Emily Buzzie
Zombie Fluxx
Zombie Fluxx was all about being flexible and adapting to new rules and goals. The goal of the game was to follow the rules and complete the goals. To win, you complete the goal, sounds fairly simply however, the rules would change constantly, and so would the goals. One minute you could be seconds away from winning, another minute, you may not have anything that matches the goal. This game was broken up into 4 cards, actions, goals, keepers, and rules (play, hand limit, draw, etc.).
Was this game fun?
At first, this game was not fun at all. Also, our group did not play with the zombies, so maybe that could affect my opinion, but without the zombies, it was not fun at first but got fun later on. Since none of us have played the game before we had to learn it and it was quite confusing. So at first, the game was stressful rather than fun. Once we understood what we had to do and what we could do, it got a bit more fun. I’m sure over time and playing the game, it would be a lot of fun.
Interactions between players?
The interactions between players was a lot and also a little. There wasn’t much communication between players, you could probably play the game without talking to each other if you wanted to or had to. Interactions were more focused on the cards that each player had. Each card that someone would have, could affect all the other players. The action cards could involve other players, an example would be, getting one card from every member in the group. The goal card would affect your goal and what you are working towards, it could also sabotage another player. If you see a player is close to completing the goal, you could put down a new goal card, causing them to no longer be close to winning. The keeper cards don’t affect or interact with other players, however, these cards can affect your strategy and how you play. Also, some action cards allow you to trade the keeper cards. The rule cards would have the biggest effect on a player. These cards affect how many cards you can pick up, how many cards you are allowed to have, how many cards you need to play, and so on. So in summary, players interact through the cards.
How long did it take to learn?
This game took a while to learn, and even then it was so difficult, confusing, and stressful. Luckily Professor Ames explained a good bit or else we would have taken even longer to learn the game. The rules and directions don’t explain A LOT, for example, order and hierarchy of the rules are VERY important, but that isn’t mentioned anywhere in the directions. Was a lot of text that wasn’t very helpful. Just reading the directions, and never playing the game before make it a very very difficult learning experience. Unfortunately, how stressful it was to learn is one of the main things I remember about the game.
Would you play again?
Due to the stressful and difficult learning experience, I will probably not play this game again. I will definitely not buy it, or go out of my way to play it. If someone ever asks, “want to play zombie fluxx?”, I’ll just watch. Even if I ended up playing the game, I wouldn’t hesitate to mention my learning experience. All in all the game isn’t bad, for me, the learning experience outweighs the potential future games of zombie flux, i could play.