Fluxx 3.0

There's only one Fluxx. It's a card game that starts out with only two rules, and ends with maybe eighty-four. Rules. Because each card is a rule. And there are, well, 84 of them.

The game is the most fun when you're playing with people who don't take their games seriously. For many of us, there are times when the game borders on sheer incomprehensibility. And then crosses over. And we, with it. Into something very much like sheer, helpless, hilarity.

Now, I'm not saying that the people who developed this game don't take it seriously. In fact, there's now a Fluxx 3.0 with even newer rules and goals and things destined to make the game even more fun, if not necessarily more comprehensible.

I think part of the fun of Fluxx is that it almost really works. I mean, it really works, in a way. Despite all the changing rules, it's an actually interesting game, and people do win. It's clear that there's a high art here - creating cards that change the game, make it interesting, and maintain a proper balance so the game doesn't get too easy to win or impossible - is no mean feat. Witness this page full of new Fluxx card ideas.

But it never really achieves what your average game aesthetician might call "clarity" or "elegance." Like I said, it's not like a game you can take seriously. Rather, it's like those impossible drinking games that require those who need the most help to get further incapacitated. The whole point really is not to succeed. Winning isn't where you'll find the fun of Fluxx. Playing is.

I quote from "How to Irritate a Fluxx Player" by "Jazzfish"

"Generally you'll be playing Fluxx just for the heck of it, because you're in the laundromat or eating lunch or road-tripping or whatever and there's nothing else really to do. So you'll probably have several friends with you who've all played before and have all reached a decent level of "skill" (read: know most if not all of the cards by heart). In this case, playing to be obnoxious is at least as much fun as winning."

Fluxx is unique in the world of commercial games. My hope is that it continues proving its success, long enough to spawn many imitators. It's a fun, silly, different kind of card game. A mood piece, perfect for those people and times when the best kind of fun to share is the funny kind.