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Q: Surely I can win with I Alone Survived even if I have a zombie, as long as Zombies Ain’t So Bad is in play… but wait… other people’s zombies are also Not-So-Bad… Can I win?

…Here is the scenario: the Rule Zombies Ain’t So Bad is in effect, and every player has at least one zombie. The player who has the Car and no Friends plays the Goal I Alone Survived, which states that, in order to win, the player must have the Car, no Friends, and be the only player with no zombies (which is negated by the Zombies Ain’t So Bad Rule). The question is, in this situation, would the player with the Car and no Friends win, or, since Zombies Ain’t So Bad, is it fair to say that they would not be the only survivor, and the game continues?…

A: We agree with your second outcome, which is that, while Zombies Ain’t So Bad (ZASB) means your zombies don’t count, it also means that everyone else’s zombies don’t count either, and, since you all have not-so-bad zombies, you’re not really any better off than they are, and there are plenty of other survivors, so you don’t win.

BUT, this raises an even thornier question, which I brought up to Andy: Does this mean that one simply can’t win with I Alone Survived (IAS), if ZASB is in play, because everybody else is also Surviving, with their not-so-bad zombies? What if I am the only person with no zombies, and everyone else does have them? Honestly, I’m thinking that nobody would even think to question the outcome if one claimed victory in that scenario, since one is clearly meeting the stated win conditions… and yet I feel that we should address it.

Andy ruled that, in that case, you CAN claim victory with IAS, because, even if Zombies Ain’t So Bad… they’re still kind of annoying, so you really are in a superior position if you don’t have to deal with them. So if ZASB is in play, then the Goal basically becomes I Alone Remain Unpestered by Bothersome Zombies (IARUbBZ).

Q: Does the Action Here Humans! allow one to steal the Humans In Black?

…The Here Humans! Action states: “If this is a two player game, only take one of that player’s Human cards.” (Human is singular)

A: I checked with Andy on this, and he says that Here Humans! should be absolutely able to steal an opponent’s Humans In Black. Though it uses “Human” in singular, you can’t really separate them as a group, and they would be just as susceptible as other Humans to whatever you’re using for Human-attractant (some sort of audible call? “Hay-bay-bee!” Or maybe a scent-based attractant: cinnamon rolls, or those candied almonds they sell at the mall? Or maybe it’s a visual thing: a billboard for some irresistible deal or “free money!”)

In fact, they count as Humans for anything referencing them, even The Humans Are Revolting, for example. The only real difference is that they’re not Creepers, and have the special power to nullify the Creeper-aspect of other Humans.

Q: If I trade my Zombie Repellent with the Car owned by a zombie-afflicted player, can I win with I Alone Survived?

…Player A only has the Zombie Repellent sitting in front of her while Player B has the Car and a zombie. The Goal I Alone Survived is played, requiring just the Car and everyone else having zombies. During Player A’s turn, she plays Exchange Keepers and trades her Zombie Repellent for Player B’s Car. Some of the players in the game believed that Player A won instantly because at the moment she was the only one without zombies and met the Goal, but the others believed that Player B’s having received the Zombie Repellent would go instantly into effect – and he would have transferred his lone Zombie to Player A…

A: Player A does not win. Although it could be argued that there is a slight lag in both in story and gameplay while Player B sprays his repellent and decides where his zombie goes, we would rule that technically those things are simultaneous in terms of gameplay, and moreover, even story-wise the lag would not affect the long-term outcome: the car thief would not be the only one surviving. Here’s how we see the story playing out:

Sure, it makes sense that the repellent would take a little time to take effect, but this is irrelevant. If someone (Player A) literally ran up to you and your zombie and your car, and stole your car, tearing off with it into the distance, while tossing you their can of zombie repellent, saying “So long sucker!” who would win?

One might argue that Player A wins because you were temporarily “with zombie” and they were driving off with the car. That’s one answer – but we think you would survive in the end, since you have the repellent, so your car thief, player A, is not “Alone Surviving” to meet the stated intent of the Goal.

Q: If Sonic Sledgehammer is played, and I have the Expendable Crewman, must that be the Keeper I discard?

See this question in a video!
Our Friend The Expendable Crewman, Part 1

A: It depends. Were you the one who played the Sonic Sledgehammer, or was it an opponent? The Expendable Crewman’s power only triggers when someone else is taking or eliminating one of your Keepers. If you’re the one choosing a Keeper to get rid of (even just from a Keeper Limit) you’re not required to get rid of him.

Remember, it’s the person playing the Sonic Sledgehammer who gets to decide what Keeper everyone discards, including themselves. So if they are the one with the Expendable Crewman, they’re not required to discard that Keeper; they can get rid of whatever they want. However, if it’s someone else who has the hapless red-shirt, they have to choose for that player to discard the Expendable Crewman, even if there’s something else they’d rather that player lose.

To sum up, thematically: Your Expendable Crewman is only reckless when you’re under attack, otherwise, he’ll reliably go (or stay) where you want him to.

Q: If Dead Friends and Zombies Ain’t So Bad are both in effect, can I win with Goals requiring Friends?

See this answer as a video!
Ain’t So Bad

A: One could argue that your Zombified Friends are still Friends,
since Zombies Ain’t So Bad.
–Or–
One could argue that once your Friends are Zombified, it’s simply impossible to win with ANY Goal requiring Friends, even if Zombies Ain’t So Bad, since, really, they may not be so bad, but they’re not your friends anymore, they’re zombies. How many people describe their friends as “not so bad”? That’s hardly enthusiastic, you know?

So let’s ask ourselves how many of their Friend-attributes they maintain in Zombified form, such that they would meet the various Goals in a thematic sense:

• Zombie Food: are Zombified Friends Zombie Food?
Not really. Zombies don’t eat each other.

• Barricade the Windows: Could my Zombified Friends help me Barricade the Windows?
Maybe. Depends how hard it is to do that task. It would probably be hard.

• Getaway Driver: Can my Zombified Friends drive a car?
We’re gonna go with a big “no” on that one. Seriously doubtful.

and finally…

• We’re All All Right: Are my Zombified Friends “All Right”?
I don’t care how “not so bad” Zombies are, my Zombified Friends are definitely NOT “all right”.

TLDR:
The short answer from Andy himself is the second answer: if Dead Friends is in play, you can’t win with ANY Goal requiring Friends, because they’re not Friends any more, they’re zombies, even if they’re really nice Zombies. Sorry.

Q: For the Goal Bank Robbery In Progress, does the Villain have to be in front of the player with the Bank, or can it be anywhwere, like with Crime Spree?

A: Crime Spree specifies “5 or more Villains on the table”. The “on the table” part, pointedly NOT stating that they have to be in front of you is what lets you know that you don’t have to control them all yourself. Bank Robbery In Progress makes no such point about being on the table with unspecified location, so you should infer that, as with most Goals, you need to have that Villain on the table in front of you, specifically.

Think of it this way:

Here’s the Bank where there is a Bank Robbery In Progress. The Villain has to be THERE at the Bank to be in the progress of robbing it.

Q: The Treasure Map says I can reveal my Booty at any time. Does that mean I can reveal it when someone steals my Map, so that they don’t get the Booty?

A: The bottom of the Treasure Map card says “This card cannot be Plundered, but if it is lost or stolen, the Booty goes with it.” This indicates specifically that you CANNOT save your hidden Booty if the Map is stolen. Being able to “reveal [Booty] at any time” does not include retroactively deciding to have already dug up your treasure when you realize that someone is about to take possession of the map.

Once someone plays Steal A Keeper, the transfer of ownership is considered to take place instantaneously; there’s no time in between playing that card and them owning your Map during which you could reveal those cards. The only thing you might do after Steal A Keeper is played is play the Surprise that prevents Actions. Surprises are the only cards intended to interrupt or retroactively prevent what is normally an instantaneous effect.

Q: Does the Expendable Crewman protect against the Scientist’s power, even though the Scientist can’t steal the Crewman?

See this question in a video!
Our Friend The Expendable Crewman, Part 2

A: Yes. The Expendable Crewman is a real martyr/idiot/klutz who jumps/falls into the line of fire, gets beamed away somewhere (or killed or whatever) whenever someone moves to take any type of Keeper, no matter what the stated action or power that causes that Keeper to be taken or destroyed.

Imagine this scenario:

As your Scientist is attempting to lure the Energy Being into his trap, the clumsy (and terribly unlucky) Expendable Crewman just happens by, accidentally stumbling into the trap, and is captured by your Scientist instead of the Energy Being. You get the Expendable Crewman instead of the Energy Being. Reset your trap and try again next turn…

Or… Red alert! Someone is trying to beam your Energy Crystals right out of the engineering room. Your Expendable Crewman (always first into the fray!) leaps towards the beam… and is sucked up by the would-be thief (some opponent’s Scientist).

Q: If I’m using my Laser Pistol to shoot another player’s Keeper-with-Creeper, and they have the Expendable Crewman, what happens?

Does this negate the Laser Pistol power (as the Expendable Crewman has no Creeper attached)
-or-
Do we discard the Creeper (attached to a different Keeper) and the Expendable Crewman?
-or-
Do we discard the Expendable Crewman only?

See this question in a video!
Our Friend The Expendable Crewman, Part 1
Our Friend The Expendable Crewman, Part 2

A: The Expendable Crewman’s powers take precedence over the Laser Pistol’s. So even though you aimed and shot the Laser Pistol at the Keeper/Creeper combo, the Expendable Crewman leapt (tripped?) into the line of fire, and was offed instead, leaving the Keeper/Creeper combo still there to be dealt with some other way. Note that in Star Trek Fluxx, Ensign Smith functions as the Expendable Crewman, and in TNG Fluxx, Tasha Yar has that power.

So, knowing this, you might choose not to even point the Laser Pistol in that direction, knowing that annoying Expendable Crewman is hanging around – but that’s up to you.

(Keep in mind that if you’re the one with the Expendable Crewman, AND the Laser Pistol or Sword, you’re free to target your own Keeper-with-Creeper, without accidentally hitting your own Expendable Crewman. If the shot is coming from within his own ship, he will dutifully follow directions, and stand aside, letting the attack go through. It’s only when outside forces threaten that he gets flustered or over-brave.)

Q: After I’ve been revealed as the Secret Cultist, can I still win on an UnGoal?

I know I lose my next turn, but is that ability still available to me?

A: You can only win with the Secret Cultist if you are playing it as an out-of-turn play. If you are forced to play it as an actual in-turn play, you take the penalty instead of the out-of-play ability. Thematically, the idea is that you’ve been exposed as the Secret Cultist and your plans are therefore ruined. They locked you up until you came to your senses (your lost turn) and you no longer worship the Ancient Ones.

Note that if you play the Secret Cultist as a counter-Surprise, it does not count as using its in-turn function, and does not “reveal” you, so you don’t take the penalty. It’s more like you were a Secret Cultist for a while, but then you got tired of hanging out with those losers, and just decided to leave on your own.

Either way, whether you’re thinking about it thematically or not, there’s no way you could retain that special status/ability. Since you can only claim your Secret Cultist win by playing it out-of-turn after the game ends with an UnGoal, you need to still have it in your hand when that happens. If you’ve already played it in any fashion, that card has been used up, and is now in the discard pile. You’re no longer the Secret Cultist. In fact, if the discard pile is reshuffled, someone else might end up with it in their hand, in which case THEY would be the (as yet unrevealed) Secret Cultist. You’re just some failed has-been wannabe Secret Cultist (or successful survivor of a dangerous cult experience!)

Q: How does the Expendable Crewman work when Exchange Keepers is played?

[In Star Trek Fluxx, Ensign Smith has the same function as the Expendable Crewman, and in Star Trek: TNG Fluxx, it’s Tasha Yar]

A: It all depends on who has the Expendable Crewman, and who played Exchange Keepers.

See this question in a video!
Our Friend The Expendable Crewman, Part 1

If the player who has the Expendable Crewman is the one who plays Exchange Keepers, they can choose to trade whatever they want. It’s only when someone else is taking a Keeper away from you that they must take/destroy the Expendable Crewman.

If, on the other hand, your opponent has the Expendable Crewman, and you play Exchange Keepers, you’ll be getting that dork in the red shirt, no matter what you’re actually coveting in your opponent’s collection.

Think of it this way: he readily obeys his own captain’s orders, but he always seems to leap forward at the last minute when a hostile force demands hostages!

Q: Please explain how Metamorphosis and Madness impair Keepers in Cthulhu Fluxx.

A: The Keepers in Cthulhu Fluxx that have special powers (meaning there is some ability which could be impaired) include:

The Dreamer (cure Nightmares anywhere on the table, whether attached or not)
The Reanimator (steal The Body, if in play)
The Socialite (steal The Poet, if in play)
The Sanitarium (cure Nightmares or Madness if attached to your Keepers)
The Elder Sign (hide, i.e. neutralize any one unattached Creeper)
The Necronomicon (move any Creeper from player to player, then put the Necronomicon back in your hand)
The Ghoul (discard The Body, if it is in front of you)
The Cultist (win if in play when The Dunwich Horror Ungoal causes everyone else to lose)

Here is a flavor-text interpretation:

Regarding Madness (which only affects Investigators)
The Dreamer, Reanimator and Socialite can’t do any of that nifty stuff they do if they have gone Insane. Easy. Remember that Nightmares, however, don’t impair the Keeper, so The Dreamer can still get rid of them, even if he’s the one who has them.

Regarding Metamorphosis (which can attach to ANY Keeper)
If a Keeper starts to Metamorphose, it just can’t function the way it should. A Metamorphosed Sanitarium probably isn’t going to cure your Madness or your Nightmares (in fact, it will probably make them worse) and neither will a Metamorphosed Dreamer. The Socialite just isn’t going to be particularly attractive to The Poet once she starts turning into a frog-person.

There are some other theming issues that are raised with Metamorphosis, however, because it is so far-reaching (attaches to any Keeper).

For example, does it really make sense that Wilbur Whately wouldn’t win if The Dunwich Horror occurred, just because he was Metamorphosed? I thought a main quality of this personage was that he was pretty darn metamorphosed to begin with. Also, somehow I thought a Metamorphosed Ghoul would still eat Dead Bodies.

I consulted Andy on this, however, and he had to conclude that, while it does not necessarily make the best thematic sense, the rule with regards to gameplay, is quite clear: those special abilities are lost if that Keeper is Metamorphosed. Maybe they start morphing into something NICER than they were before!

Ghoul: “My tummy feels funny! That Dead Body just doesn’t look that appetizing anymore…”

Wilbur: “OMG where are my abdominal tentacles?! Dad’s* totally not going to recognize me without them! I am SO toast…”

* For those less familiar with The Dunwich Horror, Wilbur Whately is the abomination of a son resulting from a human woman bearing the child of an Elder God. Wilbur is trying to summon his father, Yog Sothoth, to the Earthly plane.

Q: If the Federal Agents have Metamorphosis attached, can they use their power to get rid of it?

A: Metamorphosis (and Madness) specifically state that any special powers of the Keeper they are attached to are nullified, so the Feds cannot “cure themselves” of either one. Note that in order to use their special power, you sacrifice the Feds Keeper, so in this case, it makes them seem oddly sane that they don’t want to kill themselves even when they go Mad or start to Metamorphose.

Nightmares, on the other hand, while they do attach, do not impair the Keeper, so the Feds could “kill themselves” to “cure” themselves of Nightmares. This would be perfectly effective, gameplay-wise, though it does seem a bit drastic, thematically:

“Agent Jones is having terrible nightmares, Sir!”
“Well, clearly, the only way to solve this case is to kill him, even if it means taking some casualties ourselves….”
“I’ll assemble a team, Sir!”

Q: How does Crazy Joe work in ÜberChrononauts?

A: In regular Chrononauts, the game ends immediately if the Universe is destroyed, with everyone losing – unless Crazy Joe was in the game, in which case he wins. However, in UberChrononauts, the game wouldn’t be able to continue if Crazy Joe meets his goal, and since the UberGoal requires you to accomplish more than just your character’s conditions, the universe needs to be kept from collapsing in order for the game to work.

Fortunately, there’s this special team of Time Police agents, who have been pursuing Crazy Joe across the timestream for eons, who will suddenly show up to solve this problem if it occurs.

Here’s what happens: Crazy Joe is credited with having destroyed the Universe, which teeters on the brink of destruction but doesn’t actually collapse. (The player keeps the ID card face up on the table thereafter, indicating that this part of the UberGoal is complete.) Then the Time Police rule described below is used to put the TimeLine back in order enough for the game to continue. (And while they’re busy keeping Time intact, Crazy Joe gets away scot-free! Laughing maniacally, of course.)

The Time Police Rule:
If the Universe is on the brink of destruction, and it would be awkward for the game to end without an actual winner, a special team of Time Police agents will suddenly step in to save the universe. This is done by giving all players an imaginary Restore History card, which each player must immediately use in turn on the Red Linchpin of their choice. After everyone has done their share of repair work, the Time Police will vanish and the game continues as usual with the next player. But the Time Police will not return. If the Universe is destroyed a second time, it really does get destroyed, and all players are considered losers.

Q: Can someone Memo a Memo?

i.e. can you stop someone playing a “Memo to Your Future Self” by playing a Memo or using the Cake card’s Memo ability?

A: Yes, a Memo can indeed be used to stop another Memo. And it’s mighty satisfying when you do! This also applies to the similar cards found in the Back To The Future card game.

“Looks like I Got There First to your dinosaur trap, and captured that Stegosaurus you thought you had.”

“Oh no you didn’t, because I sent a Memo to myself, telling me that you’d get there before me, so I got there 15 minutes before you, so actually, I still have Steggy.”

“Oh yeah? Well I sent myself a Memo telling me that you were going to get there 15 minutes before I got there before you, so I got there 15 minutes before you got there 15 minutes before me getting there before you, so actually, the dino is mine…”

Q: If the Holographic Projector/Holodeck is used to imitate a Keeper with a Creeper attached, does the Hologram count as both the Keeper and the Creeper at the same time?

Say I have a Robot with Evil attached to it. If my girlfriend plays the Holographic Projection and then the Robot Uprising Goal, does she win?

A: Yes. Your girlfriend wins.

Think of an attached Creeper as being simply an aspect of its host Keeper, something that transforms the whole rather than just riding on top. The Holographic Projection copies the whole thing, and if that’s all you need for victory, you win. On the other hand, if you need just the Keeper, but it has a Creeper attached, then suddenly you also have the Creeper, which will probably prevent your win.

If all you needed was the Creeper from the Hologram, and you have the other half of the Goal yourself, you could also win. For example, if she had the Starship, and you had the Robot with Evil attached, she could Hologram the Evil Robot, and win with the Goal Imperial Destroyer (Evil and the Starship).

Note, however, that if you need the Keeper to win, but not the Creeper, if you Holographically imitate the Keeper, you’ll also “acquire” the Creeper, which will prevent your win if it’s not the exact Creeper needed for the Goal.

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I must admit it seemed illogical to me (Alison), but Andy and I recently debated this again. The wording on the card says that if you have the Holographic Projection in front of you, it’s as though you have the imitated Keeper were in front of you AND NOT them (emphasis added). So you have it INSTEAD of them.

When I protested to Andy that you having a holographic projection of something that I have shouldn’t negate my having the actual thing, he argued that he’d prefer to stick with the original wording, as it is actually clearer in terms of gameplay (as opposed to calling it a tie, in which case you’d have to keep playing until a clear winner emerges, which, by the way, is the rule for any situation in Fluxx where there appear to be dual winners. Except for the APTWE. Of course).

Moreover, Andy had this logical workaround: the holographic projector is SO GOOD that if you have a holographic projection of something duplicating it, it’s as though you’ve swapped with the other person, and they suddenly realize they don’t have the original/s any more at all:

“OMG! How long has this doctor been a hologram???”

Q: Why don’t Brain Parasites impair the Keeper? And if they don’t impair, why can’t the Doctor cure himself?

A: No. Brain Parasites don’t inhibit their host Keeper’s power, but in the case of the Doctor, he cannot treat himself. As the card says, he can only discard Brain Parasites if attached to one of your other cards.” Of course, if you have the promo card The Android Doctor, then he can cure the Doctor of Brain Parasites, and vice versa (the Doctor could cure the Robo-Doc). Like the Doctor himself, however, the Robo-Doc can’t cure himself either.

Here’s the full thematic explanation of why Brain Parasites don’t inhibit Keepers’ abilities, but they DO keep the Doctor from healing himself:

The reason is not due to the fact that he’s lost his curative powers. If you have Brain Parasites, then your every action will be subject to the whims of these aliens who have invaded your head. The Brain Parasites might WANT the Engineer to repair that computer. They might WANT the Captain to steal the Scientist. After all, they don’t want to do stuff that’s bad for their host, right?

But it simply doesn’t make sense for them to ever allow the Doctor to use his curative powers to evict themselves from his own cozy cranium. In fact, if there were multiple Brain Parasite Creepers in the game, the Brain Parasites would, logically, bar the Doc from curing anyone of Brain Parasites (which would effectively nullify the Doctor, since in this game that’s apparently the only curable disease in known space.)

PS: The real question in my mind is why the Brain Parasites don’t nullify the powers of The Expendable Crewman, since his “power” is that he frequently gets himself kidnapped or killed. Kidnapped is fine… I can totally imagine a scenario where the Brain Parasite might want it’s host to get stolen and taken to another ship (“Oh goody, we shall spread to a whole new crew!”). But one of the possible (though perhaps drastic) ways to get rid of an attaching Creeper is to destroy the host Keeper, and the Expendable Crewman’s power is to somehow step into the line of fire, even when he’s not the intended target. Maybe the “power” of the Expendable Crewman is just so strong that even having his mind controlled by an alien being can’t keep him from being a hot-headed klutz.

Q: Does Evil cause the Keeper that it’s attached to not to work?

A: No. (If that were the case, the card would say so.)

Thematically, it actually works quite well, sometimes BETTER if the Keeper is Evil. I think if you were using the Dark Side of the Unseen Force you’d be even more likely to mess with people’s heads. If you were a Bad Guy Space Captain it would totally be in character for you to shanghai other people’s Crew Members. And just because you’re an Evil Engineer doesn’t mean you can’t fix that Malfunctioning Robot – I mean, it might be your Killer Death Robot! You could be an Evil Doctor seeking to eradicate the peaceful Brain Parasite species. See, it totally works.

Evil also occurs in Fantasy Fluxx, where it is the only Attaching Creeper. Again, there’s no reason why it should cause anything to not work. The Magic Wand still turns any non-magical being into a Spellcaster, whether Evil is attached to the Person or the Wand, it makes no difference. There really aren’t any thematic reasons it should impair the Keeper either: there are plenty of Evil Spellcasters in the literature, evil Magic Rings (the most famous one does, in fact, turn one invisible, no less!) Evil Dragons, Evil Pirates, and so forth. Sadly, Evil is versatile, and seems to “work” with everything…