Fluxx: A Card Game Where The Whole Family Competes To Reach The Goals!

Hear me out: What if there is a card game that works surprisingly well with all ages, and can be played hundreds of times, but never plays the same way twice? A card game that will get unique every time you play it! That would be amazing, wouldn’t it? 

Well, we’re happy to announce that this kind of game does exist, and it is better than we could ever imagine! Currently, the 5.0 version is available, and it is the best one so far… The last version is updated, has refreshed cards, and created a whole new feeling. We may say that this is one of the most unique card games, and has completely different rules from the other ones. 

Once we played it, we fell in love. This is the main reason we decided to write about this fabulous game’s design, instructions on how to play it, trusted places from where you can get it, the content, curiosities about Fluxx, and of course, our experience won’t miss. Also, are you interested to know more about the older versions? Well, we’ll talk about it all in all (related to the game, of course)! 

Quickly, let’s see the table of contents: 

• FAQ About Fluxx;
• How Does The Box Look?
• What About The Cards?;
• Game Instructions;
• Our ‘Fluxx’ Experience; 
• Where Can We Buy ‘Fluxx’?;
• Does ‘Fluxx’ Have Any Extra Pack?;
• In The Long Run: Is It Worth It?

FAQ About Fluxx

• When was Fluxx released?
  • The first version of Fluxx was created in 1996, specifically, July 24, but the official print came out in 1997.
• Who invented Fluxx?
  • Fluxx was created by Andrew Looney, and it was the first game of his and his wife’s game design company.
• What are the box’s dimensions?
  • It is 5 x 3 x 1 inch.
• What were the other versions of Fluxx? 
  • Well, let’s mention them: Fluxx 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, Family Fluxx, Fluxx 3.0, 3.1, 4.0, Flux SE,  Fluxx 5.0 (the current version);
• What’s the difference between Fluxx 5.0 and the other versions?
  • The manufacturers in the  5.0 version have removed all the creepers (we’ll discuss them later), and added dozens of new cards;
• Is the game available in other languages?
  • Fortunately, yes! You can find it in German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, and Portuguese (besides English).
• Are there any expansions or editions? 
  • Yes, there are lots of extra packs, such as Stoner, Zombie, Monster, Holiday, Adventure Time, Batman, Marvel, Jumanji, and according to our research, there are around 40 of them. 
• Are the rules complicated to learn?
  • Absolutely not! You’ll need about 3-5 minutes to fully understand the game, and don’t forget, practice makes perfect! 
• How many cards are in this card game?
  • The 5.0 version (the one we’ll talk about) has 100 cards inside. 
• What age is this game made for? 
  • It is designed for all ages, starting from kids who are 8. Also, it can be played by 2-6 players (or even more, if you want to). 
• I heard Fluxx is also a mobile app, is that true?
  • Great news, yes! If you’re an IOS user, you can find it in the App Store, while for Android users, it is on Google Play. 

How Does The Box & The Cards Look?

You know, I hate spoilers, but I love spoiling things for you: the box is one of my favorite card games’ boxes!!! I hope you’ll love it as much as I do (that isn’t possible, but, anyway):

So simple, yet so gorgeous. I love how the moon looks (it’s the moon, right?), and that little monster staying upside down near the flag. The moon looks very very pretty though! The name is written in colorful letters, and they put so much effort into the fonts, it looks very special, we can all agree on that! 

It has a matte black background, and some pretty lines drawn near the moon, which make it pretty lovely. We can see a 7-word description above, and also the origin (USA) below. The front of the box arouses curiosity in all people and makes us wonder what’s inside it. 

Let’s head to the back of the box real quick:

This party looks pretty as well (not as hell), doesn’t it? Starting from the cute frame around the box, which is very detailed, the way the sections are divided, the pieces of information we can get. There’s a short description of some special cards in the game, and also a preview of how they look. 

Even if you don’t read the instructions card, just by reading the text on the back of the box, you’ll understand that it can be played by 2-6 players, if they’re 8 years or older. The game can last 5 to 30 minutes, based on the number of players and how fast you play, but no worries, we’ll get to that later. 

There’s also the number of cards included (100 and instructions card), the game name, of course, and some information about the manufacturer, the company, address, and so on. 

The sides of the box don’t tell us anything new, there are repeated once again the number of players, age, and game time. This helps if the box is on a shelf, and you immediately get these important details.  

What About The Cards? How Do They Look?

The cards are the main elements of a card game, the main characters, just as they should be. Fluxx has a total of 100 cards inside, which can belong to one of the 4 categories: 

• Keepers, 19 cards;
• Goals, 30 cards;
• Actions, 23 cards;
• New rules, 27 cards;

And one special card: the rules card! Now, of course, the older versions didn’t have these types of cards, or some of them didn’t have the same number of cards either. For example, Fluxx 1.0 had only 80 cards, including 2 rules cards. Another example is the 4.0 version, which even though had 100 cards, it also had 4 creepers, which makes it different from the current version. 

Right after we open the box, this is how the inside looks:

Now, let’s see what the upper-mentioned cards mean:

• New rules, mean that there is a new setup rule, which should be followed by all players;
• Goals are like the main goal of the game, and every player that completes the whole conditions or steps wins the game. Once a goal is drawn, the previous one gets discarded;
• Keepers are required in most of the goals while completing them. Keepers may be time, money, the moon, and lots others;
• Actions are cards that require you to do something, they can only get used once, and they should be discarded. 

To help you out, this is how these cards look:

We saw some of the cards. Let’s dive into the rules now, shall we?

How Do You Play ‘Fluxx’? – Game Instructions

The cards look confusing, but, it’s gonna be quite easier, confide in me! 

For the setup, let me mention once again that you should have 2 to 6 players, but, this isn’t limited. I mean, if you want to, you can increase the number of players. The age of the people playing should be 8 or more because it is supposed that kids after that age can understand the game clearly. 

Once again, this is what each card’s function is:

Now, let’s start with the gameplay: the basic rules should be placed in the center of the table. This is how the basic rules card looks:

So, this should be placed in the center of the table and should remain there for the rest of the game. Ps. it’s important to know that basic rules are not the same in every deck, so, it’s up to your fate! 

Next, the card dealer (any player) should deal 3 cards to each player, and whoever wants to start first, is free to do that. As seen in the card, each player would first draw 1 card, and then play 1 card from their hand. The newly played cards should be placed in front of each player, with some exceptions (we’ll get to that in a bit).

Now, if any of you plays a, let’s say, new rules card, and it says draw five, means that from now on, each player has to draw five cards, meaning, for the rest of the game. Now, even if there’s another new rule added, the first one continues being used, but now there will be more than one rule. You get it, don’t ya?

This flow continues until one rule card discards another. For example, let’s say there is a draw 4 rule card being used, and next someone draws a draw 2. Since for draw 2 to be completed, you (logically) can’t draw more than two cards, the draw 4 immediately gets discarded. Understandable, huh?

Whenever there’s a new rule, it should be placed next to basic rules, in the center of the table. So, if you play a keeper, you place it in front of you, while the new rules belong next to the basic rules card. Now, when any of you draws a goal card, which, just by the name, tells us its purpose, it should be placed somewhere in the middle of all players, so everyone can see it. 

Each player should try to complete the goal because this is how they win. Goals can be anything, such as collecting five keepers (any keepers). That goal works until another goal is drawn, so, even if you have just one item left, it doesn’t matter, since you have to give up that goal. Once a new goal is played, the older ones go on the discard pile. 

When there’s an action played, it stays on the discard pile, and the players should do anything it says. One of the examples is to shuffle each players’ cards, and then deal the cards equally to all of them.  The game goes on until a goal is completed, so one of the players has fulfilled all the conditions. 

We wanted to explain everything in detail, but, here’s a summary of all we said about the rules:

• Gather up 2-6 people, ages 8+;
• Place the basic rules card in the middle of the table;
• Draw as many cards as the basic rules card asks you to each player (ex. 3);
• Anyone can start first;
• Based on the basic rules card, it tells you how many cards you should draw and play, usually, it is ‘draw 1 and play 1’;
• Each player should draw one card from the pile, and then play one of the cards in their hands, or the card they’d just drawn;
• If there’s a new rules card player, it stays next to the basic rules cards, and it becomes the rule that it should be followed the whole game;
• When another new rules card is drawn, the old one doesn’t get discarded, until there comes a card that discards it (such as draw 4 and draw 2);
• Goals get placed in the middle of the table, in a place visible for everyone;
• Each player’s goal is to complete that goal, based on what it requires;
• When a new goal gets played, the other one gets discarded;
• Actions are cards that ask you to do something, such as shuffle any of the piles, and they are placed in the discard pile;
• Keepers should be in front of each player, and most of the time, they are required to complete a specific goal;
• The game is finished when one of the players complete all the conditions in the goal card;

My Game Experience: Were The Goals Interesting Enough?

It isn’t possible for me to exist in this wonderful card game, and not own it. It’s an unspoken rule. Of course, this is a gift I bought myself, I mean, who can love you more? 

I find it satisfying to test these manufacturers and see if the game really works with all ages. That’s why I gathered the whole family together for the Holidays, and asked them to concentrate on the game to understand the rules. Well, there were my parents playing, my 9-year-old sister and my grandfather, a total of 5 players, which is quite enough! 

Of course, we spent a few minutes understanding the game, and improvising gameplay, but, after, I think 5-10 minutes, we were ready to play. Back to our point, since I knew the rules best, I left the basic rules card in the middle of the table, and the card said to deal 3 cards to each player, and use the rule ‘draw 1 play 1’. 

Since we love letting the youngest people start first, it was my cute sister’s turn to play. First, she drew a keeper and played a new rules card she had on her hand. She was really into the game, huh?

The new rules card said: draw 3, which meant that it replaced the draw 1 rule from the basic rules card. The game couldn’t start better, right? So, from now on, we all had to draw 3 cards instead of 1. 

Next, since I was next, going clockwise, I drew 3 new cards, which were keepers, and played a keeper in front of me. These were my precious keepers:

• Television;
• Love;
• Sleep;

Tbh, these were my life keepers in reality… So yeah, I started collecting the keepers, even though I wasn’t quite sure what keepers were required. Next, my mom draw a goal, and played it, finally:

I already had the love keeper, so I was looking forward to drawing a brain (not a real brain, c’mon now)… 

Anyways, the game continued this way, drawing new rules, such as Keeper Limit 4, which meant that we had to have only 4 keepers at the end of our turns, and then we had other new rules, and next, an action, played by my cool grandpa:

Of course, we all did this, I mean, it wasn’t that complicated. I was still looking for that brain keeper, I wanted to win the game… Just as I had a feeling that I’ll find that keeper in my next turn, my dad drew another goal!!! Life is unfair, isn’t it? 

Just in case you’re curious, here’s how the new goal card looked:

So, I didn’t have any of them, neither the chocolate nor the milk… Sadly. I mean, none of us had, but they didn’t want to win as much as I did, that’s for sure! Anyways, after 2 turns I got a chocolate keeper. Now, the struggle was finding the milk one. 

Before I played the milk keeper (spoiler alert), these are some of the cards we drew and played during the game:

They were extremely fun, especially that ‘go fish’ action card. You have no idea how much we laughed just by seeing each other’s expressions… Anyhow, for my good luck, there wasn’t a new goal card drawn, so, finally, I had the milk keeper and won the goal, meaning that I won the whole game as well!!! 

We loved how simple, and yet how creative the goals were. Chocolate and milk make chocolate milk, right?

As you saw, this game didn’t last that much, since there were only 2 goals played. In the next games we played, they started to know some strategies and stuff, and believe me, I don’t remember when was the last time I won, sadly. I don’t care, at least I won the first game :)) 

Where Can We Buy Fluxx? 

Since Fluxx is that famous and has a large number of extra packs, many shops sell it. Here are some of our most trusted options: 

• Amazon for $15.99
• Walmart for $9.60         
• Target for $15.99
• eBay for $16.00 

But, does it have competition? Yes, of course, here are some of Fluxx competitors: 

1. Exploding Kittens – $19.99

Exploding Kittens is a card game made for 2-5 players, recommended for people over the age of 7. The point of the game, basically, is to not draw an exploding kitten, since that can get you out of the game.  It has 56 cards inside, and they’re all unique. It takes only 2 minutes to learn the rules! 

2. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza – $9.84

The name is pretty creative, the game is even more. It works great for all ages, starting from 8. It is designed to be played by 2 or more people. There are 64 playing cards, including taco, cat, goat, cheese, and pizza. It is a game of matching cards and brings tons of laughs to every family gathering. 

3. Poo Pocalypse – $19.99 

A card game for kids and immature adults… It has 83 hilarious cards inside, and you should always try to sabotage your friends while using these cards, this is how you can be the first player to create the poo pyramid (this term sounds absurd) to win. It is designed to be played by 2 to 4 players, and the game usually goes on for 15-30 minutes.

Does Fluxx Have Any Extra Pack: Editions And Expansions? 

Fluxx, besides that, has a fabulous main game, which offers everything a card game should have, it also has an enormous number of extra packs. Let me mention some of them (not every pack, I’ll run out of breath):

• Family Fluxx;
• Fluxx SE;
• Fantasy Fluxx;
• Wonderland Fluxx;
• Zombie Fluxx;
• Marvel Fluxx;
• Star Fluxx;
• Holiday Fluxx;
• Spongebob Squarepants Fluxx;
• Stoner Fluxx;
• Anatomy Fluxx;
• Drinking Fluxx;
• Astronomy Fluxx;
• Jumanji Fluxx;
• Creeper Pack;
• Doctor Who Fluxx;
• Chemistry Fluxx;

And dozens more. You should know that the difference between all these editions and expansions is the theme of the card game, so, the cards are related to that theme. For example, the Marvel Fluxx is all about Marvel characters, The Chemistry Fluxx is a special game for chemistries, and so on. 

Just to help you create the first idea, let me explain one edition and one expansion of Fluxx:

1. Zombie Fluxx – $14.42

A card game for the zombies, is that right? Well, this edition contains 100 cards inside, and the rules are all the same as the main game. It can be played by 2-6 players, ages 8 to elders. Do you remember when I mentioned that the creepers are removed in the 5.0 version of Fluxx? Well, the Zombie edition includes creepers as well… This is a darker side of Looney Labs, let me tell you. Either way, it’s extremely fun! Here’s how the cards look:

2. Fluxx Creeper Pack – $9.99

We can all understand by the pack if it’s an edition or an expansion. The Creeper Pack is an expansion with 16 cards inside, including 2 rule cards, 4 action cards, 4 creeper cards, and 6 goal cards. It is not a stand-alone expansion, so, it is supposed to be added to the core game or any other edition. The idea is to kinda refresh the game while adding new cards. By the way, these are the cards:

In The Long Run: Is It Worth It?

I bet you loved the game without even trying it yourself, didn’t ya? Well, I get it, it is to be loved. To summarize it, this is what we love most about Fluxx:

• It really works great with all ages, including kids and elders;
• Fluxx gathers the whole family together;
• The instructions are easy to learn;
• The cards have great quality and design;
• Even if you play several times, you’ll never have to play the same cards twice;
• It has lots of editions, in case you want to have a specific theme included;
• It also helps with concentration and strategy skills;
• This card game makes everyone focus on one thing: reaching the goals;

What else are you looking for? Go have fun and reach your goals!!!