draw 2 becomes Draw 3). In versions 2.0 and 2.1 of the game there is also a card Final Card Random. When this rule is in effect, players must allow an adjacent player to choose the last card played on each turn. Since version 3.0, there is a similar card, First Play Random. (Final Card Random is now one of many orderable "promo cards".)

• Action cards, which allow the player to do one-time things like steal cards or eliminate rules. Examples are Draw 2 and use 'em, Jackpot! to draw three cards instantly, Let's Do That Again, allowing the player to search the trash pile and replay a card, and Rules Reset, which removes all new rules in play.

• Keeper cards, which are used to meet the Goals below. Examples are Bread, Dreams, and Peace.

• Creeper cards are included in version 4.0, the Zombie Fluxx, Monty Python Fluxx, Martian Fluxx and Stoner Fluxx 2.0 variants, and as certain promotional cards. When a Creeper card is drawn, it is immediately played and a replacement is drawn. Creeper cards don't count towards the per-turn limits. These include assorted zombies in Zombie Fluxx, as well as the promotional Radioactive Potato. Certain cards that were Keepers in previous versions of Fluxx are now Creepers, such as Death and War. Creeper cards prevent the player from winning unless a Goal or New Rule specifically states otherwise.

• Goal cards, which define what is required to win. Most Goals require pairs of Keeper cards: for example, Appliances requires the Toaster and Television Keepers, and Squishy Chocolate requires Chocolate and The Sun. A few Goals are different: for example All You Need Is Love requires the Love as the player's only Keeper in play, 10 Cards In Hand requires the player's hand to be the largest one and at least 10 cards, and some Goals require specific Creepers. In standard play, only one Goal can be in play at a time (though the New Rule card Double Agenda allows two Goals to be in play at once, with a win being made by satisfying either Goal's requirements).

• Meta cards, included in version 4.0 and Martian Fluxx, are a hybrid between a New Rule card and a Basic Rules card, as these cards both define rules in the game but are permanent and apply throughout the entire game. The company compares Meta cards to "house rules". Their playing is agreed upon by all players before the game starts and last until it ends.

• Surprise cards, included in Pirate Fluxx and Star Fluxx, are cards that can be played out of turn and cancel one of the four basic rules (New Rule, Keeper, Action, or Goal). They can prevent the opposing person from winning automatically.

Fluxx Blanxx are semi-blank cards used to create custom cards to change gameplay further, and are sold in packs of five. Older Fluxx Blanxx booster packs included one booster card for Chrononauts (titled Beatles Reunion Album), a cover card, and a "microcatalog" card advertising other Looney Labs products. Current packs include only the cover card, but also include a new Creeper blank card in addition to one each of the other four card types.

The most recent edition of Fluxx, version 4.0, contains 100 cards, as compared to 84 cards in version 3.1 and 81 in the promotional deck.