Day 9 - Fluxx

Today I taught Fluxx, which was a bit harder to teach than other games because the only real rules that you start with are that every player draws one card and plays one card on their turn. As the game progresses players add new rules cards and goals for winning the game. It's also tough because almost every card in the game has its own unique instructions so it's impossible to prepare players for every card they'll encounter. You basically have to trust that players will read all the instructions on all the cards they pick up because you can't micromanage everyone else's hands, especially when you're playing and trying to manage your own cards. There were a few times that rules were misunderstood or ignored, like when we finished a game and realized that the radioactive potato card was supposed to be passed counter-clockwise every time the goal was changed. But even despite that everyone had a very good time and game ran very smoothly.

Some people that were playing had a little initial trouble adjusting to the fluidity of Fluxx. They were used to other hand management/set collection games where you want to hoard cards. But in Fluxx you can lose your cards in an instant because all new rule cards take effect immediately. It can go from every turn you play 2 cards to every turn you must play all the cards in your hand. Or someone might play an action that requires everyone to swap hands with other players or even have everyone discard all of their current cards. Because the parameters of the game are constantly changing, the players constantly have to change their strategy as well. It really comes down to what order should you play your cards to either help yourself win or prevent other players from winning.