A: Well, the short answer is that there is no “right” balance. One of the great things about Fluxx is that it’s remarkably forgiving about such things. At first, we favored an even mix, with roughly 25% of each of the 4 card types. But now that we’ve made almost 50 different versions, we’ve pushed the formula in many directions with nary a problem. Versions like Word Fluxx, with 51 of the 100 cards being Keepers and only 14 Goals, and the many versions that have over 34 Goals, all demonstrate this point.

One of the reasons it works is because all cards are always playable. You can never get into a situation where you can’t play. You may not WANT to play, but you always CAN. The card might not even DO anything, but there’s nothing barring you from playing it.

That said, a typical Fluxx deck has too many Goals*. Andy likes to say, “that’s where the jokes are,” and sometimes there are just too many good jokes not to include. Meanwhile, more Actions, more New Rules, and even more Surprises, are always a Good Thing.

See also: Is there a “formula” for creating a new version of Fluxx?

* This is the reason for the existence of cards like Goal Mill, Goal Foundry, 5 Card Mission, and It’s a Quest! that make something useful of excessive numbers of Goals in your hand.