Welcome to Pirate Fluxx! I was introduced to the Fluxx family of games by a camp counselor a few years ago. He had the Space Fluxx version, which I did not get a chance to play, but I did observe the action and thought it looked like a lot of fun.
I bought this version on a whim, actually. I run an afterschool program, and a few of my kids have discerning tastes when it comes to board/card games. Most of our games are well loved (or abused, either way!) and a little variety was in order. I hunkered down and brought out the box. The smell and the sound of the shiny new cards drew in some skeptical but otherwise interested parties. I knew I had them hooked.
The basic premise of Fluxx is that it indeed fluctuates. The game never stays the same for very long. You are given three cards at the start of the game. The basic rule is you draw one card and you play one card. That’s where the basic rules STOP!
- As you start playing the game you have a variety of cards you could receive. New Rule cards are just that. You add to the basic rule of draw one and play one card per turn. The beauty of the rules is that as long as the rules don’t contradict each other, you can have as many of them on the table as you want! If rules contradict each other, than the last rule put on the table is discarded.
- Keeper cards are things you need to win the game. Keepers are placed in front of you on the table, and all players will see them.
- Goal cards are what dictates what players need to win the game. For example, in this card, you need the Keg and the Rum keeper to win the game. However, if someone else has a new goal card, they could change the goal and discard the current one. The goal of the game can change many times during a round! You can also have multiple goals if you have the right cards on the table!
- Action cards are just that. The player who puts them down has to do whatever that action is. In this card, the player who’s turn it is must choose another player and have that person discard their whole hand. If the Captain’s Hat is on the table as a Keeper, then that player who has that particular card gets to have that person walk the plank.
- Pictured below is the dreaded Creeper card! Creepers are cards you don’t want to get. They stay with you until you can otherwise discard them. They usually prevent you from winning the game. Scurvy, pictured here, is one of the more dreaded ones as you usually need Limes or Lemons to get rid of it.
- The final card in the deck is the Surprise! Card. It is exactly as it is described. It is usually something that makes the game a little more challenging. It is usually the only card that can be played in and out of turn, and it has instructions for each method of use. Surprise cards usually make most players nervous and it generally involves losing precious cards!
As the game progresses, with rules and goals changing and actions being performed left and right, people are generally having so much fun that they forget what the goal is to win! Most games generally stop in about 20 to 30 minutes, but we’ve had games end in less than 10 and one that went for an hour and we did not have a winner. Granted, it was with 7 – 10 year old boys who goofed off every 10 seconds, but they stayed at the table and had a frolicking good time!
I highly recommend this game, as it is pretty easy to get the hang of, the constant game changers are a joy to play and all of those factors make it very interesting and engaging!
