Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
Fluxx Returning to Mobile Platforms July 18
When I first bought an iPhone way back in the day (maybe it was 6 or even 30 years ago?), one of the first boardgame apps I saw and downloaded was the Looney Labs insane card game Fluxx.
I know Fluxx gets a bad rap, and I would sometimes say rightly so, as being an insane card game that can just go on forever.
The basic rules are that you draw a card and play a card. The game isn’t won until one of the win conditions that have been played is satisfied (so actually there are no win conditions until somebody has played one). So it could be quick or it could take hours.
The thing about Fluxx is that some of the cards you play adjust the rules. Maybe you’ll play a card that will limit players’ hand sizes. Or maybe it will be “draw 1, play 2” cards. These rules stay in effect until they are removed.
You can also play victory condition cards that will change what you’re trying to do, or what have you.
It’s a chaotic game, and I found it fun on iOS when it was produced by Playdek. At the time, it was only out on iOS.
It was a casualty of the iOS “App-ocalypse” when suddenly all apps had to be 64-bit or they wouldn’t run under the new operating system. It disappeared from the app store without much fuss.
It didn’t seem like it was that big of a seller for Playdek so nobody expected it to come back.
Playdek has now announced that we were wrong to doubt them.
Fluxx will be back in the App Store (and also on Google Play for the first time) on July 18!
The app will be available for $2.99 (US, I assume, so we Canadians will be paying a little more) on both iOS and Google Play and while I can’t say I’m excited, I can say that I’m happy.
It was a fun little game against the AI.
It’s the first week of July and I’m on vacation, so let’s blurb this puppy, from the press release:
“Fluxx fuses its chaotic and fun game play with offline and online features that fans have come to love in Playdek games!
• Offline and Online play for 2-4 players
• Human and AI opponents
• Pass-and-play Multiplayer
• Full asynchronous support for multiplayer online games
• Invite friends to online games
• Online player stats
• Localized for English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch
• Tutorial”
It’s also scheduled to come to Steam/PC later this year as well.
The original had asynchronous multiplayer as well (it is Playdek, you know), but nobody ever really wanted to play it.
I wonder if the re-release will make that more likely?
There’s no word on whether it’s been updated with anything other than meeting the 64-bit requirements. New graphics? Who knows?
It does look a bit dated now, so I hope they did update it some. There’s no way they’re going to attract new users to the game otherwise.
Also no word on whether those who bought the original are going to have to buy it again.
But at $2.99, unless you totally hate the game, it’s kind of a no-brainer.
It’s Playdek!
Fluxx did win the Mensa Select Award for games that meet Mensa’s
high standards of originality, playability and design, though, so it has that going for it.
If you like chaos (and really, with an editor like mine, why wouldn’t I?) (Editor – I heard that), I’ll be checking it out as soon as July 18th hits.
If it’s a hit, maybe Playdek will start bringing all of the hundreds (I kid, but maybe it won’t be an exaggeration for long at this rate) of versions of Fluxx to digital.
That would be cool.
With Fluxx returning, I wonder what that means for Tanto Cuore, another App-ocalypse casualty? Or will it suffer from Thanos’ 50% rule?
Do you like Fluxx? Will you be checking it out?
Let me know in the comments.
Dude! Take Your Turn! 
Pocket Tactics say that Playdek say that previous owners will be able to get this new version as an update. So no charge. Which is nice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s cool. I didn’t see that in the press release. Maybe I should have done some journalism and asked 🙂
LikeLike