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Q: Is there a “formula” for creating a new version of Fluxx? How many of each card type, which “generic” cards to include, that sort of thing?

…Just for fun, I want to try designing my own deck – strictly for personal use.

A: The most basic formula is simply 25% of each of the 4 card types, but Fluxx is a very flexible game engine and you can push any of those numbers as needed. Indeed, it usually ends up being closer to 20 Keepers and 30 Goals. Just to give you an idea of the range of variability for the numbers, you can check out the card ratios for every version of Fluxx on the right side of this chart.

If you decide to include Creepers, they will take the place of some of your Keepers. But be careful about Creepers… don’t add too many, and don’t use them at all unless the subject matter really demands it. If so, be sure to include plenty of ways of to get rid of them.

Always use all of the usual Draw and Play rules, and at least a couple of Hand Limits (they may not seem fun but they are important for preventing out-of-control hand growth). Start with basically all of the Actions from basic Fluxx, then replace whichever of those you think don’t fit and replace them with as many on-theme new Actions and Rules as you can imagine.

As for the Keepers and Goals, the important thing there is to make sure every Keeper has at least 2 uses, i.e. it appears on at least 2 Goals. Obviously, the more uses the better.

We call the most useful Keeper in the set the Chocolate (since that’s the one most used in the original non-themed versions). If your theme has a main character or primary focus, such as Dorothy in Oz Fluxx or Alice in Wonderland Fluxx, then that Keeper should be your Chocolate. Have fun!

For some more practical tips about designing your own custom Fluxx deck see: Q: What do I need to make a fully-custom Fluxx version?…

Q: Do you have blank boxes, or can I print out my own?

A: We do occasionally make blank versions of some of our boxes. The Bigger Blanker Box is an example which has been around intermittently, when we have made games in that size (Time Breaker, Pyramid Quartet, Chrono-Trek).

But, long ago, one of our friend/fans, Elliot Evans (AKA Eeyore), created a number of card box templates, and another, Craig Forbes, made a neato custom-generation app. Here is Eeyore’s box page.

There’s a link there to Craig’s any-size-tuckbox generator, as well as a template for our standard side-by-side box. Rather than linking to each template directly from here, it’s good to check out that main page, as it also has some good tips on how to go about printing any of the boxes. Remember when he talks about “the printed side” he means the side with the cut and fold lines, and when he talks about laminating it, he’s talking about laminating the outside.

Q: What do I need to make a fully-custom Fluxx version? (Just for myself, of course)

…Can you send me Blanxx files so I can create the whole deck on my computer?

A: No, sorry, we don’t send out files for our cards, not even the Blanxx. It’s simply not a good idea for us to do so. Yes, it’s expensive to make a full deck with Blanxx, there’s just no getting around that fact. If you were going to create every card from scratch, even the basic Draw, Play, and Limit Rules, you’d need about 20 packs of Blanxx (since there’s only 1 blank Rule card and 1 blank Action in each packet). That would cost you $100. (Though, at least you’d get a 10% discount on your order.)

For this reason, we suggest picking one of our (cheaper, non-licensed) decks as a “base set” and using the “universal” Rules and common Actions as a starting point. Frankly, it’s VERY difficult to think of new themed Actions and Rules (though you may want to use existing functionality, and re-name them. That’s totally valid.)

Then get enough Blanxx for your Keepers (there are 2 Keepers and 3 Goals in each Blanxx pack) so maybe you’d need… 10-12 Blanxx packs? So this cuts your costs down to:

Base deck: $20
10-12 Blanxx: $50-$60
That’s $70-$80, which is still really expensive, but still saves you up to $30.

Finally, the most economical way to make a fully customized deck is to buy just the base deck of your choice, and no Blanxx at all, and print your custom cards onto full-sheet sticker paper then cut them out to cover over the cards you’re not using.

You just and print out (or draw) your custom ideas onto the sticker paper (be sure to use the fully opaque kind!) and sticker over cards on your base deck, keeping the basic Rules and any Actions you want, of course. This is how Andy makes all his prototypes for new decks! The cards are a little weird to shuffle, and it does mean you need to approximate the look of the stripe and text in the graphics you’re printing out, but they work fine, and the fun is in the customization, after all!
TIP: Andy cuts them out square, and then, if the corners go a teeny bit off the card, he just trims them with scissors.

Before you write on, or fully sticker-up some of your newest ideas for Rules or Actions, or special powers, it’s a good idea to playtest them first. We’ve heard of people putting sticky notes on cards with their idea (or, if it’s wordy, just the name, with a reference to the fine print written down outside the game). Fluxx can have some complicated interactions between cards, and it’s easy to accidentally create something that has unforeseen effects. We’ve certainly discovered that ourselves! Anyhow, you don’t want to waste a card by customizing it, only to realize it is not functional.

Check out the Fluxx Complexity Factors chart to see what card ratios each of our versions has, so you can get an idea of typical numbers.

The Fluxx Card Comparison chart lists every New Rule and Action (and Surprise) in all of our decks and is a great tool for choosing which deck you want to use as your “base deck” and getting ideas for fun Actions and New Rules.

For more detailed info about Fluxx design, see: Is there a “formula” for creating a new version of Fluxx?…

Both links are also at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Q: Can you send me high-resolution art for one of your games so I can make custom cards that look perfect, and have them printed at a printer?

A: Well, this gets a bit tricky. We don’t give out high-resolution art of our games, because we just can’t let those loose around the internet without our control. Also, this may be frustrating to all of you fans out there, but we don’t actually want people to be able to make cards that look so perfect that they look like we made them ourselves because, again, we would have no control over what’s out there which people might think has come from us.

While, on an individual basis, any specific person might assure us that they would never do anything irresponsible with the files, or create things which might make us look bad, it’s just not a chance we can take with our game assets. It’s literally our business to be the sole creators of these games.

For this reason, we also do not give permission for fans to go to an actual card-printer to have their custom cards made. If you went to a printing company, they would want to be assured that you have permission to print our assets, and the answer to that is No. Sorry. One home-made copy for you is okay, and that’s it. We don’t want people going and printing their own versions of our games.

Here’s the longer version of what we are and are not okay with in terms of people making their own custom decks: Can I make copies of my home-brewed Fluxx (or Chrono, or Nano, etc.) deck… (go down to the bullet points for the short version).

That said, lots of fans have come up with methods to optimize the appearance of their customized cards at home. Here is another FAQ that links to an old file with various methods people have used to print on blanks (they’re talking about Fluxx Blanxx in this case, but the methods would be the same for any of our card games.

See: How can I use my printer to make my Fluxx Blanxx come out really nice?

Q: I’ve designed a great new version of Fluxx! Can I get Looney Labs to publish it?

A: If you think your deck idea is so good we might want to publish it ourselves, you are welcome to submit it to us. But please understand that we will need for you to grant Looney Labs permission to use your ideas for free before we can even look at them.

Andy already has more unpublished Fluxx decks designed than we have in print, and chances are very good that he’s already thought of whatever it is you’ve come up with. Given this, we can’t risk opening ourselves up to claims that we stole ideas from you if we subsequently publish something that seems similar to an idea you suggested.

You are always welcomed to make one copy for yourself. But just one:
See: Can I make copies of my home-brewed Fluxx deck…

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: Can I make copies of my home-brewed Fluxx (or Chrono, or Nano, etc.) deck to give free to my friends? Or to sell as a fundraiser for my excellent cause? Can I license the Fluxx engine from you to make a version for my special-interest community?

A: Short answer, NO.
(BUT, you can make a Custom Loonacy deck…)

Here at Looney Labs, we do always try to encourage creativity, and we love hearing stories about the fun our fans have had by putting their own twists on our games. Fluxx in particular lends itself to customization, and we make blank Fluxx cards available for those who want to add their own cards into one of our games.

We’re all in favor of house rules and homemade cards, and we love it when people adapt our ever-changing game to suit their own tastes. And just as we’ve had fun creating entire Fluxx decks in many different flavors, so too have countless others, on every subject you can imagine.

However, it’s one thing to make your own Fluxx deck, for you to use and even play with your family and friends. We happily encourage that. But when you ask if you can start duplicating your deck and distributing copies — basically publishing it, even if the print run is very small — then we have a problem. This is not ok. Even if you are distributing it for free – this is not ok.

(If you represent a publisher seeking to license the rights to Fluxx, our answer will almost certainly be no, but feel free to ask. The only license grants we offer are for foreign-language translations of our own designs.)

Looney Labs is the exclusive publisher of games that use the Fluxx engine, for which privilege we pay royalties to designer Andrew Looney. Fluxx is our most important brand, and it is simply not in the best interests of Looney Labs to permit competing entities to distribute copies of a game based on Fluxx (no matter how small the production run nor how unique the theme) to others in the marketplace.

• It is ok to post/share a written card list and photos of a few sample cards
• It is NOT ok to post a PDF (or any digital file) of your card designs online
• It is NOT ok to send a friend your files, or to print an extra copy to give to them
• It is NOT ok to pay a printer to make you one nice copy for yourself
• It is NOT ok to send digital files to anyone – not a friend, not a print-on-demand printer

If you are a teacher, and want to design Fluxx games in your classroom, go for it. It is a wonderful creative exercise. But make sure your students understand these rules about not publishing the design online, and no, it is NOT ok to make a small print run so each student gets a copy.

Again, one-of-a-kind Fluxx decks are fine, we encourage anyone who feels creative to try their hand at making one. In legal terms, that’s “Fair Use.” You can make your own deck and play it with anyone you like. But you may not make copies. Sorry, we simply cannot condone that.

We realize this answer will be disappointing for would-be Fluxx designers, but unfortunately we’ve concluded that this is the best policy for us. We hope you can understand our reasoning. Thanks!

Q: I’d love to add historical points to my timeline! Do you make Chrononauts blanks?

A: Unfortunately, we don’t make blank Chrononauts cards. While there may be lots of room for creativity, it’s actually much harder than you think:

For every new Ripplepoint you make, you need a Patch, which would necessitate a blank deck card in addition to a blank timeline card. If you wanted a blank Linchpin, that’s yet another type. And adding points to the timeline would have little effect if there weren’t any characters who needed them, so that’s yet another type of blank needed.

We consider balance quite important, so that there are always people fighting for both sides of a given timeline point. That’s a game design issue, and we just don’t feel the average fan is up to that level of tweaking. In short, it’s quite a small audience for a rather complex little layout and print job.

Q: How can I use my printer to make my Fluxx Blanxx come out really nice?

A: Before you go making your own custom cards, be sure to playtest any new ideas well! One fan suggests using one of your blank cards for a playtest by taking a mechanical pencil and lightly writing the text in. If you don’t press very hard, you can erase and reuse the blank. Some people just put a sticky note on the card for playtesting purposes. After all, you don’t want to make all the effort of producing a custom card, only to realize it’s broken.

The easiest way to make custom cards (and the way we do it here at the Labs for prototypes) is to print onto full sheet sticker-paper, cutting the resultant print-out to stick onto the card (Andy recommends Avery 8465 shipping labels with TrueBlock(tm) technology).

You can print directly onto the cards, but note that, depending on what kind of printer you have, the printing may not stick to the card very well, though sealer can help. Here are the various tips for that technique:

For printing directly onto cards, one uses a carrier sheet, which just means creating a layout for your cards in some application, like Word, for example, and printing out a test sheet on regular paper. Then, affix your card/s to the sheet in those spots, using the design to position the card, and run the sheet through again. You can do them one-up, or six-up, or whatever you find works best. Once you get a template for the card placement on the carrier sheet, you can use that same piece of paper over and over, printing from different files with different art in that spot.

For attaching your cards to the sheet, fans have suggested either 3M Temporary Glue Stick, which is kind of like a post-it-note adhesive to coat the design portion of the carrier sheet (rather than the cards), or Scotch removable double-sided tape, which is a similar temporary adhesive. If using the glue stick, note that the cards may still end up with some adhesive on the backs, which sometimes takes a bit of rubbing to remove.

Also note that printing will go most smoothly if you have one of those printers which has an option to feed from the back so that the paper doesn’t have to do much of a bend (this is sometimes available on printers for printing onto thicker cardstock or envelopes). When you’re printing your carrier sheet, use the same feed you’re going to use with the cards on it, so that it will line up the same way.

All sources recommend sealing, either by spraying with fixative for chalk-pastels, or a clear acrylic sealer, matte or gloss.

Then also, of course, keep the resulting cards away from moisture!