Also be sure to check out All Fluxx FAQ for more general questions. If you don’t see your question answered among these, please email us at:
FAQ@looneylabs.com
If you are adding Surprises or Creepers to a deck that doesn’t have them, and you’ve never played with them before, check out what our rule sheets say about those card types.
Also note that questions regarding any of the Star Trek Expansions (Bridge, Archer, or Porthos) will be listed on the Combined Trek Fluxxen page.
- Q: If Pandora’s Box is played while Dice Override is in effect, do we skip over Draw and Play rules as though they were Actions, as we turn over cards from the draw pile until we hit 3 New Rules?
- Q: For the Meta Rule “Time Limit”, what defines “can make a legitimate claim to partial victory”?
- Q: Can Goal Foundry and Goal Mill both be in the same game together, and, if so, how would that work if they were both in effect?
- Q: If we’re playing with the Fluxx Dice Meta Rule and someone plays Rules Reset, do we put Dice Override back into play if it is not out?
- Q: If player A meets the Goal conditions, but also has a Creeper, can player B, with the Traitor steal their win?
- Q: What happens if Take Another Turn is what’s pulled out of the discard and used with Let’s Keep Doing That?
- Q: How does Personal Goal work with the Surprise Canceled Plans?
- Q: If we’re using the Fluxx Dice expansion with Cthulhu Fluxx, and Dice Override is in play, and a Draw 3 is given to someone as their Dreams and Omens card, what on earth happens?
- Q: For Gift Giveaway, if one doesn’t have a Keeper to give away, but is then gifted one… must one then give that Keeper away?
- Q: For Gift Giveaway, if I’m holding my only Keeper up in the air, waiting to gift it, does that make me someone without any Keepers on the table so I can preferentially get a gift?
- Q: Can the Surprise Stop That! (aka Belay That!) prevent someone from using the Action card that is currently part of the Let’s Keep Doing That Rule?
- Q: For the promo card Hastur, or the Drinking Fluxx card Forbidden Word, do variations of a word count as saying that word? What about homonyms and such?
- Q: Can I use Zap A Card to pick up my own Creeper briefly off the table long enough for me to claim victory?
- Q: When we use Pandora’s Box, should we comply with the New Rules as they come up, or after Pandora’s Box has been completed, and all New Rules have been played?
- Q: Do Worf and Kor count as Klingons? And what about B’Ellana Torres?
- Q: Do face-down Keepers still count towards Keeper Limits? What about Keepers hidden under another Keeper?
- Q: What should we do if our deck contains a Goal that is literally impossible because one or more of the Keepers required is not in it?
- Q: The Bridget card says she counts as Saffron or Yolanda, but the others don’t have similar notes; should we treat them all as equivalent?
- Q: If I’m going to use a Time Machine Keeper (where you discard/insert into the draw pile for an extra turn), must I do that as the last step in my turn?
- Q: If a Creeper says I can get rid of it if I “discard a Keeper” does it have to be a Keeper in play, or can it be from my hand?
- Q: If a Creeper says I can get rid of it if I “discard a Keeper” is that a Free Action, or does it use up one of my Plays?
- Q: What is the penalty if you don’t say the line on the Holographic Doctor or Kor when you put them into play?
- Q: What Fluxx decks have animals that would make the Mock Turtle promo card useful?
- Q: If Double Vision is in play with the Basic Rules, and the Draw rule is increased, does the active player get to draw additional cards?
- Q: What happens if a Creeper comes up when Pandora’s Box is played?
- Q: What happens if Inflation comes up as one of the cards I draw and must play during Goal Bonanza?
- Q: Can I draw my Mystery Play from the bottom of the discard pile if Composting is in play?
- Q: If the rule No-Effect Bonus is in effect and I play Let’s Simplify and choose 0 Rules to discard, can I draw 3 cards?
- Q: If I draw a Creeper while executing a 5 Goal Mission, can I choose to play it last, so I can win with some other card first?
- Q: If I am executing a 5 Card Mission, and I have a card which would make me win, and another which would negate that, can I play the winning card, and stop there, or do I have to play all the cards?
- Q: If someone stopped my play with a Surprise, and then I used Mystery Play, and drew a Surprise, can I use that to counter their Surprise?
- Q: What’s this Jervis Tetch promo card for Batman Fluxx that I’ve heard about? Where can I get one?
- Q: Can I use the Spider Sense (Future Vision) power any time I’m drawing during my turn, or only during the Draw phase?
- Q: If a Creeper says I can get rid of it if I “discard a Keeper” (specific or non-specific), does this mean voluntary discard, or involuntary discard?
- Q: Is there a list somewhere of all Looney Labs promo cards ever?
- Q: We got into a loop when we encountered the Cute Fuzzy Alien Creature while executing Pandora’s Box! How do we avoid this?
- Q: We have Inflation in our Doctor Who deck, and some of the Goals are not consistent about how numbers are indicated. How should we deal with these?
- Q: If one player has the Chainsaw, AND the Can of Gasoline, AND the Flamethrower, when Out of Ammo is played, what can they keep?
- Q: If my opponent has a Keeper in play which says “On your turn you may…” can I use that power on my turn, since it doesn’t specify who “you” are?
- Q: If Dice Override is in play, and I play a Draw Rule card which is lower than what I rolled, do I get to draw that many additional cards?
- Q: If you’ve got enough Goal cards in your hand, can you use the Goal Bonanza (or 5 Card Mission or It’s a Quest!) free action twice in one turn?
- Q: How should we treat the War Doctor with respect to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect?
- Q: When playing with Fluxx Dice and the Traitor, does the Traitor move when New Rule cards for Draw & Play are used “as Actions”?
- Q: If Dice Override is in effect, and I draw Bad Luck on my turn, does my Play roll immediately reduce to 1?
- Q: I already have the Saffron Pack, and I got the Firefly Upgrade. Should I leave the Saffron cards in, or replace them with the Yolanda cards?
- Q: Does Looney Labs make custom Fluxx decks? Can I pay Looney Labs to make me a bunch of custom promo cards for my fabulous event (like my wedding)?
- Q: Does Goal Mill allow one to discard UnGoals along with Goals from one’s hand?
- Q: If Dice Override is in play, and someone has the Lucky Charm, does Play 4 get increased to Play All, since that’s the only higher face on that die?
- Q: On the card Press Your Luck, it says to “reveal” cards. Does this mean I have to show them to the other players?
- Q: Is the Two-Face Creeper supposed to give you an advantage when using the Two-Face Flip promo card?
- Q: How do Creepers and Marceline interact with the Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant promo?
- Q: If I have the Computer (which lets me ignore limits) and someone takes it away or trashes it, do I then have to comply with the current limits?
- Q: When using Zap A Card in Fluxx, can I take cards out of the discard pile?
- Q: What happens if an UnGoal is fulfilled but the promo card The Traitor is in play?
- Q: When a card “counts as” more than one other thing, does the person who owns it get to decide what it is at any given moment?
- Q: If I have the Seer promo in play, and someone else plays the Werewolf promo, can they immediately trash my Seer and give me the Werewolf?
- Q: How does the Lucky Charm card in Fluxx Dice work when you roll Play All or Play All -1?
- Q: When the Dice Override Rule goes out of play, do the Lucky Charm and Bad Luck cards cease to have any effect?
- Q: When I use Zap A Card on a Creeper, do I get to put it in my hand, then play it and draw to replace it?
- Q: What happens if I Zap a Creeper attached to a Keeper? Or Zap a Keeper with a Creeper attached?
- Q: When using a card that moves when the Goal is changed, what happens when you add a second Goal for Double Agenda? What about when it goes away?
- Q: We’re confused about how many extra cards we get to draw with Cartoon Talk under different circumstances.
- Q: Are there any Surprises that can stop an act of Plundering?
- Q: Do Play All But 1 and Hand Limit 0 conflict? What do I do at the end of my turn if both are in play?
- Q: When a person plays the Hastur card, do they have to tell the other players what the forbidden word is?
- Q: On the Seer promo from the Deluxe Werewolf Kickstarter, does the “once on your turn” restriction apply to the Werewolf elimination ability, or can you do that at any time?
- Q: Does Fluxx Dice have enough room to store the dice and a full Fluxx deck?
- Q: Does Inflation (aka X=X+1) affect the numbers shown on Fluxx Dice?
- Q: For Rock-Paper-Scissors Showdown, do we throw three times, and if it’s a tie then nobody loses cards?
- Q: Can I claim victory with The Traitor promo card even if I have other Creepers?
- Q: How does The Traitor interact with Silver Lining (or other Rules that let you ignore Creepers)?
- Q: Can I play a Surprise to cancel a win caused by using Wormhole?
- Q: For Cartoon Talk (or Talk Like A Martian), can one just make any funny voice and say it’s some sort of cartoon character?
- Q: Meta Rules says they are played at the beginning of a game. Do you pull those out and deal separately?
- Q: When using the Fluxx card Zap A Card as the repeating action with the Rule Let’s Keep Doing that, what happens if you zap Zap A Card?
- Q: Play All but 1 seems broken with Inflation.
- Q: I if I have the promo card The Computer (or Batcomputer) in play, do I get to draw extra when invoking Actions that have me draw or play cards?
- Q: If someone plays Trash a Keeper, could you use Skullduggery to stop them?
- Q: Can Skullduggery be used to stop Mutiny?
- Q: Can Skullduggery be used to stop a Keeper Limit being played as that could cause Keepers to “change ownership”?
- Q: Can Skullduggery be used to stop someone from discarding a booty Keeper to get rid of Shackles?
- Q: Can someone stand up and move around the table to give someone Germs (or Con Crud), or do they have to remain seated?
- Q: When you play The Computer promo card, do you instantly get another draw and another play?
- Q: Are the powers of the Computer optional?
- Q: Do the Tree promos count as The Tree in Family Fluxx, or Trees in Eco/Nature Fluxx?
- Q: How do I use the Andy Looney (autograph) promo card?
- Q: The Computer promo card says it “counts as an Appliance.” Does this mean it counts as Television for the purposes of the goal Brain No TV?
- Q: What happens if one of the Rules you turn up with Pandora’s Box is Inflation?
- Q: The Composting promo card says it’s okay to look at the bottom card of the discard pile. If there is a multiple play in effect, can I look at more than one card at a time?
- Q: There are some cards which make Inflation extra confusing. How do we do the math on those?
- Q: With We’ve Already Got One, can the French Persons be a specific Creeper that someone else has in play?
- Q: Is there a limit or order to drawing off the bottom of the discard pile using Composting?
- Q: How does Inflation interact with cards that say you “may” play (or draw 1) extra?
- Q: Does Inflation apply retroactively to the No-Hand Bonus?
- Q: When the Flame-Thrower promo is in play, can it be used to destroy more than one Zombie per turn?
- Q: Is it possible to win with a Goal that uses a specific Keeper even though it would be “immediately discarded” due to conditions with a mutually exclusive Keeper already in play?
- Q: Can you use the Skullduggery promo card to cancel a Plunder – not on the Rule itself, but on a single act of Plundering?
- Q: How do we apply Inflation to Everybody Gets 1?
- Q: If Swap Plays For Draws and Play All (or Play All But 1) are both in effect, how does that resolve?
- Q: Is Swap Plays For Draws limited by the number of cards you have in your hand?
- Q: If the rules are Draw 1, and I draw three Creepers in a row, how many cards do I redraw?
- Q: If I have specific Creepers required for a Goal, but I also have other Creepers, can I still win with that goal?
- Q: If Play All But 1 is in effect, and there’s something that requires me to increase my plays, do I end up playing all?
Q: If Pandora’s Box is played while Dice Override is in effect, do we skip over Draw and Play rules as though they were Actions, as we turn over cards from the draw pile until we hit 3 New Rules?
Q: If Pandora’s Box is played while Dice Override is in effect, do we skip over Draw and Play rules as though they were Actions, as we turn over cards from the draw pile until we hit 3 New Rules?
A: No, Andy rules that, although Draw and Play rules are executed as though they are Actions when Dice Override is in play, they still count as Rules when you’re counting New Rules when turning over cards for Pandora’s Box.
Q: For the Meta Rule “Time Limit”, what defines “can make a legitimate claim to partial victory”?
…I can’t think of anything outside of having 1 of the 2 required keepers to meet a goal, but does that also mean “Oh well the goal needs a moon to win, I don’t have a moon but I have a sun and that’s the next best thing so I won” or does this only apply if you actually have 1/2 of the goal? Or what if I have one keeper of the goal and my opponent has the other?
A: Yeah, it’s mostly about having half of the Keepers needed for a Goal. But some Goals have options about more than two Keepers, so the math isn’t simple to express (like “Any three of the following five Keepers”). If you had half, and your opponent had half, I think we’d just say to call it a tie and move on. This is definitely a very squishy (Meta) Rule, and should be discussed before choosing to use it in any given game.
Sure, you might choose to have a little debate about whether the Sun is more like the Moon than, say, the Toaster is, so that should count, but this is the kind of debate that should be for fun, not the kind that splinters friendships.
Q: Can Goal Foundry and Goal Mill both be in the same game together, and, if so, how would that work if they were both in effect?
A: Sure! It’s totally possible to have them stack if Goal Mill comes into play in a game where Goal Foundry is a Meta Rule. What this would look like is that one would be able to discard Goals from one’s hand and draw to replace them, and then be able to do it a second time in the same turn if one so desired.
Q: If we’re playing with the Fluxx Dice Meta Rule and someone plays Rules Reset, do we put Dice Override back into play if it is not out?
A: No. When Rules Reset is played, you don’t have to dig out Dice Override and put it back into play to replicate the beginning game state. The Fluxx Dice Meta Rule is there mostly to jumpstart things to use the dice right away. Andy says that if we wanted Dice Override to come back in the case of a Rule Reset, he would have put that on the Meta Rule.
Q: If player A meets the Goal conditions, but also has a Creeper, can player B, with the Traitor steal their win?
…or does the Creeper in front of player A negate that win?
A: That’s right: if player A has a Creeper, then they’re not winning. If they’re not winning, then player B with the Traitor cannot steal their win.
Q: What happens if Take Another Turn is what’s pulled out of the discard and used with Let’s Keep Doing That?
…Could a player Take Another Turn, and then, on their next turn, choose to Take Another Turn again, and again, and again, thus creating an infinite loop and breaking the game?
A: No, you are only allowed to take a maximum of two turns in a row using Take Another Turn. Just as in the case where Take Another Turn could be pulled out and used with Let’s Do That Again, you cannot get another “Another Turn.”
See also: What happens if Take Another Turn is played twice…?
Q: How does Personal Goal work with the Surprise Canceled Plans?
A: For the out-of-turn play of Canceled Plans, it works the same way it does in any other situation. If someone plays a Goal, and you want to prevent that play, you can play Canceled Plans right after they have played it, and the Goal goes in the trash instead of into play. Canceled Plans doesn’t specify any particular location the Goal is being played, so it can prevent any play of a Goal, no matter where someone was about to put it down.
It’s the in-turn play that gets complicated. The in-turn instructions for Canceled Plans say “Discard the current Goal/s.” It doesn’t specify where the possible multiple Goals in play might be, so Andy has ruled that this would cause all Goals in play on the table to be discarded, including personal Goals.
This question is also tagged for Bucket List as it is the same as Personal Goal. It is also categorized under Fluxx Expansions, since one might add Canceled Plans from the More Surprises pack into a version with Bucket List.
Q: If we’re using the Fluxx Dice expansion with Cthulhu Fluxx, and Dice Override is in play, and a Draw 3 is given to someone as their Dreams and Omens card, what on earth happens?
…Would it affect their turn or not? Would they draw 3 before rolling the dice? So if they then roll the dice and get, say, a Draw 5 would that affect the Draw number i.e. turn would it become a Draw 8 or would it override the Draw 3, and stay a Draw 5 or would the Draw 3 somehow override the dice roll and cap the Draw at 3? Would that be the same for play cards as well?
A: Consultation with Andy yields this: the Draw 3 recipient would play that card before their turn, as required. With Dice Override in effect, that means they would get to draw 3 cards and the Draw 3 would go in the discard. They would then roll the dice as per usual for their turn.
The three cards drawn for the Draw 3 card would not count towards whatever they roll on the dice, so, yes, if they rolled Draw 5, they would draw 5 more cards in addition to the 3 they drew for the Draw 3 card.
The total would be 8, yes, but think of it as two separate incidents. The Dreams and Omens card is a separate incident that happens before their turn starts. Then they do what their turn requires, rolling the dice, and doing what they say.
Q: For Gift Giveaway, if one doesn’t have a Keeper to give away, but is then gifted one… must one then give that Keeper away?
Note that Gift Giveaway is called Saturnalia in Olympus Fluxx, and All Must Have Prizes in Wonderland Fluxx.
A: No. Nobody is ever giving away the gift they just got. Think of it as being executed in two phases: there’s the “Everyone picks up a Keeper” phase, and then the “Everyone gives that Keeper away” phase. If you had no Keepers to pick up, then you don’t give any away during the give-away phase.
Q: For Gift Giveaway, if I’m holding my only Keeper up in the air, waiting to gift it, does that make me someone without any Keepers on the table so I can preferentially get a gift?
A: To refresh: the Action Gift Giveaway (aka Saturnalia in Olympus Fluxx, or All Must Have Prizes in Wonderland Fluxx) says (with some paraphrasing, since apparently there are two slightly different wordings):
“All players must pick up one of the Keepers they have on the table (if any) and hold it aloft…. [The Keeper] will then be placed in front of another player… Players without any Keepers on the table must be given gifts first.”
This is actually tricky, and we probably could have been slightly clearer. If you are still holding a Keeper in your hand, waiting to give it away, you are still considered to be in possession of that Keeper. This does mean, however, that once you have given the Keeper you are holding away, if you don’t have any other Keepers on the table, you are now someone who must be gifted first.
Q: Can the Surprise Stop That! (aka Belay That!) prevent someone from using the Action card that is currently part of the Let’s Keep Doing That Rule?
A: When the Action is chosen to go with Let’s Keep Doing That, it becomes what is essentially a Rule-that-gives-a Free Action, so the counter-Action Surprise* can not be used to stop it.
It CAN, however, be stopped by the Surprise called No Free Lunch! (found in the More Surprises pack) which counters the use of any Free Action. Depending on what the Action is, if it allows the moving or stealing of Keepers, some other Surprises may also be viable, like Skullduggery, It’s a Trap!, or You Can’t Take This Guy From Me.
* Stop That, Avast! Halt!, Belay That!, The Stars Are Wrong.
Q: For the promo card Hastur, or the Drinking Fluxx card Forbidden Word, do variations of a word count as saying that word? What about homonyms and such?
A: Let’s start with some of the things that will probably not be contentious.
• Plurals of a noun definitely count as saying that word. If I ban the word “card” and someone says “cards” most would agree that person must take the penalty.
• Homophones, words spelled differently but pronounced the same definitely don’t count as saying the word (to, too; hear, here; bare, bear). Someone might raise the issue upon hearing a homophone, but the completely different spelling AND meaning would probably be enough to get them to drop it.
• Homographs, words spelled the same but pronounced differently and having a different meaning, probably won’t even come up. Everyone is listening for the word in question, not watching for it in a transcript. Like if someone designates “bow,” a thing you shoot, and someone says “bow,” to bend down, nobody’s going to call that out.
HOWEVER… once you start to get into words that are spelled the same AND sound the same… things get more nebulous.
If I forbid the word “play” then everyone is probably on board as including both the following noun and verb:
noun: the action you take in the game, and its plural. “How many plays do I have left in this turn?”
verb: to take that action, and its various tenses and conjugations. “Play your cards already!” “Have you played yet?” and, “If he plays that card, I’m screwed.”
Or even the adjective designating a type of card. “Did someone change the Play rule while I was out of the room?”
But what about saying you went to a play last night? What about saying your kid plays the clarinet?
If I forbid the word “mean” which one do I… ahem… mean? Is it a verb: to intend? Is it an adjective: cruel? Is it a noun, the average? Our ears probably want to “catch” someone else using all of these, so what do we do?
The safest thing to do is to raise or point out this technical aspect when designating the forbidden word, so that everyone knows what to expect. Discuss it while holding the card up, perhaps, and say that when the card is placed on the table, the ban goes into effect, making sure everyone hears, understands, and agrees.
Here’s a good page describing homophones, homographs, and homonyms.
Q: Can I use Zap A Card to pick up my own Creeper briefly off the table long enough for me to claim victory?
A: No. A Creeper can never be in a hand, so when Zapped, it just goes directly in front of the person who Zapped it, so you wouldn’t be able to use this to relieve yourself of a Creeper long enough to win. It would move from in front of you, to in front of you.
Q: When we use Pandora’s Box, should we comply with the New Rules as they come up, or after Pandora’s Box has been completed, and all New Rules have been played?
…For example, if the first New Rule that comes up is a Hand Limit 1, and the next one that comes up is a Hand Limit 3, does everyone have to comply with the Hand Limit 1, or can they wait until all the New Rules have been played, resulting in a final state of Hand Limit 3?
…Or, if the first New Rule that comes up increases the Draw, and the next one decreases it, should the active player Draw up to the requirement for the first rule, or wait until all the New Rules have come out and only Draw up to the number required by the later New Rule?
A: You should fully comply with each New Rule as it comes up. So, in the Hand Limit example, everyone (except the active player) needs to discard down to 1 card in hand (and will probably be irked when it goes back up again). The active player, of course, doesn’t have to comply with Limits until their turn ends. In the increased Draw rule example, the active player should Draw up to the higher number, and then draw no more when it goes down again.
Q: Do Worf and Kor count as Klingons? And what about B’Ellana Torres?
A: Yes, Worf can count as Klingons for the purposes of Goals, though he should not be treated as a Creeper. The same goes for Kor from the Porthos Pack, and for B’Ellana Torres from Voyager (never mind that she’s only half-Klingon – Spock was only half-Vulcan, and he was constantly being treated as if he were all-Vulcan.)
Q: Do face-down Keepers still count towards Keeper Limits? What about Keepers hidden under another Keeper?
…for example a Keeper turned face down via Camouflage or, in very early versions, Government Cover-Up or Secret Data.
A: Yes, you must count face-down Keepers when you are counting your Keepers in play. Though they do not count as “in play” for purposes of using powers or winning Goals (though you can usually reveal them at any time) you still own them as generic “Keepers” for the purposes of Limits.
If you have a number of Keepers hidden under another card, however, as with the Treasure Map in Pirate Fluxx (or the Secret Stash, a Stoner Fluxx promo), those are all counted as just “one Keeper” (the one Keeper showing on the top of the other card/s).
Q: What should we do if our deck contains a Goal that is literally impossible because one or more of the Keepers required is not in it?
…For example, if we’re missing a Keeper* or if we have added some promo or expansion cards that don’t quite fit. Should we take those Goals out of the deck, or leave them in even though they can’t be met?
A: You should inform all players about the issue before the game begins, but then absolutely include those cards. So what if they’re impossible? They are still useful cards that are part of the game and help tell that game’s story. You can still play those cards defensively, i.e. using them to change the Goal when an opponent has half of what they need. Also, changing the Goal to something impossible is basically equivalent to returning to the state of there being no Goal at all. Lastly, many versions of Fluxx contain cards that make alternate use of Goals, such as Goal Mill, Goal Bonanza, and Discard & Draw. Again, just make sure everyone knows what’s up.
* If your deck has a Keeper that’s gone missing or gotten damaged, we do replace such cards for free. Just email us at customer-support@looneylabs.com and explain your situation.
If there’s some other condition besides a missing Keeper which you think makes a Goal impossible to meet, please feel free to ask us about it by emailing us at FAQ@looneylabs.com
Q: The Bridget card says she counts as Saffron or Yolanda, but the others don’t have similar notes; should we treat them all as equivalent?
A: Yes, all three versions of That Woman count as each other. The reason Saffron doesn’t say it is because she came first, before we ever had the silly idea of making the other two!
Q: If I’m going to use a Time Machine Keeper (where you discard/insert into the draw pile for an extra turn), must I do that as the last step in my turn?
A: There are many Time Machines in all of Fluxxdom (list below answer). These are Keepers which, if they are in play, you can get rid of (either to the top of the discard pile or the middle of the draw pile) to gain an extra turn after the one you are currently taking.
The question at hand is whether one must wait to use this Keeper power as the last thing during one’s turn, since taking another turn is something that happens right after your current turn ends, or whether one could use this power at any time, thereby “putting an extra turn in the bank” to use after you do a bunch of other things during the rest of your current turn.
The answer, of course, is that you can choose to utilize this power at any time during your turn that you would any other “free action” allowed by Keepers and such.
We originally could not figure out why it would make any difference when the Time Machine Keeper was utilized, but it does make a difference. For example, if you know that, during your current turn, you will be doing something which may affect your Keepers in play, like, for example, Exchange Keepers, Share the Wealth, or Mix It All Up. If you anticipate using one of these Actions, you may want to make sure you utilize that Time Machine power before you might lose that Keeper.
The only possible danger is that you might forget to take your extra turn, if there’s a lot of time between your disposing of the Time Machine, and your extra turn after your current one. If you utilize it early to protect it, and then forget you did it, that’s just the risk you take.
The Batmobile (Batman Fluxx, discard)
The TARDIS (Doctor Who Fluxx, discard)
The Time Machine (Regular Show Fluxx, drawpile-insert)
The Guardian of Forever (Star Trek: TOS Fluxx, drawpile-insert)
The Orb (Star Trek: DS9 Fluxx, drawpile-insert)
Timeship Aeon (Star Trek: Voyager Fluxx, drawpile-insert)
Timeship Relativity (Star Trek: Voyager Fluxx, drawpile-insert)
The Atavachron (Archer Expansion for Trek Fluxxen, drawpile-insert)
Q: If a Creeper says I can get rid of it if I “discard a Keeper” does it have to be a Keeper in play, or can it be from my hand?
A: It has to be a Keeper you have in play.
Q: If a Creeper says I can get rid of it if I “discard a Keeper” is that a Free Action, or does it use up one of my Plays?
A: It’s like a power on a Keeper: it’s a Free Action.
Q: What is the penalty if you don’t say the line on the Holographic Doctor or Kor when you put them into play?
A: There is no penalty for failing to use the catchphrases, other than disappointing your friends and bringing dishonor upon your house. That said, if you really need to stay silent
Q: What Fluxx decks have animals that would make the Mock Turtle promo card useful?
A: Tons! Most have only a couple, but several have a LOT of animals. Since the Mock Turtle is, itself, a fictional animal, we’re counting other fictional animals as well (The Dragon, Tribbles, Cerberus). Characters which are sentient versions of creatures that are clearly animals (Rocket Raccoon, Squidward, Jake the Dog) are included, but not humanoid monsters (Bigfoot, Wolfman, the Bug-Eyed Monster).
• Eco/Nature: Too many to list! (13)
• SpongeBob: Too many to list (10), including SpongeBob himself, as sponges are considered animals!
• Jumanji: Too many to list! (9) (The Mock Turtle would be very useful… but VERY dangerous!)
• Wonderland: White Rabbit, March Hare, Caterpillar, Cheshire Cat, Dormouse, Walrus, Oysters
• Monty Python: Airborne Cow, Resting Parrot, Killer Rabbit, Unladen Swallow
• Oz: Toto, Cowardly Lion, Flying Monkeys
• Fairy Tale: The Wolf, The Bears, The Frog
• Cthulhu: The Cat, Penguins
• Martian: Cow #1, Cow #2
• Pirate: Parrot, Monkey
• Fantasy: The Dragon, The Unicorn
• Star Trek Porthos Pack: Porthos, Spot
• Star Trek (Original Series): Tribbles
• Marvel: Rocket Racoon
• Star: Cute Fuzzy Alien Creature
• Olympus: Cerberus
• Tiny: Ant, Ladybug (but the cards aren’t the right size, so this is pretty irrelevant)
• Family: The Cat, The Dog, The Mouse
• Cartoon Network: Jake the Dog, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Mordecai, Rigby, Mojo Jojo
• Regular Show: Mordecai, Rigby, Baby Ducks, Margaret, Eileen, Thomas, Angry Geese
• Adventure Time: Jake the Dog, Lady Rainicorn, Gunter, Tree Trunks, Mr. Pig, Snail
Q: If Double Vision is in play with the Basic Rules, and the Draw rule is increased, does the active player get to draw additional cards?
A: If Double Vision is in play with Draw 1, making players Draw 2 instead, and then someone plays Draw 2, the draw rule has gone from “Draw 2” to “Draw 2” so no additional cards should be drawn.
Here is another example: when going from Draw 1 + Double Vision (= Draw 2) to Draw 4, the player has already drawn 2 on their turn, and would need to draw 2 more to make their total drawn 4.
Q: What happens if a Creeper comes up when Pandora’s Box is played?
A: Although the wording does use the word “draw” on most versions, we would rule that you’re not really drawing cards to execute this. None of these cards are going into your hand. It’s more like you’re checking each card, and only putting it into play if it’s a New Rule. We will be tweaking the wording on subsequent prints of this card. Consider it to say “Flip over the top card of the draw pile. If it is a New Rule, put it into play. Otherwise, put it on the discard pile. Keep doing this until you have put 3 New Rules into play.”
Unfortunately, on the version which is in the More Actions pack, we explicitly stated that you have to keep any Creepers that come up. We are not sure what we were thinking, BUT if your version of the card says you have to keep Creepers, then you keep them. If you want to alter your card to reflect otherwise, that’s up to you.
Q: What happens if Inflation comes up as one of the cards I draw and must play during Goal Bonanza?
…For other Actions, like Draw 3, Play 2 of Them, Inflation affects the Action in progress. For Goal Bonanza, one can easily draw an extra card, but does Inflation retroactively affect how may Goals one needs to have discarded? What if I don’t have an extra Goal to discard?
A: While Inflation can certainly increase a Draw or Play requirement, it’s not possible to have it retroactively affect any discard requirement, since, as pointed out, there’s no guarantee a player will have an extra Goal (or whatever) to throw away. So, in this case, you would not be required to discard an extra Goal to get the extra draw and subsequent play.
Note that 5 Card Mission is the Meta Rule equivalent of the regular New Rule Goal Bonanza, and the Black Knight expansion for Monty Python also has a New Rule called It’s a Quest, which works in much the same way as Goal Bonanza (except it’s discard 3 Goals, and draw 4 cards to play).
Q: Can I draw my Mystery Play from the bottom of the discard pile if Composting is in play?
A: All cards in the discard pile are considered to be “not hidden.” You can look through them at any time. So when Composting is in play, you are considered to be able to look at any and all cards you might possibly draw. Since the card you play with Mystery Play is supposed to be a mystery, Andy rules that, no, you may not pull your Mystery Play from the bottom of the discard pile.
Q: If the rule No-Effect Bonus is in effect and I play Let’s Simplify and choose 0 Rules to discard, can I draw 3 cards?
A: Yes, you are allowed to choose to discard 0 rules with your Let’s Simplify, thus achieving No-Effect from its play, thereby granting you the 3-card bonus.
Q: If I draw a Creeper while executing a 5 Goal Mission, can I choose to play it last, so I can win with some other card first?
A: No. Unfortunately, you can’t choose to play the Creepers last. As Creepers they are never really held in your hand (or temporary hand). You have to play them immediately, as usual, the only difference with 5 Card Mission is that, unlike in other similar situations, you don’t get to draw to replace them with non-Creepers.
Q: If I am executing a 5 Card Mission, and I have a card which would make me win, and another which would negate that, can I play the winning card, and stop there, or do I have to play all the cards?
A: As long as the negating card is not a Creeper (see this question) you can play the card which would make you win, and the game would end (assuming it’s not stopped by a Surprise, of course). You do not have to play all of the 5 Card Mission cards and THEN assess your win status.
Q: If someone stopped my play with a Surprise, and then I used Mystery Play, and drew a Surprise, can I use that to counter their Surprise?
A: No, the Surprise you draw via Mystery Play* cannot be used to stop the previous Canceling of your play. It’s far too late. Whatever card you played has been Canceled, and that’s that. With no Surprise available, you could not stop the Surprise, so you have moved on and taken your next game action: choosing to use Mystery Play.
Since choosing to use Mystery Play will always disrupt the immediacy required for a reactive Surprise play, any Surprise drawn via Mystery Play would have to be used for it’s in-turn function.
* Or any of its analogues below:
Mystery Play in Fluxx 5.0, SE, Remixx, Astronomy, SpongeBob, and Wonderland
Mythtery Play in Fantasy
Wormhole in Star, Star Trek TOS, TNG, and Voyager
Shiny! in Firefly
Allons-y/Geronimo! in Doctor Who
Spontaneous Reaction in Chemistry
Egads! in Batman
Unknown Variable in Math
THWIP! in Marvel
(the Infinity Gauntlet Keeper in Marvel has this as its special power as well)
Great Idea! in Stoner
Magic Spell in Fairy Tale
Magic Portal in Adventure Time
Magic Shoes in Oz (if you click your heels together three times)
Open The Door in Monster (if the Spooky Door is in play)
Open A Gift! in Holiday (if The Gift is in play)
Chemical X in Cartoon Network (if at least one Powerpuff Girl is in play)
Time Doorway in Regular Show (if the Time Machine is in play)
Q: What’s this Jervis Tetch promo card for Batman Fluxx that I’ve heard about? Where can I get one?
A: The Jervis Tetch promo was VERY VERY limited. It was right before the end of the year when we were about to be losing the Batman license. We’d already run out of the main decks, and didn’t want to be having to put in royalty reports for pennies for selling single promo cards, so we actually had our remaining promo cards up for free in the webstore. But we had already-approved art for Jervis Tetch, and he’d never been even been printed.
We were going to just skip making that one, since it was almost the end of the year, but Laurie REALLY wanted to make these available to people, so she put out tons of messages on social media and had people sign up to get them, and Looney Labs did a special very short run for the exact amount.
Laurie kept track of everyone, and put them in envelopes and mailed them all out herself (what a hero!) but that means that we only made as many as were requested. A couple hundred, max. And after the turn of the year, we weren’t allowed to even distribute them for free, which is why we didn’t want to make any extra.
I’m afraid we have no idea who might be selling theirs on the secondary market. We have no way of finding out about these things any better than you or any other average person out there.
Q: Can I use the Spider Sense (Future Vision) power any time I’m drawing during my turn, or only during the Draw phase?
A: You can use Spider Sense any time you draw… but only once per turn. For example, if you have Draw 2 and Use Em in your hand, you might want to NOT take the Spider Sense option during your Draw phase, knowing you’d rather use it when you play that card later in your turn.
Q: If a Creeper says I can get rid of it if I “discard a Keeper” (specific or non-specific), does this mean voluntary discard, or involuntary discard?
…does this mean the player can choose to discard a Keeper with the intention of getting rid the Creeper OR the Creeper may only be disposed of if other cards caused the player to discard a/the Keeper.
A: It’s voluntary. You have to choose to sacrifice your Keeper in order to gain the benefit of getting rid of a Creeper. You don’t get the benefit if it’s some other random thing that makes you lose a Keeper.
On the plus side, this means you can do it whenever you choose to. On the minus, it’s not some sort of consolation for having to lose a Keeper involuntarily. “I lost a Keeper, but at least I get to get rid of this Creeper.” Nope, doesn’t work that way.
See also: When a Keeper/Creeper (or Rule) says I can do something if I discard or move something, can I do that as a Free Action or…
And also: If I have a Keeper which says I get some benefit from discarding or moving it…
Q: Is there a list somewhere of all Looney Labs promo cards ever?
A: We used to keep a list like this on our site, but it got too difficult to maintain, especially as things went out of print and/or changed formats. Currently the closest options are:
Comprehensive list of Looney Labs stuff (including promo cards) by Mike Fogus
List on BoardGameGeek of (Fluxx only) promo cards
Q: We got into a loop when we encountered the Cute Fuzzy Alien Creature while executing Pandora’s Box! How do we avoid this?
…While playing Pandora’s Box and going through the Draw Pile to find 3 new rules, a friend of mine drew the Cute Fuzzy Alien Creature which says that when discarded it should be placed on top of the Draw Pile, but this creates a loop. The player will have to constantly draw the Cute Fuzzy Alien Creature to then discard it, place again on top of the draw pile, draw it, and discard it again in a loop.
A: The Cute Fuzzy Alien only needs to be placed on the top of the draw pile if it is being discarded from play. (This is explicitly stated on later printings, actually.) This is because that effect is a special power of the Cute Fuzzy Alien (CFA), and, as such, only ever happens if the Keeper goes into play. Since Pandora’s Box does not put any Keepers drawn into play, the CFA would simply go into the discard pile with the other non-Rule cards passed over in that process.
Q: We have Inflation in our Doctor Who deck, and some of the Goals are not consistent about how numbers are indicated. How should we deal with these?
…Resistance is Useless calls for 3 Daleks in the graphic, but says “three” in the text. We noticed the same inconsistency with Team TARDIS and Regeneration.
A: Even though it’s rare that Inflation might be added to a deck, we TRY to make sure all decks are compatible with it, just in case. Unfortunately, it totally happens sometimes that when we’re laying out cards, there ends up being an inconsistency like the one you describe, where the text spells out the number, but there is also a numeral instance.
We will certainly be fixing this on subsequent print runs, but for now please treat the inconsistent Goals as follows:
Resistance is Useless: Treat all numbers as if they were numerals. This card IS affected by Inflation. You’ll need all four Daleks in the deck!
Team TARDIS: Again, treat all numbers as if they were numerals so the Goal IS affected by Inflation.
Regeneration: Treat this as though we’d put no numbers at all on the card, instead just two Doctor icons with the note “Consecutive” under them. This card should NOT be affected by Inflation.
Q: If one player has the Chainsaw, AND the Can of Gasoline, AND the Flamethrower, when Out of Ammo is played, what can they keep?
A: At first glance, this does look tricky, but after some thought, and close reading of the cards, the answer is pretty clear.
Out of Ammo (OoA) causes the Can of Gasoline and the Chainsaw to be discarded… unless one person has both, in which case the Chainsaw can be kept: it runs out of fuel, but is refilled by the Can of Gas. The Flamethrower specifies that it, too, is discarded if it runs Out of Ammo.
The only thing that seems confusing is that the Flamethrower ALSO specifies that it “counts as the Can of Gasoline.”
So… the Chainsaw can be “saved” from being Out of Ammo if you have either the Can of Gasoline or the Flamethrower. Nothing can “save” the Flamethrower or the Can of Gasoline, however, so if you have all three when Out of Ammo is played, all you’re left with is the Chainsaw.
We could also look at it as three possible sets of pairs:
(Gasoline + Chainsaw) OoA = Chainsaw
(Flamethrower + Chainsaw) OoA = Chainsaw
(Gasoline + Flamethrower) OoA = nothing
Although, thematically, it might seem that the Flamethrower should be equivalent to the Chainsaw in that it seems like it should be able to be “refilled” (“saved”) by the Can of Gas… well, we didn’t think of that, so it’s not specified, so that’s not how it works. There probably wouldn’t have been enough room on the card to describe that anyhow.
UNOFFICIAL POSSIBLE HOUSE RULE:
If you wanted to play that as a house rule, or course, that would be fine with us. If that were the case, then when you had all three when you run Out of Ammo, you’d be able to keep either the Chainsaw or the Flamethrower to be “saved” by refilling with the Gasoline, your choice. That is not an official ruling according to the cards, however. Regarding the pairs above, of course, it would look like:
(Gasoline + Chainsaw) OoA = Chainsaw
(Flamethrower + Chainsaw) OoA = Chainsaw
(Gasoline + Flamethrower) OoA = Flamethrower
Q: If my opponent has a Keeper in play which says “On your turn you may…” can I use that power on my turn, since it doesn’t specify who “you” are?
A: No. In order to use the powers of a Keeper or Creeper in play, it must be in your possession. “You/your” in this case refers to the owner of the card only.
Q: If Dice Override is in play, and I play a Draw Rule card which is lower than what I rolled, do I get to draw that many additional cards?
A: No. Since that card effectively turns the die you rolled to the new lower number, it is exactly as if you have replaced a higher Draw rule with a lower Draw rule. Having already drawn more than the new (lower) number, you do not draw any extra.
The same goes for Play rules. If you rolled Play All, and then played a Play 3 card, you can literally turn the die to the Play 3 side, and ask youself “How many cards have I played this turn? If 3 or more, then I’m done with my plays for this turn.”
Q: If you’ve got enough Goal cards in your hand, can you use the Goal Bonanza (or 5 Card Mission or It’s a Quest!) free action twice in one turn?
…(& One, Two, Five! isn’t on the table)
A: To review, It’s a Quest! is from the Black Knight Expansion for Monty Python Fluxx.
While most Free Actions are once per turn, and maybe we meant to put that on this card, but forgot, that might be just fine. Checking with Andy on this he says, “I see no reason why you couldn’t use it more than once per turn if you had the Goals available.”
Yes It’s A Quest is similar to 5 Card Mission and Goal Bonanza in AstroFluxx, so this ruling would apply there too, assuming you had enough Goals in hand.
Q: How should we treat the War Doctor with respect to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect?
A: The War Doctor should be considered Doctor 8.5.
Q: When playing with Fluxx Dice and the Traitor, does the Traitor move when New Rule cards for Draw & Play are used “as Actions”?
A: Yes. You’re still playing a New Rule card, even though it’s “treated as an Action.”
Q: If Dice Override is in effect, and I draw Bad Luck on my turn, does my Play roll immediately reduce to 1?
A: Yes, unfortunately, the Bad Luck Creeper has immediate effect, like most cards in Fluxx, and your Plays would drop to 1 for as long as you have it while Dice Override is in play.
Q: I already have the Saffron Pack, and I got the Firefly Upgrade. Should I leave the Saffron cards in, or replace them with the Yolanda cards?
A: It’s up to you whether you want to have that many of her floating around under different names. You could replace the Saffron-based cards, and just play with Yolanda, or vice-versa, or keep them both. We will be coming out with a single Bridget card which says “counts as either Saffron or Yolanda” but that will just be at our webstore, for completists.
Q: Does Looney Labs make custom Fluxx decks? Can I pay Looney Labs to make me a bunch of custom promo cards for my fabulous event (like my wedding)?
A: Unfortunately, producing custom one-off cards or decks is not a business we’d like to get into. That said, many people have used Fluxx (or one of our other games) to propose marriage, or enhance their wedding or other event. Most of these have simply been hand drawn or otherwise created by the involved parties themselves. We have done hand-drawn cards once for a wedding proposal (with Nanofictionary, in this case), but note that these were really not appreciably better than what you might create yourself or get a local friend to do: we simply used blanxx (or blanks) and drew on them with a fine-tip sharpie.
Sorry it’s simply not feasible for us to make custom promo cards or Fluxx decks a part of our business model!
BUT we DO offer Custom Loonacy decks, including one which is wedding themed! You could use that almost off the shelf, or customize the images to your heart’s content! If you are a business looking for larger quantities (as in: must be purchased in multiples of 1,008 decks), we have Short-Run Loonacy.
If you have not tried Loonacy yet, it’s a fun fast-paced matching game!
Q: Does Goal Mill allow one to discard UnGoals along with Goals from one’s hand?
A: Yes, as UnGoals say on them “This card is treated like a Goal,” you would be able to discard UnGoals along with Goals if utilizing the power of Goal Mill.
Q: If Dice Override is in play, and someone has the Lucky Charm, does Play 4 get increased to Play All, since that’s the only higher face on that die?
A: To review, the Lucky Charm Keeper says:
“Whenever you roll, and don’t get doubles, the lower value result is increased by one.”
Since the Draw die includes numbers as high as 5 and 6, while the Play die maxes out numerically at 4, it’s quite likely that Lucky Charm might cause a Play 4 roll to be increased. Lucky Charm does not reference the actual die configuration, it only mentions the values, and tells you to do math on them, so it’s not as though you’re literally changing the die roll to the next highest available (Play All) you’re merely adding one to your roll, making Play 4 become Play 5.
Q: On the card Press Your Luck, it says to “reveal” cards. Does this mean I have to show them to the other players?
A: Yes, you have to show them to everyone as you draw them. That’s to keep players honest – otherwise you could just draw a bunch of cards and keep them, without the accountability of having to stop when you get to a Keeper or Creeper.
So you’d flip those face up into a pile until you decide to stop and take the pile into your hand… or until you draw a Keeper or Creeper, in which case you’d play that in front of you, and put the pile of previously drawn cards into the discard.
Q: Is the Two-Face Creeper supposed to give you an advantage when using the Two-Face Flip promo card?
The Two-Face Flip promo card says that if you have the Two-Face Creeper, you get to take the best two out of three coin flips, instead of just one coin flip. Mathematically, however, those both give you the same 50/50 chance of a win.
A: Yes, having the Two-Face Creeper is intended to give you an advantage in the coin flip.
You get to flip the coin, and if you win on the first flip, great! You don’t have to keep flipping and risk two failures.
If you lose the first coin flip, however, you get to claim best two out of three, getting an extra chance to win by getting the next two coin flips correct.
Q: How do Creepers and Marceline interact with the Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant promo?
We were playing with this deck tonight and I used the bonus card Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant (APTWE). The APTWE says “If any two players each have a Keeper needed to win by the current Goal, the game ends with both players being the winners. If not, draw 2 cards.” I had one Keeper for the Goal and my wife had the other Keeper, along with the Marceline Keeper that says “Creepers do not prevent you from winning.” We both had Creepers in front of us.
I said we both won as Marceline negates the Creepers played. My son says only my wife did because she had the card and it only applies to her.
A: Well, we debated for quite a while about this. We could see either of these arguments making sense, but in the end, we came to the same conclusion you did (you both win because Marceline negates Creepers). Keep in mind, however, that if Marceline was not in play, and only one of you had a Creeper, neither of you would win. It’s all or nothing with the APTWE.
The way we see it is that the two players are essentially merging into one, à la the two-headed elephant of the card title. So their Keeper set merges, and so do their Creepers. So, for example, if only one player had a Creeper, and the other one didn’t, their sets would be psychically merged, and it would be as if they were one two-headed player… who had a Creeper preventing the win. So one player’s Creeper would prevent both people from winning.
However, the same is true of Marceline’s power: when the players Keeper/Creeper sets merge, her power now extends to both people, so she neutralizes Creepers for the joined set which can then win, no matter who originally had Creepers.
Q: If I have the Computer (which lets me ignore limits) and someone takes it away or trashes it, do I then have to comply with the current limits?
A: Yup. The same would apply if you have the Batcomputer, or BMO which allow you to exceed the current limits by 1 (or “one” depending on how the card is worded).
The Computer exists both as a regular card in Star Fluxx, and as a promo card available to put in any Fluxx version (though they’re worded ever so slightly differently).
Q: When using Zap A Card in Fluxx, can I take cards out of the discard pile?
A: No. The card says you can take any card “in play” on the table. That includes: the current Goal, any current Rule (not the Basic Rules, of course), or any Keeper or Creeper in front of any player. Note, of course, that Creepers cannot be held in your hand, so they go back into play in front of you if you steal them from someone else, instead of going into your hand.
Q: What happens if an UnGoal is fulfilled but the promo card The Traitor is in play?
…There are a couple of different outcomes when an UnGoal is fulfilled. The standard result is that everyone loses, however, there are a few cases where someone can win with an UnGoal. The question is, does the Traitor get to “steal the win” in any of these cases?
A: Lucky for us, The Traitor card only mentions Goals, not UnGoals, so having The Traitor in play does not do anything special in the case of a game ending due to an UnGoal:
• If everyone loses, the person with the Traitor loses as well: though “Evil wins” it was due to an UnGoal and not a Goal.
• If the person who has he Traitor wins because of the UnGoal, they simply win, since it only prevents victory by Goal, not UnGoal.
• If some other player wins because of the UnGoal, they simply win, because the Traitor can only steal wins achieved through a Goal.
Q: When a card “counts as” more than one other thing, does the person who owns it get to decide what it is at any given moment?
The promo card Fruitcake says it counts as either a Dessert, or the Gift. If Clear The Table is played, can it count as The Gift, and not be cleared? Open A Gift says that if The Gift is in play anywhere, each player may, on their turn draw and play the top card of the draw pile. Can The Fruitcake be declared to count as a Dessert only sometimes, to deprive other players of that option?
A: No, the player who owns a Keeper which can mimic more than one other Keepers does not get to choose when that card counts as one thing or the other. It has all applicable properties at all times – but it can never be more than one item at a time for purposes of meeting Goals. So the Fruitcake will always be swept from the table with all of the other foods when Clear The Table is played AND, if in play, it makes Open A Gift available to all players.
Disclaimer: All Fluxx cards, particularly promos, may have wording which is very specific to their situation, so it can be difficult to infer exactly how one card should or can be used by looking at other cards – so read each one carefully for its exact usage. Check FAQ on the Librarian, the Computer promo, the Android Doctor, the Animator, and others for more info.
Q: If I have the Seer promo in play, and someone else plays the Werewolf promo, can they immediately trash my Seer and give me the Werewolf?
…or can I choose to use the power of the Seer to discard it and the Werewolf as well?
A: No, unfortunately, you can’t use the power of the Seer to kill a Werewolf unless it’s your turn, and, yes, your opponent can kill your Seer as soon as they put the Werewolf into play. That’s the risk the Seer takes in being “out” visible on the table. As in the game Are You A Werewolf, if the Seer is known, they are generally the first target of the Werewolves. The strategic thing to do, then, would be to hold the Seer unplayed, if you can, until after the Werewolf is on the table…
Note: These two cards were Kickstarter exclusives when we produced our Deluxe version of Are You A Werewolf.
Q: How does the Lucky Charm card in Fluxx Dice work when you roll Play All or Play All -1?
A: As might be obvious, they can never be a part of a roll of “doubles”. When you roll either of these you can treat “All” as potentially infinity, such that the Draw roll is always the smaller number if they come up. Thus “Draw 6, Play All -1” becomes “Draw 7, Play All -1” with the Lucky Charm.
Q: When the Dice Override Rule goes out of play, do the Lucky Charm and Bad Luck cards cease to have any effect?
A: Yes. If the Dice Override Rule is not in play, the Lucky Charm is just a piece of breakfast cereal.
Likewise, you can’t have Bad Luck on your rolls if you’re not rolling dice. Note that this Creeper does not prevent you from winning if you have it.
Q: When I use Zap A Card on a Creeper, do I get to put it in my hand, then play it and draw to replace it?
A: Not quite. If you Zap a Creeper, you would simply then place it in front of you. You don’t get to draw anything.
The reason the Creeper card includes the words “then draw to replace” is that if you draw a Creeper, it goes down in front of you, and that doesn’t count as one of your draws (or one of your plays) so you still have a draw left, which you get to execute. Or if you were dealt a Creeper at the beginning of the game, it needs to go down in front of you, and you need to replace the card missing from your initial hand, since you should not start the game with a smaller hand than everyone else.
If you gain a Creeper any other way, you just gain it. It cannot ever really go into your hand, so it goes directly into play. If you choose to Zap a Creeper, you just get that Creeper. The reason is that Zap isn’t meant to give you an extra card in your hand so much as it is meant to give you whatever card you Zapped. So it’s not like you somehow missed out on the card Zap was intended to give you, such that you need to draw to “replace” anything.
Q: What happens if I Zap a Creeper attached to a Keeper? Or Zap a Keeper with a Creeper attached?
A: The Creeper and Keeper stay attached together until something separates them. So they would go to you, and attempt to go into your hand, which would separate them, since a Creeper cannot be held in your hand. So you’d end up with the Keeper in your hand, and the Creeper on the table in front of you, which will immediately attach to a Keeper, if possible (some can attach to any Keeper, some only to certain types.)
Q: When using a card that moves when the Goal is changed, what happens when you add a second Goal for Double Agenda? What about when it goes away?
A: For cards like the Radioactive Potato or Larry the Zombie, we would rule that the Goal, as a set, has been changed if you:
• Go from zero Goals to one
• Change one Goal out for another
• Go from one Goal to two
• Change one of the two Goals
• Go from two Goals to one
• Go from one goal to zero
All of these things would be considered a change in the Goal. The cards that could make that last situation happen may not be in Zombie Fluxx or Fluxx 4.0, but there is at least one card out there that can make that happen.
Q: We’re confused about how many extra cards we get to draw with Cartoon Talk under different circumstances.
A: This card is similar to some other cards we have, like Talk Like A Martian (promo for Martian Fluxx), Outrageous Accent (in Monty Python Fluxx), or Talk Like A Pirate (Pirate Fluxx). All of them work in the following way, to reward which ever kind of out-of-the-ordinary speech they describe.
On the first turn this card is in play for you, if you talk like a cartoon character, you can draw 1 extra card.
If you drop character and start talking like your normal self while everyone else takes their turn, then talk like a cartoon character again on your next turn, you get the same bonus as before: 1 extra card draw.
If, on the other hand, you talk like a cartoon character the entire time in between your turns (or don’t talk at all), then when your next turn comes around, you get to draw 2 extra cards when you talk like a cartoon character on your turn again.
Basically, if you stay in character in between turns, then you get the 2 card bonus if you keep it up on subsequent turns. If you stop talking like a cartoon character between turns, then talk like a cartoon character on your next turn, you get to draw 1 extra card.
Like all New Rule cards, it just stays out until it is trashed for some reason.
Just ask yourself when it gets to your turn:
Am I talking like a cartoon character now?
yes? = draw an extra card.
Did I talk like a cartoon character on my last turn, and keep it up until this turn rolled around so I’m still talking like a cartoon character?
yes? = draw a second extra card.
The maximum number of extra cards you will draw because of this Rule is 2.
Q: Are there any Surprises that can stop an act of Plundering?
A: No, none of the regular four Surprises can stop you from being Plundered, though you could stop someone from playing the Plunder Rule initially with Avast! (Veto!) you couldn’t do anything about it once it’s been in play for a while. Note that Plunder analogues include City of Thieves (Fantasy Fluxx, Adventure Time Fluxx), Crime Happens (Batman Fluxx), and Acquisition (Star Trek: TNG Fluxx, DS9 Fluxx).
There is, however a pirate-themed promo card we produced called Skullduggery, which does exactly that: it can stop a Plunder.
See also: Can you use the Skullduggery promo…
Q: Do Play All But 1 and Hand Limit 0 conflict? What do I do at the end of my turn if both are in play?
A: This situation should not cause any problems. You play cards until you have only one card left in your hand. At that point your turn is over, and you must comply with the Hand Limit, so you discard that one card left in your hand so that your hand has zero cards.
Q: When a person plays the Hastur card, do they have to tell the other players what the forbidden word is?
… or do they just write it down on a slip of paper, and reveal it when someone says it?
A: Yes, the player has to TELL the other players what the forbidden word is. If we wanted you to keep it hidden from the other players, write it down, reveal it at the moment invoked, we definitely would have put that in the instructions very explicitly. We feel that would be rather harsh to play it without telling people what they’re not allowed to say — more punitive and less fun, by far.
We feel the fun lies not in suddenly siccing it on some unsuspecting player, but in watching everyone speak in circles trying to avoid the word you’ve designated, and catching them when they’ve messed up… and know it.
Feel free to pick a ridiculously common word, however!
Suggestions: “you” “your” “turn” “card” “it’s” “the”… you get the picture…
Q: On the Seer promo from the Deluxe Werewolf Kickstarter, does the “once on your turn” restriction apply to the Werewolf elimination ability, or can you do that at any time?
…If the Seer is out, and someone draws the Werewolf, it seems like they could immediately destroy the Seer. Can the Seer utilize it’s power at any time to destroy the Werewolf first?
A: Doing things “at any time” or “out of turn” are the exceptions, and you should assume that most extra abilities can be used only on your turn, unless it’s specifically stated that you can do them at any time. The restriction applies to the entire sentence: you may perform either one of the abilities (but not both) once, during your own turn.
Regarding the scenario where the Werewolf jumps the Seer as soon as he comes into play: Unfortunately, that’s the risk the Seer takes in being “out” visible on the table. As in the game Are You A Werewolf, if the Seer is known, they are generally the first target of the Werewolves. The strategic thing to do, then, would be to hold the Seer unplayed, if you can, until after the Werewolf is on the table…
Q: Does Fluxx Dice have enough room to store the dice and a full Fluxx deck?
A: Well, the Fluxx Dice box is the exact same size as all our other deck boxes, but instead of the cardstock two-deck separator, it has a plastic tray to hold a single card stack. So if you’re wanting to combine a deck PLUS the dice, the real question is whether a regular deck box has enough room to add the dice, since it’s more practical to add the dice and couple of cards to a box with the appropriate insert to fit two card stacks.
So we went and tested this. The dice are a bit larger than your average D6, but if you pile the deck so that one side of the box is as full as it will go, leaving just a few cards in the other half, there is enough height there to hold the dice on top of the smaller pile. Basically, yes, it’s possible, you just have to adjust the heights of the card stacks to make room on one side for the dice.
Q: Does Inflation (aka X=X+1) affect the numbers shown on Fluxx Dice?
A: Yes, Inflation would apply to numerals seen on the dice just as they do on the cards.
Q: For Rock-Paper-Scissors Showdown, do we throw three times, and if it’s a tie then nobody loses cards?
Or do we keep throwing until someone has won two out of three? If Inflation is in play, do we need to play four rounds? What happens if there’s a tie in that case?
A: You keep playing games until someone has 2 out of 3 wins. Just re-throw ties: since they don’t result in a player gaining a win, they don’t count towards the number of games played.
If Inflation is in effect, you would indeed need to play 4 games instead of 3. If that turns out 2-2, keep playing until someone gets one more win. Like “sudden death” in an overtime tie situation: whoever scores first wins. Essentially, you’ll have to play until one player gets 3 wins, instead of just 2 as for the non-inflated tournament.
In either of these cases, there is no situation where no-one loses cards (unless, I suppose, someone didn’t have cards to lose in the first place). Perhaps it’s clearer to say: there is no such thing as a tie in this tournament; no situation where there is not a winner and loser.
Q: Can I claim victory with The Traitor promo card even if I have other Creepers?
A: When The Traitor is in play, that player is the only person who can win, since if anyone besides them wins, they steal the win. But if that person has other Creepers in play as well, then nobody can win. PLEASE! Somebody trash The Traitor already!
Q: How does The Traitor interact with Silver Lining (or other Rules that let you ignore Creepers)?
A: When The Traitor is in play, that player is the only person who can win, since if anyone besides them wins, they steal the win. Normally, since it’s a Creeper itself, it means that they can’t actually meet the win conditions themselves, because The Traitor prevents the win. However, with Silver Lining in play, all this means is that, in addition to being able to win when someone else meets the Goal conditions, you can also meet the Goal conditions to win under your own power. It still pretty much sucks for everyone besides the person with The Traitor in play.
Q: Can I play a Surprise to cancel a win caused by using Wormhole?
A: It depends which Surprise you have, and when you play it.
If you have the promo No Free Lunch, found in the More Surprises pack, you can play it to prevent someone from utilizing Wormhole (or any of its analogues, see below). The trick is, you’d have to play No Free Lunch when they declare they’re using Wormhole, but before they reveal the card – you can’t wait to see whether it makes them win to declare you’re using No Free Lunch.
On the other hand the card that is drawn and played because of Wormhole is affected by any of the “standard” Surprises. So if the winning card played because of Wormhole was a Goal, then Canceled Plans would be able to prevent the win, since it cancels Goals. If the card played was a Keeper, you’d need to use the That’s Mine in order to stop the win.
Of course, you can’t cancel any of these if YOU are the one who is using Wormhole.
See Can one ever use the “out-of-turn” function of a Surprise during one’s own turn? (spoiler alert: no)
Analogues of Wormhole include (some with slight variations such as conditional requirements for use):
Magic Shoes in Oz Fluxx
Egads! in Batman Fluxx
Magic Portal in Adventure Time Fluxx
Shiny! in Firefly Fluxx
the following have a Wormhole analogue, but do not have Surprises naturally occurring in the deck (though they can be added if you pick up the More Surprises pack):
Mystery Play in Fluxx 5.0 and SE
Time Doorway in Regular Show Fluxx
Open The Door in Monster Fluxx
Chemical X in Cartoon Network Fluxx
Great Idea! in Stoner Fluxx
Q: For Cartoon Talk (or Talk Like A Martian), can one just make any funny voice and say it’s some sort of cartoon character?
A family member thought they were able to just do a cowboy voice and say “I’m sure some cartoon character speaks like this.”
A: That’s a tricky question, but we would say the bonus applies as long as the player is using a voice that is clearly not their normal voice, even if they can’t actually name a cartoon character who uses such a voice. I agree with your concern, but I would still give them the benefit of the doubt, since there have indeed been many cartoon cowboys. Consider: if someone did a Mickey Mouse voice but for some reason just couldn’t remember the name of the character, you’d still accept it, right?
The spirit of the rule is to speak with a voice that isn’t your own, not to perform recognizable voice impersonations, and in this case I think a good enough effort was being made.
This would also apply to the Martian Fluxx themed promo card Talk Like A Martian.
Q: Meta Rules says they are played at the beginning of a game. Do you pull those out and deal separately?
A: You may notice that Meta-Rules have different backs from the rest of the cards. They are meant to not be shuffled into the deck at all, and the different back facilitates finding and pulling them if you accidentally shuffle them in. You just decide at the beginning of the game whether you want to play by those permanent rules or not. It’s like they are a house rule which all players decide on before starting.
This page has a short list and descriptions of all the MetaRules, with a little commentary.
Q: When using the Fluxx card Zap A Card as the repeating action with the Rule Let’s Keep Doing that, what happens if you zap Zap A Card?
…and what about Smite a Card from Olympus Fluxx?
A: The answer is that when you pick an Action card to go onto Let’s Keep Doing that, it’s like they become grafted together, so you can’t do anything to one without affecting the other. In this case the Action is really just a reminder, sort of a “shadow card” that indicates the current power of Let’s Keep Doing that, which is the Rule which is actually in play, and the Action is not considered to really be “in play”.
So we would rule that you can’t actually zap Zap A Card, you could only zap Let’s Keep Doing That. When you zap Let’s Keep Doing That, the applicable Action would go in the discard pile, and, as per the Zap A Card instructions, the Rule would go into your hand.
With Smite a Card, the only difference is that BOTH cards would end up in the discard pile: trying to smite Smite a Card itself would end up smiting Let’s Keep Doing that, and it would go in the trash.
Q: Play All but 1 seems broken with Inflation.
…As written on my deck, Play All But 1 reads “Play all but 1 of your cards. If you started with no cards in your hand and only drew one, draw
an extra card.” This means that if my Draw 1 was Inflated to Draw 2, then I don’t get to draw the necessary extra card to enable me to have any plays at all on my turn.
A: As you may have noted, the fix for this is simple, which is to treat the second “one” as a “1”, which it should have been in the first place. We’ll be implementing this fix on all subsequent printings starting in 2016.
Please treat this card as though it read: “Play all but 1 of your cards. If you started with no cards in your hand and only drew 1, draw an extra card.”
Note that Adventure Time Fluxx has the card Mathematical, which is an analogue of Inflation.
Math Fluxx has Increment All, which is like Inflation, but only applies to Actions and New Rules.
Q: I if I have the promo card The Computer (or Batcomputer) in play, do I get to draw extra when invoking Actions that have me draw or play cards?
For example, if I play Recycling, could I throw away a Keeper to draw 4 cards instead of 3? Or when I play Draw 3 & Play 2 Of Them, can I draw 4 and use 3 of them because I have The Computer?
A: No, not with the Computer (or Batcomputer). The promo card Inflation would cause all of these numbers to increase as you’ve described, but the Bat-/Computer only applies to the actual Draw, Play, Hand Limit, and Keeper Limit rule cards in play, not to any other circumstances that might cause you to do any of these things.
Q: If someone plays Trash a Keeper, could you use Skullduggery to stop them?
A: Yes. Trashing a Keeper changes its ownership, so it can indeed be canceled with Skullduggery.
Q: Can Skullduggery be used to stop Mutiny?
A: Yes. All of the various ways the Captain’s Hat might move around in a Mutiny would be considered changes of Keeper ownership.
Q: Can Skullduggery be used to stop a Keeper Limit being played as that could cause Keepers to “change ownership”?
A: No.
Q: Can Skullduggery be used to stop someone from discarding a booty Keeper to get rid of Shackles?
A: Yes. That player would not be allowed to use that Keeper for that reason until their next turn. However, they could immediately discard any other Booty Keeper they have to gain freedom.
Q: Can someone stand up and move around the table to give someone Germs (or Con Crud), or do they have to remain seated?
A: No, it has to be someone you can reach from where you are sitting during the regular course of the game.
Q: When you play The Computer promo card, do you instantly get another draw and another play?
A: Yes.
Q: Are the powers of the Computer optional?
A: Well, it depends which version of The Computer you’re using. The bottom line is: check the language. Where it says “may” or “can” it means you don’t have to if you don’t want to. If it just says certain parameters are increased… they’re just increased, no choice about it.
For all versions of The Computer, the increase in Draw and Play quantity is required, which interacts with Play All But 1 to make it Play All – no choice for you. For the versions in Star Fluxx and both Star Trek Fluxxes, the Limit increase is optional, but for the promo card version and the Batcomputer, the owner must use the increased limits.
Note that BMO (Adventure Time Fluxx) has the power of optionally increasing Limits by 1, and Data (Star Trek: TNG Fluxx) has the power of optionally increasing Play by 1.
Star Flux Star Trek Fluxx Star Trek: TNG Fluxx |
Batcomputer Computer promo |
BMO | Data | |
increase Play/Draw | required | required | – | optional |
increase Limits | optional | required | optional | – |
Q: Do the Tree promos count as The Tree in Family Fluxx, or Trees in Eco/Nature Fluxx?
A: Yes! The Fruit Tree, Pine Tree, or Palm Tree all count as The Tree in Family Fluxx, or as Trees in EcoFluxx / Nature Fluxx.
Q: How do I use the Andy Looney (autograph) promo card?
A: There have been various versions of Andy’s personal promo card over the years, and as we’ve reprinted it, we’ve added more things from later versions that Andy can participate in. Whether you have an early version of the promo or a later one, Andy currently counts as:
The Brain in regular Fluxx, but not Brains in Zombie Fluxx
A Friend in Zombie Fluxx and Stoner Fluxx
He’s also:
A Knight of the Round Table in Monty Python Fluxx,
A Sentient Being, and therefore susceptible to Brain Parasites in Star Fluxx
An Investigator in Cthulhu Fluxx.
Q: The Computer promo card says it “counts as an Appliance.” Does this mean it counts as Television for the purposes of the goal Brain No TV?
A: No. The Computer promo card does not state that it counts as either The Television or The Toaster specifically, but merely that it counts as “an Appliance” so it doesn’t have the powers of either of those other cards, but can substitute for any ONE of them only with respect to the Goal The Appliances, but does not, for example, “count as” the Television for blocking the win with Brain No TV, or for any other Goal involving the Television or the Toaster (you can’t toast your Bread with your Computer to win with the Goal Toast)
Q: What happens if one of the Rules you turn up with Pandora’s Box is Inflation?
A: Then Pandora’s Box now goes to 4. Since everything happens immediately in Fluxx, Inflation is applied to the Action that caused it to be played. Even if it was the third Rule you played, and you thought it would be the last, you’d suddenly have to go to a fourth New Rule, so you’d continue.
Adventure Time Fluxx includes the Inflation analogue, Mathematical! Inflation is also available as a promo card to add to any Fluxx deck.
Math Fluxx includes a card called Increment All, which is similar to Inflation except it only affects Actions and New Rules.
Q: The Composting promo card says it’s okay to look at the bottom card of the discard pile. If there is a multiple play in effect, can I look at more than one card at a time?
A: Any player may look at the entire discard pile at any time, but the order of what’s in the pile should not be changed. So you can look at as many of those cards as you like, and if you see a card you want that’s, for example, third from the bottom, then (as long as you have at least three draws available on your turn) you can take all those “from the compost pile” to reach it.
In fact, when Composting is in play, some people choose to splay out the bottom of the discard pile to more easily see what’s within drawing range for a turn.
Q: There are some cards which make Inflation extra confusing. How do we do the math on those?
A: We’d consider any cards which change the meaning of numerals on a card to be mutually exclusive to each other. Only one of them can be in play at a time, so if one is out, and someone plays a different one, the previous one would be discarded.
Inflation (Fluxx 5.0)(also available as a promo card)
Double Vision (Fluxx Remixx, Drinking Fluxx, More Rules promo pack)
One, Two, Five! (Monty Python Fluxx)
Increment All (Math Fluxx)
Mathematical! (Adventure Time Fluxx)
Note that you’ll find almost all of these (except for 1,2,5) on the same line in the Fluxx card comparison spreadsheet, since we consider these to be kind of variations on Inflation.
Q: With We’ve Already Got One, can the French Persons be a specific Creeper that someone else has in play?
A: When the Rule “We’ve Already Got One!” is in play, The French Persons can be any other specific Creeper, even if it is one that someone else has in play. It’s like the joke in the movie: how silly it is for them to say that they’ve already got a Holy Grail? There’s supposed to only be one, right? So it makes sense that even if someone else has a Creeper, the French Persons can masquerade as that Creeper.
Q: Is there a limit or order to drawing off the bottom of the discard pile using Composting?
A: You can choose to take any or all of your Draws from the bottom of the discard pile, and you can do it in any order. You can take one off the draw pile, then one off the bottom of the discard pile, then one off the draw pile, then one off the bottom of the discard pile. Each time you draw, you can choose which place to draw from.
Since you can look through the discard pile at any time (without changing the order) you can look at all the cards near the bottom of the deck, and see if drawing four cards will get you to a specific card you’re looking for. It’s a pretty powerful promo in some ways.
Q: How does Inflation interact with cards that say you “may” play (or draw 1) extra?
When a card states that you “may” play 1 extra card (e.g., Rich Bonus or Party Bonus), and Inflation is in play, it is treated as you may play 2 extra cards. Does this mean that you have to choose between playing 0 and playing 2, or can you also play only 1?
See this answer in a video!
Little Answers
A: It’s either zero or two. There is no one.
Adventure Time includes the Inflation analogue, Mathematical! Inflation is also available as a promo card to add to any Fluxx deck.
Q: Does Inflation apply retroactively to the No-Hand Bonus?
In other words, if I started the turn with an empty hand and drew 3 cards because of the No-Hand Bonus, and then I play Inflation, do I draw another card?
A: No. While everything happens immediately in Fluxx, things don’t happen retroactively. The action of the No-Hand Bonus only triggers at the start of your turn, therefore it doesn’t give you an extra card when Inflation is played during your turn. Inflation WOULD affect the current Draw Rule, but that’s not considered a retroactive effect, since the Draw Rule says you must “have drawn X cards on your turn” which is a status for your entire turn, from the beginning. By contrast, the No-Hand Bonus occurs specifically BEFORE the regular draw for your turn, and does NOT count as part of your draw.
Note that Mathematical In Adventure Time Fluxx is an analogue of Inflation, but that Adventure Time Fluxx does not have No-Hand Bonus.
Math Fluxx, on the other hand, has both the No-Hand Bonus as well as Increment All (an Inflation analogue which only applies to Actions and New Rules).
Q: When the Flame-Thrower promo is in play, can it be used to destroy more than one Zombie per turn?
A: Yes. The Flame-Thrower doesn’t say that it’s limited to once per turn, so it’s not. Of course, you can only kill zombies in front of you. It’s not a long-range weapon like the Shotgun.
Q: Is it possible to win with a Goal that uses a specific Keeper even though it would be “immediately discarded” due to conditions with a mutually exclusive Keeper already in play?
A: We’ve had this question in several different forms so far, so I’m tweaking it to make it generic. We’d say NO on this one. For example, if Batman is in play, it’s just not possible for Bruce Wayne to be somewhere else, even for an instant. Same with Yolanda/Saffron/Bridget. The Doctor is a bit different, but we think it’s cleaner to keep this working the same way as the others. Blinovitch prevents you from actually having any earlier Doctor for any amount of time if a later one is already on the table.
Q: Can you use the Skullduggery promo card to cancel a Plunder – not on the Rule itself, but on a single act of Plundering?
Or to cancel City Of Thieves in Adventure Time Fluxx, or Fantasy Fluxx, or Crime Happens in Batman Fluxx, or Acquisition in Star Trek: TNG Fluxx
A: Yes.
(Note that if you stop Acquisition from happening, you don’t get to take a card from the Acquiring players hand either. The entire card play is canceled.)
Q: How do we apply Inflation to Everybody Gets 1?
In my version of Fluxx, Everybody Gets 1 says (in part) “Count the number of players in the game (including yourself). Draw that many cards and give every player 1 card.” If we do that with Inflation, we only draw four cards in a four player game, and then we don’t have enough to give each player 1(+1), i.e. 2 cards.
A: Unfortunately, in the first printing of Fluxx 5.0 the wording on this card was accidentally modified so that it broke when used with Inflation. We have subsequently fixed the card to read as clarified below. Simply treat it as you would to execute “Everybody Gets 2”, specifically: “Draw enough cards to give each player 1, then do so.”
We have fixed the wording on this card to read exactly that for subsequent printings, starting in 2015.
Math Fluxx includes both Everybody Gets 1, and the Inflation cognate Increment All, which only works on Actions and New Rules.
Q: If Swap Plays For Draws and Play All (or Play All But 1) are both in effect, how does that resolve?
If I draw the number of cards I have left in my hand to play, do I have to play them all? Which one takes precedence? Play All, or Swap Plays?
A: Once you have exercised your option to Swap Plays for Draws, you have no more plays left (you have swapped all your remaining plays) so your turn is over. So, no, you don’t play those new cards drawn. In that sense Swap Plays “takes precedence” since you may still have cards in your hand at the end of your turn even though Play All is in effect.
Specific example:
The Swap Plays For Draws card explicitly states that when this rule is in effect, you may choose at any time to play no more cards, and draw the number of cards as you have plays left. Play All says to play all your cards this turn.
So lets say you have five cards in hand. You play two cards, and decide you want to swap the rest of your plays for draws. Since you have three cards remaining, and Play All is in effect, you have three plays left to swap, so you draw three cards, thereby ending your turn.
Likewise, if Play All But 1 is in effect, then as long as you have more than 1 card remaining in your hand (which would mean you have plays left to swap) you would get to draw the number of cards in your hand minus 1, since the number of plays you have remaining is simply 1 less than the number of cards in your hand. As with Play All, of course, once you choose to swap your remaining plays for draws, you have no more plays.
Q: Is Swap Plays For Draws limited by the number of cards you have in your hand?
A: Sort of. If you have more than enough cards in your hand to cover the number of plays left allowed by the Play Rule, then you just subtract how many plays you took from the number shown on the Play Rule. You played 1 and it’s Play 3, and you have 7 cards left in your hand? Play 3 minus the 1 play you took leaves you 2 remaining plays you could swap for draws. Your hand size does not affect how many plays you have left to swap.
If, however, the Play Rule indicates more plays left than you have cards left in your hand, then the number of plays you have left is the number of cards in your hand. The number of plays you can swap for draws is the number of ACTUAL card plays you could make, not the theoretical number of plays allowed by the Play Rule.
EXAMPLE:
Draw 1, Play 3 is in effect.
You have a hand of 0 and you draw 1 card. Now you have 1 card in your hand. How many plays can ACTUALLY be taken by you? Not 3 because the Play Rule says 3, but 1, because you only have 1 card in your hand. You can’t play cards you don’t have. At whatever time you choose to exercise Swap Plays For Draws, the question is: how many ACTUAL plays do you have left? In this case, you have only 1 play available to you, which you could choose to swap for 1 draw. Now you have 2 cards in your hand, but do you get to play them because the Play Rule says 3? NO, because with Swap Plays For Draws, you are deciding to sacrifice ALL your remaining plays for draws, so, by definition, no matter how many you drew, you have no plays left in your turn.
This is turns out to be exactly how we figure out how many cards can be drawn when the Play All (or Play All But 1) is in effect. In that case, you look at the number of cards you have left (or that number minus 1) and that’s how many plays you have, so that’s how many cards you draw. Again, remember that using Swap Plays For Draws means you have no more plays left in your turn, so you won’t be able to use any of those cards you just drew until your next turn.
Swapping Plays For Draws is one of the ways you can avoid having to playing a card that would make someone else win.
See also: Can I use Get On With It if I played my only card, but the Play rule says to play more?
Q: If the rules are Draw 1, and I draw three Creepers in a row, how many cards do I redraw?
…I say it’s just one card, but my husband says it should be three, since three Creepers were drawn. Who is right?
A: For practical purposes, you are correct. If you have laid down three Creepers in a row like that, you are left needing to draw 1. After your draw phase, you should end up having drawn just 1 non-Creeper for your Draw 1.
If anyone is having a hard time wrapping their head around why this is, here’s a blow-by-blow description of what happens when you draw three Creepers in a row while trying to Draw 1.
You Draw 1. It’s a Creeper.
It goes in front of you, and you draw to replace it, hoping for a non-Creeper to satisfy the current Draw rule.
Your “draw to replace” is… a second Creeper.
It goes in front of you with the first, and you draw to replace it, hoping for a non-Creeper to satisfy the current Draw rule.
Your “draw to replace” is… a third Creeper.
It goes in front of you, and you draw to replace it, hoping for a non-Creeper to satisfy the current Draw rule.
Your “draw to replace” is… finally a non-Creeper, which you add to your hand, and you have successfully followed the current Draw rule, which is Draw 1.
As you can see, in some ways, your husband is right… but the thing is, the three cards that were “drawn to replace” did happen… they’re just over as soon as you draw 1 non-Creeper.
Q: If I have specific Creepers required for a Goal, but I also have other Creepers, can I still win with that goal?
A: In the vast majority of cases, you cannot win if you have Creepers not specifically required by the goal.
Exceptions:
• Do your extraneous Creepers say that they keep you from winning? (Almost all Creepers do, but if they don’t then go for it.)
• Is there a Rule in play that lets you win even if you have Creepers? (There are a couple of these, depending on which versions you have.)
• In Batman Fluxx, if the Goal requires a Villain, Villains don’t prevent you from winning. However, if the Goal does NOT require a Villain, then Villains ANYWHERE prevent you from winning.
• In Nature Fluxx (aka EcoFluxx) all Creepers prevent everyone from winning, regardless of who has them.
See also: The… Goal requires a Keeper and either of two Creepers…
Q: If Play All But 1 is in effect, and there’s something that requires me to increase my plays, do I end up playing all?
The Computer promo card, or Batcomputer in Batman Fluxx, for example, increases both your Play and your Draw by 1. So does the Rich Bonus. Play 1 extra doesn’t affect Play All, so why would it affect Play All But 1?
A: Play All But 1 isn’t the same as Play All: when you Play All But 1, you do have 1 card remaining, so when you are then required to play +1 cards, you do have one left to play, so you must play it.
You need to take Play All But 1 as a unit into consideration: you can’t just break out the Play All, and apply the effects of the Computer, and then apply the …But 1 part.
Note that since the effects of the Computer are not optional, you have to do it, whether you like it or not. Other similar effects may be optional, so always check on that. It’s pretty easy to see whether something says you “may” do it, or if it just happens.