Fluxx: The Board Game

**Fluxx®: The Board Game** is a boardgame variant of the Fluxx® series. It was originally released in a "Large Box" form on July 26, 2013, with a second "Compact Edition" release on July 7, 2023. Both editions were released by Looney Labs. The game takes the standard Fluxx® card game and expands it to a boardgame format. The Large Box edition is out of print, but the "Compact Edition" is still available from the Looney Labs Webstore.

### Packaging

The original Large Box Packaging for **Fluxx®: The Board Game** was a large (10.75" x 7.5" x 2.5") two-part box. The "Compact Edition" uses a double-thickness version of the standard box used for the Fluxx® card games (3.75" x 4.75" x 2"). In both cases, the box holds all the components and a catalog of Looney Labs merchandise.

### Components

In both editions, the game consists of nine cardboard board tiles (1 "Start" tile and 8 gameboard tiles), 12 wooden game pieces, 8 plastic orange pegs, 2 cardboard pegboards, a deck of 100 game cards and an instruction sheet, or Rule Sheet. The wooden game pieces come in four sets: 3 red pawns, 3 yellow cubes, 3 blue "Meeples" and 3 green circles.

There are minor alterations to the components in the "Compact Edition": The blue "Meeple" pieces are slightly smaller than in the original edition, and the pegboards have had thicker bases attached to make it easier for the pegs to stay in the boards (something of a complaint by purchasers of the original game).

The game has two card types unique to it:

* Four Color Cards are used to determine which player uses which pieces, and these can change during gameplay. These cards have a white back, as opposed to the rest of the game cards which have a purple back.
* Leapers replace the Keepers in other Fluxx® games. Unlike Keepers, Leapers are not kept one played. Instead, they allow the player who plays them to move one of their pieces directly to the Picture space matching the image on the card, then they are discarded. Most Leaper cards have the following Card Lore: "Move one of your pieces to the space shown on the card. If another piece is there, move it to the start." Any exceptions to this are specified in the Card List for those Leapers.

Action cards play in the same fashion as other Fluxx® games: follow the instructions thereon and discard.

New Rules are not accumulated on the table as in other Fluxx® games. Instead, they affect either the Rules or Goal board by moving one or more of the pegs as indicated. They are then discarded.

Goals are also different, in that you do not instantly win once you satisfy one; you instead collect it in front of you. All Goals have the following Card Lore: "Claim this goal if your pieces occupy these spaces." In the case of any Goals that require one of the two "Friend" spaces, the card image depicts both Friend images and the legend "Either Friend" above them.

There is no Basic Rules card. Instead, there is a "Rules" pegboard that tracks what the current Draw, Play, Hand Limit and special Rules are. Also, instead of playing single Goals to the table, a "Goal" pegboard holds a stack of Goals and tracks how many must be earned to win the game.

The deck contains 20 Actions, 32 Goals, 23 Leapers, 21 New Rules and 4 Color Cards. Except for the Color Cards, the card art was produced by Michael Hays.

To date, only one Promo Card has been specifically produced for this set. (See PROMO CARDS below).

### Gameplay

*NOTE: For clarifications of the gameplay described here, please check the rule sheet for the game, available here: FLUXX: THE BOARD GAME Rule Sheet.*

The four Color Cards are shuffled and one is dealt to each player. Each player then gets the three matching color game pieces to use. (Any unused Color Cards and pieces are returned to the box out of play.)

One peg is placed into the leftmost space in each area on the Rules board, and a peg is placed in the "3" space in the "Win" area on the Goals board ("4" if a longer game is desired).

One player looks through the deck of play cards for the first 5 Goal cards they can find. The cards are put in a faceup stack on the "Place Goals Here" space of the Goal board. The remainder of the play card is shuffled and three cards are dealt facedown to each player.

The Start tile is placed in the center of the play area. The gameboard squares are mixed together facedown, then placed around the Start tile face up to form a 3-by-3 square. Each player places their playing pieces on the Start tile.

In addition, each player can either move one of the pegs on the Rules board one space to the right, or they can move the "Win" peg on the Goal board up 1 space.

Whoever says "I'm going first!" first goes first, with play continuing in whichever order is desired.

On their turn, a player takes the following turn sequence:

* 1) **Draw** the number of cards indicated on the Rules board;
* 2) **Play/Move** then number of times indicated on the Rules board;
* 3) **Discard** to the current Hand Limit, if any.

Plays and Moves can be taken in any order, including alternating between the two. *(Example: If the current rules are **Play 2, Move 2**, the player could play a card, make a move, play a second card and make a second move, or they could make both moves, then play both cards, or take these actions in any legal order.)* Some cards specify that they can only be played before or after making moves; otherwise, they can be played as specified above. Moves are made off the Start tile from one of the four arrows to the gameboard spaces indicated by said arrows. Further moves are made one space at a time orthogonally (never diagonally).

Spaces on the gameboard tiles come in three types:

* **Picture spaces** (those matching the images on the Leaper and Goal cards) can only hold one game piece. If a player moves onto an occupied Picture space, they bump the opponents' piece to any other legal space orthogonally-connected to that space. (If no such spaces exist, the player cannot move to that space.)
* **Octagon spaces** can hold any number of pieces, and count as a legal space for bumping as described above.
* **Portal spaces** (those with a crystal square) are special, in that once landed on, the piece is moved to the other Portal space on the board immediately. Portal spaces can also hold multiple pieces like Octagons.

Only the topmost revealed Goal is in play, or Active. If playing a new Goal, it is placed faceup onto the currently-revealed Goal and becomes the new Active Goal. To earn a Goal, a player must have two of their pieces on the two Picture spaces that match those on the current Goal. They take that Goal and put it in front of them, which makes the newly-revealed Goal the new Active Goal.

There are three special Rules on the Rule board that affect the gameboard directly, but only if the peg for that rule is in the "Yes" hole.

* **"Rotate-a-Tile"** lets the player rotate any one tile in place on the gameboard. It stays in the same location, and any pieces on it also remain in the spaces in which they were beforehand.
* **"Uproot-a-tile"** lets the player move one tile to a new position so that it is still orthogonally connected to another tile on the gameboard. Any pieces on an uprooted tile remain on it, in the spaces in which they were beforehand. It is not rotated unless the "Rotate-a-Tile" rule is also active.
* **"Wraparound"** allows for pieces to move off the unconnected edge of one tile and back onto the "connected" space on the tile directly on the other side of the board. It also allows for pieces to traverse gaps left by uprooted tiles in a similar fashion.

The first player to obtain the current "Win" amount of Goals as shown on the Goal board wins.

### Promo Cards

To date, only one Promo Card has been made specifically for use with either edition of the game: the **Scramble Colors** Action. This card was one of four included in the ***Looney Labs Mammoth Fun Pack***, which was the 2013 Holiday Gift, but is now available for purchase from the Looney Labs Webstore (SKU: LOO-811-05 /MSRP: $2.00). The pack also contains a *"Fluxx or Looney Pyramids"* card for the game ***Choose One***, a *Knock Knock.../Who's There* Goal for ***Monster Fluxx*** and a *"Live Woolly Mammoth"* Artifact card for use in either ***Chrononauts*** or ***Early American Chrononauts***.

The card is a standard Action card with the following Card Lore: "Gather up all color cards currently in use, shuffle them together, and deal them back out. You must do this either before or after you make all of your moves." This changes which colors each player continues play with, but not necessarily the play order.