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
- Q: So, in Math Fluxx, it has to be my turn in order to win with the Goal?
- Q: How can I tell which edition of Math Fluxx I have?
- Q: In Math Fluxx you can obviously use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division along with as many brackets as you like, but can you use “to the power of”?
- Q: Can I still win if several turns have gone by, as long as the Goal is still in play?
- Q: The Biggest Number Action in Math Fluxx 2.0 says “In case of a tie, all players get the bonus.” Does that mean ALL players or all TIED players?
- 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: It is possible to use Get On With It if the rules are only Play 1?
- Q: If it’s draw 1, play all but 1, I draw 2 cards if I have no cards. If I then play draw 4, do I draw 2 or 3 more? Is that extra card counted as a draw or ignored like the no hand bonus is?
- Q: What are the differences between Math Fluxx 1.0 and 2.0?
- Q: Can we use a 1 and a 0 to substitute for 10 for the Goal?
- Q: Could you explain the Goal/Action Binary Number?
- Q: in Math Fluxx, to win with Your Age, or Today’s Date/Day of the Month, do extra Keepers prevent you from meeting the Goal? It seems like that might be too easy sometimes!
- Q: In Math Fluxx 1.0, with Plan C how do we deal with the Goals Nothing, Two Pair, Binary Number, and Sequence?
- Q: When using Zap A Card in Fluxx, can I take cards out of the discard pile?
- Q: For the Goal Today’s Date/Day of the Month, does the date always have to be represented with two digits (i.e. with a leading 0 for the first nine days)?
- Q: Can we use math to create one of the digits needed for the Goal? What if Grafting/Combine Digits is also in play?
- Q: If we are playing with Plan C/Math Rules, and Grafting/Combine Digits comes into play, doesn’t that mean we can win without using math?
- Q: Are we allowed to make more than one number via Grafting/Combine Digits?
- Q: What happens if I have zero cards in hand, with Draw 1, Play 1 in effect, and the 1 card I draw and play is Play All But 1?
- Q: What happens if I play an Action that causes my turn to end immediately in the middle of Draw 3 Play 2 or Draw 2 & Use Em (or Fizzbin, or Goal Bonanza)?
- Q: Can I use Get On With It if I played my only card, but the Play rule says to play more? Does that count as “before my final play”?
- Q: It seems like Get On With It or Swap Plays for Draws would contradict Play All. Would putting either of these into play cause Play All to be discarded?
- Q: What cards have effects that include ending my turn immediately if I play/use them?
- Q: Does the order of your Keepers on the table matter in Math Fluxx? If so, can I rearrange them at will?
- Q: Some cards say things about “when discarded”. If I use Zap A Card, the card isn’t discarded, it’s just no longer in play. Isn’t that the same thing in this case?
- Q: Meta Rules says they are played at the beginning of a game. Do you pull those out and deal separately?
- Q: Play All but 1 seems broken with Inflation.
- Q: What are all the different cards in different versions where you get to draw the top card and play it immediately?
- Q: Could you clarify how many cards we can eliminate with Let’s Simplify? What does “up to half (rounded up)” mean?
- Q: There are some cards which make Inflation extra confusing. How do we do the math on those?
- Q: Does Inflation apply retroactively to the No-Hand Bonus?
- Q: Can you Get On With It or Swap Plays For Draws with your cards from an Action like Draw 3 Play 2?
- Q: If a card says “Your turn ends immediately,” but Play All is in effect, which takes precedence?
- Q: For Poor Bonus, is 0 Keepers fewer than 1 Keeper? For Lowest Score (in Math Fluxx) is 0 less than 1?
- Q: Do the cards you draw with the No-Hand Bonus count towards your Draw for that turn?
- Q: If something is played where “your turn ends immediately,” does it mean that you are not subject to the hand and Keeper limits that turn?
- Q: How do we apply Inflation to Everybody Gets 1?
- Q: For Everybody Gets 1, do I get to look at the cards before I hand them out to people?
- 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?
- Q: Does the Rule Mystery Play require one to play the specific card flipped up from the top of the deck?
- Q: When we all pass a card left or right, is that simultaneous?
Q: So, in Math Fluxx, it has to be my turn in order to win with the Goal?
A: Only under certain circumstances:
In the current version (Math 2.0) when playing with the Math Rules Meta Rule (orange stripe), it must be your turn to claim victory. In Math Fluxx 1.0, the same conditions occur when either of the three Victory Rules are in play: Times Victory, Plus Victory, or Combo Victory.
No matter which version you have, the situation is really the same: if you have to use math to get your Keepers to make the number on the Goal, then the idea is that it’s really mentally taxing to have to be watching and constantly recalculating to know whether you can jump in and declare a win. Instead, you only have to assess the Goal which is there on your turn, to see whether you can win with math.
This doesn’t mean you should just relax your math-brain between turns, however – it really helps speed the game along if you have your calculations all figured out when your turn comes. But remember – if you do realize you can win via math when a Goal is played, but it’s not your turn, it’s probably best not to mention it until your turn rolls around, or else someone may make a point of changing it before it’s your turn again.
Q: How can I tell which edition of Math Fluxx I have?
A: Here is a picture of the cover of each:
In case you’re here because you need to see what cards you should have:
Math Fluxx 1.0 card list
Math Fluxx 2.0 card list
In case you’re wondering what the differences are:
Math Fluxx 1.0 vs. 2.0
Q: In Math Fluxx you can obviously use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division along with as many brackets as you like, but can you use “to the power of”?
…For example can you say keeper 2 to the power of keeper 6 gets goal 64?
A: I think we thought it wouldn’t come up enough to be worth mentioning, but yes, we would certainly also allow exponentiation (or roots)!
Q: Can I still win if several turns have gone by, as long as the Goal is still in play?
A: There’s no limit to how long a Goal is valid, except how long it remains in play. You don’t have to realize it right away in order to win.
The only exceptions to this are in certain cases in Math Fluxx.
Q: The Biggest Number Action in Math Fluxx 2.0 says “In case of a tie, all players get the bonus.” Does that mean ALL players or all TIED players?
A: It means all tied players. We’ll be fixing that wording on the next print run.
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: It is possible to use Get On With It if the rules are only Play 1?
… The wording “final play” makes it seem as if there’s more than one play needed….
A: If you have only one Play (or only one card to play, even if the rules allow more) then that one card would be both your first and your final play. So yes, there IS a final play, even if you’d only be playing one card.
So, in order to use Get On With It, you’d have to do it before your final play, i.e. before your ONLY play. You’d just not take your Play for that turn, and do Get On With It instead.
Q: If it’s draw 1, play all but 1, I draw 2 cards if I have no cards. If I then play draw 4, do I draw 2 or 3 more? Is that extra card counted as a draw or ignored like the no hand bonus is?
A: This is VERY good question, which we are surprised hasn’t come up before! We had to sit down and really contemplate the situation to make a ruling on this.
To recap, the Play All But 1 (New Rule) says “If you started with no cards in your hand and only drew 1, draw an extra card.” And, as we all know, when you play a card that increases the Draw amount, you get to draw the difference to increase your total cards drawn to the current New Rule in play.
The way Andy framed the question is “Is the extra card one draws like a ‘salary advance’ on your regular draw allotment , or is it more like a ‘bonus’ on top of your regular draw?” After some thought we felt that what the Play All But 1 card is doing is more like a temporary modification of the Basic Draw rule, and, as such, would make the extra card part of your total Draw allowance for your turn.
So, in the example presented in the question above, where (after having started with no cards, and Drawing 2) you have played Draw 4, you would draw only 2 additional cards (and continue to Play until you have only 1 card left in your hand).
Q: What are the differences between Math Fluxx 1.0 and 2.0?
A: We have a page just for this!
https://www.looneylabs.com/math-fluxx-upgrade-instructions
Q: Can we use a 1 and a 0 to substitute for 10 for the Goal?
A: Yes, if you’re not using math to meet a Goal, a 1 and a 0 can always be substituted for a 10.
If you’re using Math Rules, however, Combine Digits would have to be in play to make your 1 and 0 count as a 10.
Q: Could you explain the Goal/Action Binary Number?
A: In Math Fluxx 1.0, Binary Number is a Goal, but in Math Fluxx 2.0, it was changed to an Action. In both cases, there is a positive outcome for meeting the criteria (Goal: you win, Action: you draw extra cards). Either way, the question is, what exactly does it take to meet the criteria?
For the Goal version, it is phrased:
“You win if you alone have:
1) at least four Keepers [in play, of course]
2) all of which are either Number One, Number Zero, or Number Ten [or Eleven, if you have the expansion]
3) and nothing else.”
When we say a player “has a binary number” we do not mean they “have at least one Keeper which is only zeros or ones.” We mean the single, multi-digit number which is formed by the melding of ALL of their Keepers, hence the restriction that ALL of one’s Keepers must be composed of ones or zeros or tens (or elevens, if you have the expansion pack).
Also, despite any perceived ambiguity in the wording, the sentence is NOT broken up thusly:
(Number One, Number Zero) or (Number Ten and nothing else). For starters, you don’t have “at least four Keepers” if you have “Number Ten and nothing else.”
The Action version is (we hope!) clearer. In this case, since it’s not a win condition, you don’t have to be the ONLY one to meet this; everyone who meets the criteria gets the bonus cards. Note that in this case you don’t have to have at least four Keepers. You could have just one, as long as it’s a number made up of only zeros and/or ones, and you don’t have any non zero/one Keepers.
“If the numbers on the Keepers you have in play are limited to zeros and ones (including the number ten) then you could say you have a binary number. All players with a binary number draw 3 extra cards!”
Q: in Math Fluxx, to win with Your Age, or Today’s Date/Day of the Month, do extra Keepers prevent you from meeting the Goal? It seems like that might be too easy sometimes!
“My daughter had the number she needed (8) but also a 6, and she commented to me that she’s not 68. I took a closer look at the wording and wasn’t sure if she had won or not. The same question would apply to the “Today’s Date” card. I realize that you can normally have more keepers than the ones required to win, but I’m wondering about these 2 goals. Perhaps I’m overthinking this.”
A: Your first instinct is correct. Like any other Fluxx, extra Keepers beyond what the Goal requires do not count against you. Your daughter is not required to take into account her Six Keeper when winning with her Eight. Andy says “Yes, kids 10 or under have a definite advantage on this Goal!”
Q: In Math Fluxx 1.0, with Plan C how do we deal with the Goals Nothing, Two Pair, Binary Number, and Sequence?
…Many of these would seem to be impossible to achieve by using arithmetic. Also, what does “Special Victories do not apply to this Goal” mean on Nothing?
A: All four of these cards prove slightly problematic, which is why they were all changed/eliminated in Math Fluxx 2.0. Nothing, and Two Pair were simply eliminated, while Binary Number and Sequence were changed into Actions.
But if you’re playing with the 1.0 deck, here are the answers you’re looking for.
We’ll deal with the second part of the question first, since it helps explain the initial question, when it says “Special victories do not apply to this Goal,’ it means you can’t use math, i.e. a “special victory” rule, to get there, you can only meet the Goal in the usual way. As noted, it’s on the Nothing Goal, but we need to add that note to Two Pair, Binary Number, and Sequence.
So what do you do with these Goals if Plan C is in effect? Under Plan C, any time you meet the Goal without using math, you draw 3 cards and discard the Goal. For unusual Goals like Nothing, Two Pair, Binary Number, and Sequence, Plan C makes it impossible to actually win the game, but the “mini-victory” of getting a Jackpot and moving on still makes those cards useful.
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: For the Goal Today’s Date/Day of the Month, does the date always have to be represented with two digits (i.e. with a leading 0 for the first nine days)?
A: Well, after consultation with Andy, our ruling is that no, you do not need a leading 0. This is a Goal whose conditions (at least for the first nine days of any given month, which is not the majority of the time, by any means) can be met with a single Keeper.
Q: Can we use math to create one of the digits needed for the Goal? What if Grafting/Combine Digits is also in play?
A: First let’s just note that the normal way to win is to take two number Keepers and essentially “graft” them together (combining the digits). Let’s call this “passive grafting” (which is no longer allowed as a way to win the game in 2.0, though you may still want the three-card bonus). If a Math Victory Rule is in play (or if you’re playing with the 2.0 deck, which has the permanent Meta Rule simply called Math Rules), you use math instead of “passive grafting” (aka “the normal way”).
The Grafting/Combine Digits Rule is meant to make it possible to create two-digit numbers for the specific purpose of subsequently using them in an equation to reach the Goal number via calculation.
For everything in Math Fluxx, you can only use numbers you can see. You can only Graft/Combine numbers you can see, and you can only use numbers you can see in an equation. Having the Grafting/Combine Digits Rule in play just lets you take two numbers-you-can-see and make them into a two-digit number-you-can-see to write out your equation.
For example, here is the equation to win Silver Jubilee (25) with Keepers One, Five, and Ten by grafting One and Five into Fifteen, and then adding it to Ten:
1 5 + 10 = 25
By contrast, here’s an illustration of how you CAN’T write out the equation to meet the Goal When I’m Sixty-Four with a One, Three, and Six by taking (1+3=4) and then grafting the resulting “4” with the Six to make 64.
6 ? (3+1) =
There is no mathematical operator that functions like “grafting” so there’s nothing you could put in place of that question-mark.
Q: If we are playing with Plan C/Math Rules, and Grafting/Combine Digits comes into play, doesn’t that mean we can win without using math?
A: You’ve noticed that Grafting/Combine Digits is, in fact, “the regular way to win Fluxx” by simply combining two (number) Keepers to make a larger number.
The Grafting/Combine Digits Rule, however, is meant to make it possible to create numbers for the specific purpose of subsequently using them in an equation to reach the Goal number via calculation.
So, no, you can’t just graft One and Three together to meet the Goal Unlucky. You could do it if you had an EXTRA One, though:
1 3 x 1 = 13
Q: Are we allowed to make more than one number via Grafting/Combine Digits?
A: To refresh, Grafting says “Two Keepers can now be joined together to form a single two-digit number for the purposes of Victory Rule calculations.
Combine Digits says essentially the same thing: “You may join two of your Keepers together to form a single two-digit number when using Math Rules to compute the Goal value.”
A: You may only create ONE two-digit number to use in your calculations. Of course, you can rearrange your cards to experiment to see how they can best be used.
Q: What happens if I have zero cards in hand, with Draw 1, Play 1 in effect, and the 1 card I draw and play is Play All But 1?
A: The card Play All But 1 says: Play all but 1 of your cards. If you started with no cards in your hand and only drew 1, draw an extra card.
So, the player in question, starting with zero cards, must play the card they draw. If that card turns out to be Play All But 1, then, as per the directions on that card, since they “started with no cards in [their] hand and only drew 1,” then they need to draw an extra card. Since the current Rule is Play All But 1, they are left with 1 card in their hand, and their turn is over.
*Note that in some earlier printings, the last instance of the number 1 is written out as “one,” but, to avoid conflicts with Inflation, it should actually be a numeral as written here.
Q: What happens if I play an Action that causes my turn to end immediately in the middle of Draw 3 Play 2 or Draw 2 & Use Em (or Fizzbin, or Goal Bonanza)?
…Since these cards are all played as part of a single play, would the player get to finish playing them out, or would their turn just stop? And if it just stopped, what would happen to any unplayed cards? We’ve been letting the player keep them.
A: The clear answer is that if you decide to play one of these turn-ending Actions, your turn would end immediately, and you would not get to continue playing cards from your temporary mini-hand (in other words, no, you would not get to finish playing D3P2/D2UE.
Of course, in the case of Fizzbin, you don’t get a choice as to the order of cards played, but that card most closely resembles D3P2/D2UE, since you set your main hand aside, and are working from a temporary hand of extra cards to execute the Fizzbin.
Using the optional Free Action Rule Goal Bonanza also creates a sub-hand with your main hand set aside. While it’s not in any decks with turn-ending Actions, it’s in the More Packs, which could be added to any deck, including those with turn-ending Actions.
However, there is NO way that any remaining cards would go back into your set-aside hand. They are never intended to go into your actual hand at all, as indicated by the requirement to set your hand aside. Any cards left unplayed when you played the turn-ending card are discarded. If you wanted to play them, you should have done it before the turn-ending card.
Brain Transference: Discard remaining cards in your temporary hand and trade places with the player of your choice. Turn ends.
Time Portal: Choose a card as described and add to your set-aside hand. Discard remaining cards in your temporary hand. Turn ends.
What Do You Want: If you choose to take a Keeper or Goal out of the discard, it goes into your set aside hand. Discard remaining cards in your temporary hand. Turn ends.
I’ll Be In My Bunk or I’ll Be Right Back: This card does not specifically say that your turn ends immediately, but you certainly can’t continue your turn if you “Excuse yourself from the game and leave the room for a few minutes.” Discard any cards remaining in your temporary hand. Leave the room.
Swap Plays For Draws and Get On With It, while they do involve having your turn end immediately, are New Rules, not Actions, so, as you can see from this answer, things would work a bit differently:
See: Can you Get On With It or Swap Plays For Draws with your cards from an Action like Draw 3 Play 2?
Q: Can I use Get On With It if I played my only card, but the Play rule says to play more? Does that count as “before my final play”?
…I had one card in my hand, with Play 4 in effect. I played my card, an Action card which was then discarded. I wanted to claim to able to get 3 new cards because “Get On With It” which was on the table says I could since I had discarded my hand and had 4 – 1 = 3 plays left.
A: In order to take the option to Get On With It, you must be sacrificing (at least) one of your Plays, and you must be discarding a hand of at least one card.
The most obvious issue is that, at the point when you wanted to Get On With It, you didn’t discard your hand. You played an Action, and now your hand is empty. You have to have something to discard in order to discard something. Your hand has to exist in order to be discarded.
The second issue is almost a side effect. We would not consider you to “have plays left” if you have no cards to play. In this case your first play WAS your final play, so you can’t take this option because it’s not before your final play. In order to have a final play, you have to have a card to play.
The whole thing follows logically, since the card/s you could have played – but didn’t – will be remaining in your hand, and therefore among the cards you’re throwing away.
See also: Is Swap Plays For Draws limited by the number of cards you have in your hand?
Q: It seems like Get On With It or Swap Plays for Draws would contradict Play All. Would putting either of these into play cause Play All to be discarded?
A: No. The instructions on Get On With It (or Swap Plays for Draws) only temporarily override the instructions on Play All and only on the turn of the player using it. Since choosing to use one of these is optional, simply putting either of them into play doesn’t contradict Play All, so you wouldn’t discard Play All just because you played one of them (nor vice versa!)
Q: What cards have effects that include ending my turn immediately if I play/use them?
A: Cards (Actions) that end your turn immediately if you play them:
Brain Transference: Star Fluxx
Clean Cup!: Wonderland Fluxx
Time Portal: Star Fluxx, Doctor Who Fluxx, TNG Fluxx, Voyager Fluxx,
What Do You Want?: Star Fluxx, Oz Fluxx, Doctor Who Fluxx
I’ll Be In My Bunk: Firefly Fluxx
I’ll Be Right Back: Fluxx Remixx
(These last two cards don’t specifically say that your turn ends immediately, but you certainly can’t continue your turn if you “Excuse yourself from the game and leave the room for a few minutes.”)
Cards (Rules) that end your turn immediately if/when you execute them, but not when you play them:
Swap Plays for Draws
Get On With it
Play All +1 (not optional, but see below)
Free Action Rules are optional, so you could choose not to use one that will end your turn immediately. While Play All +1 is not optional, you have some options about when you choose to take that final +1.
Other questions pertaining to cards which cause your turn to end immediately:
Interaction with Play All
Interaction with Hand Limits
Using immediate turn-end Actions with compound Actions like Draw 3 Play 2, etc
Using immediate turn-end New Rules with compound Actions like Draw 3 Play 2, etc
Interaction with Play All +1
Also see:
Q: Does the order of your Keepers on the table matter in Math Fluxx? If so, can I rearrange them at will?
…because of the way some Goals are worded, it seems like order matters. If order doesn’t matter then two of the Goals have the exact same win conditions.
A: Keeper arrangement on the table doesn’t matter in Math Fluxx any more than in any other Fluxx. You could also consider this answer to be equivalent to: sure, like any other Fluxx, you can rearrange your Keepers at will, any time you want.
It’s a little like the pyramids you capture in Volcano or Caldera. A monochrome tree is still a monochrome tree, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re actually stacked up into that formation as long as you have the pyramids that would make up the set described.
Yes, this means that the winning conditions for both 24 Hours and The Ultimate Answer are identical. “Number Four & Number Two” is functionally the same as “Number Two & Number Four” in the same way that “Milk & Cookies” is the same as “Cookies & Milk.”
In fact, some reviewers have complained that this makes Math Fluxx not really very different than other Fluxxes at it’s heart, and it’s only when invoking the mathematical victory rules that this version becomes novel in any way. We suppose that may be true, but we feel the mathematical victory rules make a pretty big difference!
Q: Some cards say things about “when discarded”. If I use Zap A Card, the card isn’t discarded, it’s just no longer in play. Isn’t that the same thing in this case?
A: Yes, removing a card from play with Zap A Card would have the same effect as discarding it… unless it’s a Creeper, in which case it cannot be held in one’s hand, and would effectively just be moved from in play in front of one player, to in play in front of the player who Zapped it.
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: 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: What are all the different cards in different versions where you get to draw the top card and play it immediately?
A: There are many analogues to Wormhole (the first one we made) or Mystery Play (the most generic one). Some may require a token action (click your heels together to use Magic Shoes in Oz Fluxx, for example) or condition (if a certain card is in play) to activate them but they are essentially all the same kind of card.
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: Could you clarify how many cards we can eliminate with Let’s Simplify? What does “up to half (rounded up)” mean?
A: The wording on Let’s Simplify is as clear as we could make it. If we had said that you may discard up to half of the New Rules in play, and there were an odd number (for example, five of them) you wouldn’t know whether you should round up or down. But we tell you that you should ROUND UP when figuring out what “half” is, so in this example, you know you can discard up to three.
Of course, you may discard up to half – you don’t have to discard three; you could choose to discard just one or two, or even zero if you want. Those numbers are all less than “half (rounded up) of five”.
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: 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: Can you Get On With It or Swap Plays For Draws with your cards from an Action like Draw 3 Play 2?
A: You could certainly put either of these New Rules (Get On With It, or Swap Plays For Draws) into play as part of an Action like Draw 3 Play 2 of them (D3P2) or Draw 2 and Use Em (D2UE), or Fizzbin (or your cards drawn via the Rule Goal Bonanza) but you could not utilize their functions while in the middle of executing one of these cards. While all four of these Actions/Free Actions do give you a sort of temporary hand, you can’t substitute it for your real hand to “discard and draw back up to 3”, for example.
You would either need to invoke Get On With It! before the Free/Action with the temporary hand is played or after. The Playing of D3P2/D2UE/Fizzbin/Goal Bonanza, and all actions as a result of it are considered 1 “Play”.
Q: If a card says “Your turn ends immediately,” but Play All is in effect, which takes precedence?
A: When you play an Action or use a New Rule card says “your turn ends immediately” it means it’s specifically overriding any Play rule that might otherwise require you to keep playing cards on this turn. You also end any option you may have to use Keeper powers or “Free Action” Rules. If it says “your turn ends immediately” then your turn ends immediately – so make sure you’re all done with stuff before you play/use one of these cards!
See: Q: What cards have effects that include ending my turn immediately if I play/use them?
Also see: Would putting either of these two into play cause Play All to be discarded?
Q: For Poor Bonus, is 0 Keepers fewer than 1 Keeper? For Lowest Score (in Math Fluxx) is 0 less than 1?
Does one have to have at least one of something to be “in the running” at all?
See this answer in a video!
Little Answers
A: Zero Keepers is indeed fewer than one Keeper. A score of zero is indeed lower than a score of one. No, you do not have to have at least one of something to be eligible for the competition.
Q: Do the cards you draw with the No-Hand Bonus count towards your Draw for that turn?
If I qualify for drawing three cards because of the No-Hand Bonus, and the Draw rule is five, do I draw a total of five cards or eight?
A: The No-Hand Bonus states: “Draw a new hand of 3 cards BEFORE observing the current draw rule” (emphasis added). Your drawing 3 cards is considered a “pre-turn action”: these cards essentially make up a “new hand” which simulates you having had a hand BEFORE starting your turn. Then you observe the current draw rule, which says draw 5 cards.
So you draw a total of eight cards in this case.
Secondary Q: So if I increase the Draw rule from Draw 2 to Draw 4 on my turn, do I still get to draw an extra 2 cards? One of my opponents argued that I had already drawn 5 for the Bonus plus the Draw 2, so I couldn’t draw more when I increased the Draw rule.
A: Since the cards drawn for the No-Hand bonus are separate from those drawn because of the Draw rule in play, and don’t count towards the number of cards drawn for your turn, YES, you get to draw two more cards when you increase the Draw from 2 to 4.
Q: If something is played where “your turn ends immediately,” does it mean that you are not subject to the hand and Keeper limits that turn?
A: No. Hand and Keeper Limits apply to you when it’s not your turn, so you would observe them as soon as your turn ends.
See also: Q: What cards have effects that include ending my turn immediately if I play/use them?
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: For Everybody Gets 1, do I get to look at the cards before I hand them out to people?
The card reads, in part “You decide who gets what.” My brother thinks I should hand them out without looking at them, but I think I get to look at them so that I know what they all got, but they only know what they each got.
A: As you have surmised, there is indeed no meaning to the phrase “you decide who gets what” unless you get to look at all the cards before you hand them out (yes, the intention is that you hand them out face down so that each person only knows what they themselves got).
Many people’s first instinct upon seeing someone else play this card is to simply reach forward and draw from the deck themselves, as if it were indeed intended to be random, but most, upon a careful reading of the card, come to the correct conclusion.
Since we have plenty of room on this card, we started implementing clearer text on this card in 2016:
“You look at the cards and decide who gets what, dealing them out face down to each player.”
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.
Adventure Time 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.
Drinking Fluxx includes a card called Double Vision, which is similar to Inflation, but only changes 1 to 2, without affecting any higher numbers, so actually, it won’t affect Draw 3 Play 2, but it’s worth noting.
Q: Does the Rule Mystery Play require one to play the specific card flipped up from the top of the deck?
My friends think you can add it to you hand, and play some other card from their hand.
A: You are correct, your friends are incorrect. You pull the top card off the deck, and immediately play that card. You do not get to add it to your hand, or play any other card from your hand.
Q: When we all pass a card left or right, is that simultaneous?
If it’s not, the same card could get passed all the way around the circle until it’s back with the person who played the Action.
A: Yes. Everyone is supposed to pick a card from their hand, and pass it simultaneously, specifically to prevent a single card being passed around.
For example, what would happen if only one person had a hand? If the card pass happened sequentially, there would be no change in anyone’s hand! (And how do you decide who starts?) What actually happens is that the person with a hand passes a card, and everyone else passes nothing, since their hands are empty.
A good rule of thumb is: when in doubt, assume that things in Fluxx happen simultaneously.
See also: We think we broke the game…