Q: Is there a limit to how many New Rules can be in play at once?

A: No.

As described in the New Rule section of the rule sheet, when playing a New Rule it says “If it contradicts a New Rule already in play, discard the old rule.” This is mostly in cases of Draw, Play, and Limit cards, which, of course, directly contradict Rules of the same category. We generally try to include helpful reminders on those cards about what they replace.

All other New Rules… well, most don’t have anything they directly contradict (though there are a few exceptions*) and they are simply added to the collection of New Rules in play, potentially building up to quite a few different things to keep track of. You don’t have to memorize them all – they’re all out there to see – but obviously this can get quite difficult to take in, especially for newer players, which is precisely why we include cards which reduce the number of New Rules in play, like Rules Reset, Trash A New Rule, Let’s Simplify, etc…

*Notable exceptions include the ruling that 1,2,5 and Inflation contradict (and would therefore replace) each other.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: If Inflation is played as one of the cards during the Action Draw 3 Play 2 Of Them, does it apply to the Action in progress?

A: Yes. Since everything happens instantly in Fluxx, Draw 3 Play 2 Of Them (D3P2) suddenly becomes Draw 4 Play 3 Of Them (D4P3, if you will). The player should immediately draw an extra card and add it to the remainder of the cards being chosen from (the mini hand for the Action, not the set-aside main hand). It’s kind of like if you’d only drawn 2 cards instead of the 3 you were supposed to, realizing the mistake after playing one of them, and drawing the extra card you need at that point.

Of course, your regular hand will also need an extra card, since the Draw Rule itself has also incremented. You could do that at the time you’re executing your D3P2 by drawing a card and adding it to your set-aside hand, or you could catch up with that when you pick your regular hand back up again after the action. Note you’ll also have an extra Play to execute as well.

Star Trek Fluxx includes Fizzbin, which is similar to D3P2/D2UE. If Inflation was played as part of Fizzbin, all numbers would need to be increased, so you’d draw an extra card from the draw pile, and take an extra card from your neighbor. You should then reshuffle your temporary Fizzbin hand and continue.