Wunderland | Andy Looneys blog

Time 2020-12-20 10:03:43

Web Name: Wunderland | Andy Looneys blog

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This year’s holiday gift is my newest pyramid game, called Bowler Rink!I invented this game for Burning Man 2019. To explain, we were creating an alien casino on the planet Dustworld, and we needed a series of quick, easy-to-learn games that did not use traditional gaming equipment, which we could gamble on using play money, and which could withstand the occasional blast of dusty wind.I wanted the casino to have 3 different games, but only had 2 so far: Pyramid-Sham-Bo and Get the MacGuffin. (Frankly I would have preferred all the games to use pyramids, but Get the MacGuffin was already popular among my campmates and known to work even in a dust storm even though it’s a card game. But someday I’m hoping to design a 3rd pyramid game to use instead, which supports gambling but also involves bluffing.)Anyway, that was my inspiration for creating the game I ended up naming Bowler Rink, and we debuted it at the Dustworld Casino last summer. And it was a big hit! Since then I’ve just been keeping it in my portfolio, waiting for the right time to release it, and we’ve decided to make it this year’s Holiday Gift!You can download the free PDF of the rules from the Bowler Rink page at our spiffy new series of pyramid game info pages. Also, we will be including a Pyramid Arcade-style Bowler Rink info card free with every consumer order placed at our webstore during the holiday season!Please be careful when playing this game. Since the object is to knock the pyramids over gently, i.e., without enough force to eject them from the box, the pieces should never go too far out of bounds. But make sure you find them all again after each game — you never want to leave a stray pyramid out where it might get stepped upon!Happy Bowling! In my previous blog entry, I talked about updates we are in the process of making to a bunch of our classic games, including Aquarius. I explained how we need to rework it to use 100 bridge-sized cards (instead of the 80 poker-sized cards it uses now) and mentioned plans to redo the rulesheet.In the six weeks since then (I can’t believe it’s already been that long) we’ve been working hard on those revisions, and in the process, I’ve decided to make a couple of gameplay changes, too. As the game is now ready to go to print, I wanted to provide you with all the details on these revisions.1) Triples: The most significant change to the game is the shift to narrower cards and the addition of 20 more. These new cards will be the three-way Element cards first seen in Seven Dragons, with a half-size panel and two quarter-sized panels. Ten will have long-side half panels, and ten short-sided, with each element appearing twice on each of the half-size panels and eight times as quarters. The math works out very nicely.2) Back to Shuffling Goals: Gameplay-wise, the biggest change is actually a return to my original design. To explain, the Action with the air icon was originally called Shuffle Goals. However, I got a lot of complaints about that action from must-win gamer types, who were frustrated by the high level of chaos created by shuffling the Goals. So in 2009 when we published Aquarius 2.0, I changed the Action to the more strategic Rotate Goals. But I’ve never really been happy about that change, since I enjoy the chaos, and of course, after making that change I got complaints from other people who liked it better the old way! (You can’t please everybody.) So I’m going back to the original, but since I like to eat my cake and still have it, I’m including a House Rule that allows players to choose to rotate instead of shuffle, not only for Shuffle Goals, but also for Shuffle Hands!3) Maze Escape: For some the most exciting update in Aquarius 3.0 is a new introductory game called Maze Escape, created by Laurie Menke. It’s a cooperative game meant for the very youngest of players, which uses only the multi-panel Element cards. A token is placed on the starter card, and players add more cards to the board with the collective goal of ending the game with a path leading to the edge for each color on the starter card. This is one of four intro games now included on the greatly revised rulesheet, which allow younger players to grow into more complex versions of the game over time. [Edit: We decided the name wasn t properly descriptive and changed it to Don t Block It Off! instead.]4) Increased Wildness: Version 2.0 included a Wildcard but also had an ad card. Wilds are fun and ads are not, so this time there will just be two Wild cards. Furthermore, I’ve decided to give the player the option of using a Wild card as if it were an Action of any type. This is an important change because the addition of the Triples reduces the odds of getting an Action when you need one.5) Better Quad Randomization: Perhaps the most nerdy of the changes I’m making was that I redid the arrangements on the quads so that they all have a different randomization pattern, instead of all being the same. To explain, there are 10 quad cards with 5 elements divided between them, which means the deck contains 5 pairs of quads, each featuring the same 4 elements but in a different sequence. (We refer to these by the element that’s missing: No-Air, No-Fire, etc.) If the first card has an element sequence of 1-2-3-4, then its partner changed to 3-1-4-2. But even though there are 24 different combinations I could have chosen, I made all 5 pairs follow that same pattern. This time I wanted to make sure they were all as different as possible, so now each pair has a different secondary pattern. I kept 3-1-4-2 for No-Air, but No-Earth is now 2-1-4-3, No-Space is 2-3-4-1, No-Water is 1-3-4-2, and No-Fire is 3-4-2-1. Of course, I also needed to ensure placement equality, which is to say that each quarter panel needs to appear in an equal number of left corners and right corners, since that really makes a difference in gameplay, and that need for balance is probably why I used the same alternating pattern 22 years ago. But since the number of quarter panels is doubled now because of the triples, I was able to even out the imbalances in the updated quads with the placement of the quarter panels on the triples.6) Vertical Aces: Perhaps the most subtle of changes is nonetheless something I’m rather pleased about. The original version of Aquarius only had 60 cards, among them two copies of the single-element panel, which we call an Ace. To make it more fun, I mirror-flipped the art on the copies. But when we moved to 80 cards, we added a 3rd Ace of each type. Sadly, this destroyed the symmetry, since there were then two identical Aces in each suit. But now I’m fixing that, by making a third type of each Ace, flipped 90 degrees, as shown above.Aquarius 3.0 goes to the printer on Monday, November 2nd, i.e. just a few days from this posting. If you’d like to proof-read the new rulesheet, here’s a PDF… if you find any typos, please let us know ASAP by sending an email to playtest@looneylabs.com. Even better, if you already own an Aquarius deck and feel like giving these updated rules a spin, we’d love to hear your report! Updating something classic is always kind of tricky. The longer something’s been around, the more it becomes entrenched and unchangeable. You start having debates between preservationists and futurists, and both sides have validity: much as I love progress, there are times when it ain’t broken and you shouldn’t try to fix it. Other times, updates are truly needed, and everybody agrees… but getting it done is still a challenge.There are many broad issues the previous paragraph could apply to, but all I’m talking about here is our games. And there’s so much material to cover that I’ve divided it up into 3 sections: the Fluxx Card Frames, Math Fluxx 2.0, and Other Updates, a section for yet more topics.1) Updating the Fluxx Card Frames: Around 2013, starting with Monster Fluxx, we began using a redesigned version of the card frames for Fluxx games. Up until that point, each Fluxx card had a header with fine print that explained how that card type worked. At the time this was a controversial change, and I was opposed to it for a long time, because I liked being able to say that every card told you what it did. (The computer programmer in me liked having each “object” include its own definition statement.) But in the end I had to admit that all those extra words were unnecessary since players very quickly learn that stuff and never need it again (at which point those words just distract from important words unique to that card which you actually need to read) and that dropping the “boilerplate” text would make for a cleaner, better card design. Everything new we’ve published since then has used the revised card frames, but with the exception of original Fluxx, which got a significant overhaul back in 2014, we’ve been leaving the cards from older versions unchanged, even when being reprinted.However, now that we’ve been using the updated card frames for over seven years and have released more versions of Fluxx the “new” way than we ever did with the originals, those old versions are now feeling rather antiquated. So now, each time we reprint a classic like Zombie Fluxx, Star Fluxx, Monty Python Fluxx, Pirate Fluxx, and any others that have still been using the old style, we will be updating the cards.In fact, we’ve been quietly doing this for awhile now. Star Fluxx and Zombie Fluxx have already worked their way through the supply chain and are very likely to be the version you get when you buy a copy from a game store now. And if you added Zombie Fluxx to your version of the Fluxx app on your smartphone, you may have noticed that it uses the updated card frames too.Of course, these are just cosmetic changes — if you’ve got one of these games with the original card frames, the gameplay will be the same and all the jokes will be just as funny. But you might want to think of it as a collector’s item and keep it in good condition.2) Math Fluxx 2.0: Since it’s only 3 years old, it might not seem quite right to be calling Math Fluxx a classic; however, it’s sold enough copies to require multiple reprints so it’s certainly well established. It’s also got some flaws and problems, which I’m happy to have a chance to fix.Confession Time: I don’t like math. As a fairly well-credentialed nerd, people usually think I love the subject, particularly after having designed Math Fluxx, but the truth is, I’m not naturally good with numbers and only learned enough math to get by in my math-adjacent field of computer science. Since retiring from programming I’ve adopted a saying from President Ford (or more accurately, from Chevy Chase portraying Gerald Ford) which I like to quote whenever the math gets serious: “I was promised there would be no math.”Anyway, this is why the original version of Math Fluxx had, to put it simply, too much Fluxx and not enough Math.To be more specific, the first edition of Math Fluxx includes a couple of different Meta Rules to math it up, called Plan B and Plan C. If neither is in play, then the Goals work as they do in a typical Fluxx: If the Goal is The Ultimate Answer, 42, then you just need a 4 and a 2 together to win, i.e. actual math doesn’t even apply.But that’s where the Meta Rules come in. Plan B allows you to win by meeting the Goal using math as an alternative to simple concatenation, but Plan C takes it a further step, making it possible to win ONLY by using math — if you meet the Goal without using math, you simply draw 3 cards and discard the Goal.During most of the product’s development, we were only using Plan B. Again, since I’m not really a fan of math, I liked the approach of keeping to the way Fluxx usually works but also enabling the math option. But the players kept telling me they wanted it to be more math-centric and wanted mathematics to be required for the win. So, as the printing deadline loomed, we added Plan C.Like many last minute fixes, Plan C was a band-aid on a problem that required surgery, and after a couple of years of player feedback and my own observations, I’ve had to acknowledge that no one really wants Plan B, it should just be Plan C all the way. And that became one of the main things I decided I wanted to change.And so, when the next reprint opportunity came around, we put the game under the knife. Plan B Plan C have been replaced with a comprehensive Meta Rule called Math Rules, and a bunch of other cards have been changed around, too. About 15 cards changed significantly, with at least that many others getting minor tweaks that don’t impact gameplay.Again, we quietly rolled out Math Fluxx 2.0 some while ago, so if you bought it recently, you might already have the new edition.Given all this, if you own a first edition Math Fluxx deck you’re probably wondering if there’s a way to update/upgrade your copy. But although I did make quite a few little changes when I got the chance to tinker, you don’t really need the new version to play it the new way: just banish the Plan B meta rule forever, and always use Plan C as directed.But to the inevitable askers of the question, “is there any way to get just the new cards?” we say yes. Our friends over at the Game Crafter make single-copy print runs of special cards all the time, and they are happy to offer a set of 15 cards we’ve put together for those who want this option. It’s called the Math Fluxx 2.0 Upgrade Kit.Lastly of course, if you want to buy a copy of the new version even though you already own the original, simply as a way of supporting Looney Labs in these challenging times, well, that’s fine too.You can tell the difference between the versions by looking at the bottom panel on the box: If it says “Math Fluxx 2.0” then it’s the new one.3) Other Updates: There’s a bunch of other stuff we’re in the midst of revising and updating, too, including:• Pyramid Webpages: In this case, “classic” just means way-outta-date, so it wasn’t an issue of IF it should be done, but instead the magnitude of the task. But we have now completed a significant overhaul and upgrade of a bunch of pages at LooneyLabs.com, with SIXTY (60!) new pages about pyramids, along with a bunch of updates to other important pages at our site.• Monster Fluxx: It’s old news, but I feel like this article would be incomplete without mentioning Monster Fluxx again. Ironically enough, even though Monster started out with the updated card frames, we still ended up making a bunch of revisions when we reprinted it in 2017. Gameplay-wise nothing changed except a couple of glaring typos, but I wasn’t really happy with a significant number of the illustrations, and it turns out Derek wasn’t either and welcomed the chance to revisit his work. I think the new versions are a big improvement, but we downplayed this update so much that we didn’t even give it a designation of 1.1 as we’ve often done. You can tell which version you have by looking at the Looney Labs logo on the box, since Monster Fluxx was also one of the last things we published before we revised our classic logo.• The Ultimate Rulesheet: Yet another way we’ve been updating things recently is with the Fluxx rulesheets. Two years ago, we did a sweeping overhaul of the Fluxx instructions. (Download listeners will recall that I described doing the rulesheet revisions on episode 149, titled One Rulesheet to Rule Them All.) We created a standard front side that’s now the same (except for the logo at the top) in every version which focuses on the universal basics. Then, on the back, we did away with the detailed FAQs (since our online FAQ system is now so much better) and instead use the back to explain stuff about the game that varies from version to version (or for the simpler versions, we fill it out with artwork or ads). As with the other updates, we’ve been updating the rulesheet for each version as reprints require, and almost all of those have now been done. Ironically, one of the few remaining to be done is Monster Fluxx.* Aquarius 3.0: The current version of Aquarius already represents a major revision of a classic, since it contains 80 cards and the original was only 60. It also uses wider cards (poker size) than Fluxx (bridge size) and almost all of our other card games. Of course, it also requires a different insert to fit into our standard box, adding to its awkwardness. It would be so much better if Aquarius used 100 cards of the same size as Fluxx… and that’s what Aquarius 3.0 will be. We also plan to radically redo the rulesheet. These are issues we are actively working on, as the supply of Aquarius decks runs low and the need to reprint looms. So be warned, Aquarius might be unavailable for a few months in the near-ish future, and when it does come back, it will be a little different. Like many people, I’ve been using the extra at-home time we’re all having to catch up on various projects I can never seem to find time for most years. One thing I’ve been doing is catching up on my reading, and one book I read recently was so compelling I decided to write this post about it.The book is Life’s Lottery, by Kim Newman. It’s basically a grown-up’s choose-your-own-adventure book, or as I like to describe it, a non-linear novel. Starting with a fateful choice you must make when you are six, followed by countless others, you explore various lifetimes with the main character and the other people he encounters growing up, often in different ways depending on the choices you make. It’s quite a book.Those who listen to the podcast I do with my buddy Keith Baker already know something about this, since we’ve been discussing the book in depth during several recent episodes.Now, you can read it the way Keith did, who followed one storyline through when he first got the book, then set it aside for a few years; but if you’re anything like me, you’re going to want to find out what happens a bunch of those other pathways… if not ALL of them.However, the more you read, the more challenging that becomes. Whether you back-track and read what happens after different recent choices, or start from the beginning and make different choices early on, either way, you’ll find yourself needing a system for keeping track of what you’ve read, and what you haven’t tried yet. And since the book is over 500 pages long and consists of 300 chapters, with no pictures, there are just a lot of alternate realities to keep track of.So, I drew a map. This became quite the fun and involving project on its own, and reminded me of the mapping process in text adventure games, which was always one of my favorite parts of such games.And then, having created such a complex and beautiful map, I felt compelled to make it available here for the benefit of anyone else who might read the book and desire a map. If you decide to actually use this map as you read this book, you’re going to want to print it out onto a couple of pages you can scrawl your own notes onto, so here are links to just the main page and the addendum.I’ve tried to keep the map as spoiler-free as possible, and I think it’s as safe to look at as any book’s table of contents. Indeed, that’s what this map basically is: a table of contents for a non-linear book. Note that I’ve digitally removed all the final connections from this map, to make it even less spoilery. But if you happen to have read the book already, you ll be more interested in my original version of the map, which has the endpoints intact.And if you’d like to listen to Keith I discuss this book as we work our way through it together, check out episodes 234-237 of The Download Podcast. It was 24 years ago today that I wrote a famous memo, outlining the idea for Fluxx. So I decided to dig that memo out, and it’s a pretty interesting read at this point. Here it is.Thoughts, 7/24/96The more I think about it, the more I think that what I really want to be doing is physical games, not computer games. So the idea naturally occurs to me to drop out of the workaday world and press ahead with Icehouse full time. If we could just get plastic pieces made, I could put all my efforts into assembling game sets and trying to get them into stores.But not just Icehouse. Oh, no, that s way too small-minded. Other games, too. A whole product line. In particular, card games.On the face of it, producing game sets seems terribly expensive. But, when compared to the cost of making computer games, it seems wonderfully cheap.And I think right now there s a real market for interesting new card games. I m not talking about the collectible stuff, I m talking about complete in one box card games. I think the CCG craze has left people hungering for games that AREN T sold in booster packs, that don t cost an arm and a leg to get into. For proof, I point to Lunch Money, which has apparently been selling out everywhere.Besides Icehouse, we could sell Ace of Spades decks (with a new Ace pattern, of course) and game board T-shirts (again, another design needed but still a good idea) and even a 1997 Calendar T-shirt! If we’re gonna start a business, let s start one I can really get behind! Let s make cool stuff and really try to sell it!The biggest headache is distribution, but I figure, let s start small and work our way up. Start by going into funky stuff stores and asking if they d like to carry our products. Maybe get a table at the Takoma Park Street Festival. That kind of thing.Here’s an idea for Icehouse: maybe we put the pieces in a mesh bag with rules in a single, accompanying book? The book could have a hole in the corner through which the drawstring is attached.But then, I get this other idea =======================================================I have an idea for a completely wacky and unpredictable card game that would be the ultimate in easy to learn.The text on the box would say: No game in the world is easier to learn than this one. Here s all you need to do to start playing:Remove the special card labeled Initial Rules from the deck and place it on the table.Shuffle the deck.Decide who goes first, and start playing.The initial rules cards would say “Initial Rules: Draw 1 card per turn. Play 1 card per turn.”Then, you see, many of the cards in the deck would add new rules, which would replace or augment the existing rules.New Rule (this card stays on the table until another rule invalidates it): Draw 2 cards per turn (ignore all previous rules regarding number of cards drawn per turn.)New Rule: Draw 3 cards per turnNew Rule: Draw 4 cards per turnNew Rule: Play 2 cards per turnGoal (whoever achieves this first wins; this card stays on the table until it is replaced by a new goal card): have 10 or more cards in your hand.Action: Draw 3 cards, keep the one you like best, and put the others back on the top of the deck.Action: Take a card from another player’s hand.Action: Draw 2 extra cards.Action: Discard 2 cards and draw 2 new cards.Action: Trade a card from your hand for a randomly selected card from another player s hand.Action: Trade a card from your hand. Choose a card in your hand and offer to trade it for someone else s unplayed card. If you can t work out a trade within 60 seconds, do nothing.Action: Trade a keeper. Offer to trade one of your keepers for one of your opponent s keepers. If you can t work out a trade within 60 seconds, do nothing.Action: Take one of your opponent s keepers and put it on the discard pile.Action: Take the top card off the discard pile.Action: Shuffle the discard pile back into the deck.Action: Trade your hand with one of your opponent s hands.Action: Taxation! Each player must give you a card of their choice from their hand.Action: Make someone miss a turn: Give this card to an opponent. The next time that person s turn comes up, they discard this card instead of taking a turn.Keeper (Place this card on the table in front of you) The Sun.Keeper (Place this card on the table in front of you) The Moon.Keeper (Place this card on the table in front of you) Cookies.Keeper (Place this card on the table in front of you) Milk.Keeper (Place this card on the table in front of you) Death.Keeper (Place this card on the table in front of you) Taxes.Goal: The player who has both the Sun and the Moon wins.Goal: The player who has both Death and Taxes wins.Goal: The player who has both Cookies and Milk wins.Goal: The first player with 5 keepers wins.Goal: If you have no keepers and all other players do, you win.Goal: The first person to spell the word tirade using the corner letters on cards in their hand and/or on the table in front of them wins. [Note: There will be a letter in a little box in the lower right hand corner of each card, with scrabble distributions.]Goal: The first person to spell their name wins.Clearly, I need to brainstorm a huge list of special rule cards and goal cards and such, and we ll need to work up some cool, funky art for this cards (black and white, of course perhaps styled like Morgan s Tarot) but I think this could become a very cool game, just the sort of thing a place like Now Then would carry.So there you have it, the memo that launched Looney Labs and millions of Fluxx decks. It s interesting to see some of the smaller ideas that didn t work (like the letters in the corner you could try to spell your name with) and to be reminded of what the hobby game industry was like 24 years ago. We ve all come quite a long way! There are a lot of horrible things going on in the world right now, both in the national news and within the game industry. I’m outraged, and I’m tempted to spout off on all manner of subjects… but I’m not going to.Instead, I’d like to share a new recipe I’ve discovered. In difficult times like these, many of us turn to baking as a way of reducing stress, and I’ve been making a lot of cakes recently (even though I have no one to share them with except my fellow quarantinees).I’m excited about this recipe because it uses up a dozen egg yolks, making it the perfect accompaniment to a chocolate angel food cake, my favorite food of all time, which requires a dozen egg whites. I’ve been looking for a recipe like this for my entire life, and it’s great!Here’s the original link but I’m transcribing the recipe here (with my own notes embedded), in case that page disappears (as webpages so often do).Ingredients:¾ cup butter, softened1 ½ cups sugar1 cup egg yolks1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour2 teaspoons baking powder½ teaspoon salt¾ cup milkProcedure: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add egg yolks and vanilla; beat for 5 minutes, until “fluffy.” Add milk to butter mixture in 2 parts alternately with flour mixture in 3 parts, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spread in greased bundt pan. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean. After cooling, top with chocolate frosting or glaze. (Here’s my recipe for chocolate glaze: sift 4 tablespoons of cocoa together with 1.5 cups of confectioner’s sugar. Stir in 2 teaspoons of vanilla, then add 3 or 4 tablespoons of milk, a little at a time, stirring until the proper thickness is obtained. Drizzle onto the cake immediately.)As for all that other stuff, don’t miss my previous post. In my last update, I talked about the Pyramid Quartet Kickstarter that was about to launch. Well, now it s about to close, so if you haven’t backed it yet, please consider doing so. (And to those who’ve already pledged, thanks!!!) The stretch goals we’ve been unlocking are pretty sweet, the most exciting of which is the deck of pyramidized Zendo rule cards which all backers will be receiving, hopefully along with a little tuckbox if we hit our final stretch goal.I’ve just gotten back from a series of trips — to Colorado, New York City, Puerto Rico, and Reno — but now, like the rest of the world, I’ll be staying home for awhile. Our next trip was going to be to Tennessee… we were supposed to be Guests of Honor at MidSouthCon, but like so many other things, that’s been cancelled. And since we have just been to so many places, it’s probably best for us to self-quarantine ourselves for awhile anyway.The most exciting of my recent trips was my second Star Trek cruise, where Leila I got this great photo with the whole cast of Voyager. I couldn’t get any of them to playtest my prototype of Voyager Fluxx, but I did get a LOT of Trekkies to try it out and the design got a big thumbs up from everyone. We also went to the Arecibo Observatory with about 200 other Trek Cruisers, which would have made my dad proud — going to an exotic location just to look at a big radio telescope was exactly his sort of thing.Speaking of the dearly departed, I’m sad to report that we lost a good friend last week, Mikee Ayers. (No, he didn’t have COVID-19.) Mikee and I were both members of Explorer Post 1275 back in the day, he was a member of my burner camping group, the Pyramid People, he was housemates with Alison, and most of all, he was one hell of a nice guy, so his death has hit my local friend group rather hard. RIP Mikee.Anyway, here’s hoping we all survive the latest crisis. Remember, card games make a great pastime when you’re hunkered down, and pyramids are washable! It’s been 4 years since we published Pyramid Arcade, but even though I call it my magnum opus, I haven’t finished making new pyramid games and products.I started making new games for the Arcade immediately after we published it, with our Holiday Gift every year since then being the rules for a new pyramid game: Sandships, Lava Flows, Ice Toids, and just last month, The Closest Ghost. (We’ll see how long I can keep that streak going.)Most recently, I ve been creating a series of standalone pyramid games in compact boxes, which we are just about to launch via Kickstarter. These new products primarily feature existing, popular games and have two goals: 1) to provide a less expensive entry point for those who are new to the system, and 2) to function as expansion sets for those who already own Pyramid Arcade but who need more pyramids.We are calling this series Pyramid Quartet. They will be packaged in boxes the same size as our standard card game boxes but half again as tall, so that four will fit into a six-deck Fluxx display box. (It’s the same box size as Time Breaker and Star Trek Chrono-Trek.)Taken together, the games in Pyramid Quartet are meant to showcase a wide range of styles and types, while also providing a variety of different pyramid expansion options.Two of these are games I ve wanted to publish as standalone editions for a very long time: Homeworlds and Martian Chess. The Homeworlds set will use the classic colors (red, yellow, blue, and green) making it ideal for combining with Pyramid Arcade for those seeking enough pieces to play Zendo. The Martian Chess set, which only needs one color, will feature an exciting new one – shiny silver!The third box, Ice Duo, started as simply a re-issue of Ice Dice in this new format, but after reading Demetri’s amazing review at Board Game Geek in which he plays all 22 games in the Arcade and ranks them, and being surprised to see Twin Win in second place, we decided to showcase that game as well by creating a two-games-in-one product that includes everything needed for both games.But while these games cover a great range of both style and component, something was missing from each. These first 3 boxes include a heavy pure-strategy game, a light strategy game, a press your luck game, and a secret information game, but the series still lacked something super easy and accessible to everyone.Similarly, from a color standpoint, the options include 3 trios of 4 colors, 2 trios of 5 colors, and, most-excitingly, an all-new color but the building block that’s really needed is a set with 1 trio of all ten colors. And that s exactly what the fourth set in Pyramid Quartet will be.When I first envisioned this fourth box, I was calling it Momids because it would give you mo’ ‘mids. I didn t have a game to go with it, so I considered not focusing on one, and instead including rules for several games, making it a sort of mini-arcade. But then I had the idea for a game called Nomids with the goal of possessing no ‘mids and the next thing you know, I had the rules all worked out.We’ve been playtesting Nomids for awhile now (thanks again to everyone I’ve already sent the rules to!) and if you’ve gotten this far and would like to see how the game is played, just click on the Nomids icon at the top.Pyramid Quartet will be launching soon, but the landing page has already been approved by Kickstarter and if you follow the link you can get on the list to be notified as soon as the project goes live. Please sign up. Thanks in advance! A few months ago, Playdek revived their app version of Fluxx. It’s been great to have it back, particularly since it works on Android now as well as iOS, but it was basically the same as the game they released 7 years ago.But now Playdek has really upped their game, with the addition of Creepers and TWO new expansions that use them!First, there’s the Creeper pack, which mirrors the real-life expansion pack that adds 4 Creepers (War, Death, Taxes, and the dreaded Radioactive Potato) to the basic game, along with various Goals, New Rules, and Actions that use those cards.But even more exciting is their version of Zombie Fluxx, the theme that inspired me to create Creepers in the first place, and still one of the most popular editions of the game. And the digital version is great!There are several notable differences between the physical and digital versions of Zombie Fluxx. In some cases, such as the rule Groaning Required, it just wasn’t possible to duplicate the gameplay in the computerized version and thus the card was left out.But in other cases, we changed the way certain cards work so as to take full advantage of the digital medium. Specifically, we changed the function of the Zombie Repellent so that the players to whom repelled Zombies are sent are chosen randomly instead of by the player who owns the Repellent. This makes the gameplay much faster and smoother and provides a much better feeling that the Zombies never even get close to you if you’ve got the Repellent. Similarly, when a Pair of Zombies “runs away” from you because you killed one of the other Zombies you have, where that Pair goes is determined randomly, which again provides a much faster, more satisfying experience.But my favorite new change is the way the Friend Keepers actually turn into Zombie Creepers when the Dead Friends rule is in play. Playdek even zombified the images of the Friends, as shown here, to enhance this effect!Although it does cost a few bucks to get these new features, the base game is now free, so if you haven’t got Fluxx on your phone yet, now’s the time!As always, I’ll be active in as many simultaneous games of digital Fluxx as I can manage, and I welcome new challengers. You ll find me there under the name Andrew Looney, but please keep my rules in mind:1) Only 2-player games with a 21-day timer please.2) Limit of 1 game at a time with me for each person.3) When the game begins, you must tell me in the comments what your real name is and what part of the world you are from.Thanks, and enjoy!

TAGS:Andy Wunderland blog 

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