Double Review: Stoner Fluxx & Martian Fluxx

When I was at DaishoCon I was able to pick up two new games to review. The first being Stoner Fluxx which I bought from my good friends at ChAdam Games, and the other one being Martian Fluxx which I bought from Gnome Games because the vendor room was closed. I picked both of these games up for a reasonable price and was able to find some people at the convention to try them out with.

Stoner Fluxx

This game unsurprisingly raised a couple of eyebrows, but did not prompt any negative response. It was kind of interesting just leaving it sit on the video game room desk that I was staffing. People kept picking it up and giving it a strange look. Moving on to the actual review, this game may be my favorite form of Fluxx yet. Not just for the theme but it's actually seems a bit easier to teach people than other versions of fluxx. There are twenty-one keepers, four of them being Weed. A lot of the goals consist of one weed keeper and another keeper. Similar to the "Knights of the Round Table" keepers in Monty Python Fluxx and the "Weapons" Keepers in Zombie Fluxx, Stoner Fluxx has "Dude it's Food!" keepers.

Five of the cards in the deck have to do with players physically smoking weed while playing the game. They bear a nice little orange warning box that states "WARNING: Doing what this card says is illegal. Set it aside until after marijuana prohibition ends." When pot becomes legal or if you don't care that it's illegal you can choose wither or not to use these cards. One concept that is outlined in one of the instructions cards raises the concept of pretending to smoke weed, which may be interesting to do in a game.

This game introduces the "It's My Turn!" card. The instructions booklet explains it best "Stoner Fluxx includes an extra card intended to help folks who are, shall we say, distracted , with keeping track of whose turn it is." Basically what you do is if you choose to use this card you pass this card around the table so people know whose turn it is.

Stoner Fluxx doesn't really seem to have any keepers that actually do anything. By this I mean in a lot of Fluxx games certain keepers allow you to do certain actions as well as their use for goals. It's disappointing that they left this out of Stoner Fluxx.

This game comes with a bunch of what I call "promotion cards." By this I don't mean they are cards that are played in the game, they are cards that provide more information about the game and marijuana. One of the cards informs customers that 5% of the profits from Stoner Fluxx are donated to the MPP, NORML, LEAP, and other groups working to end Marijuana prohibition.

Favorite New Rule: Get On With It!, At any time before your final Play, if you are not empty-handed, you may discard your entire hand and draw a new hand of 3 cards. This is a free action but if you take it, your turn ends immediately.

Favorite Goal: Got a Light?, If someone has Weed on the table, and someone has some kind of paraphernalia (the Pipe, the Bong, or Paper) on the table then the player with Fire on the table wins.

Favorite Action: Uh... What Were We Just Doing?, Collect up all the players' hands, the current Goal, and the discard pile, leaving only the Rules, Keepers, and Creepers in play on the table. Reshuffle the deck and deal each player a new hand of 3 cards. Start the new discard pile with this card.

Favorite Keeper: Mood Lighting, It's a keeper with a picture of a lava lamp and some candles.

Favorite Creeper: The Munchies, You cannot win if you have. During your turn, if any Food Keepers are in play, you can discard this along with any 1 Food Keeper you choose.

I would recommend anyone check out this game stoner or not. It's fun and does tend to spark some interesting conversations.

Buy Stoner Fluxx Here

Martian Fluxx

This game didn't raise as many eyebrows as Stoner Fluxx but was also really fun to play. Playing this game after Stoner Fluxx did inspire many jokes about stoned aliens.

This version of Fluxx introduces a new card type, the Meta Rule. It is explained in the instructions booklet as follows "This type of card changes the game like a regular New Rule, however, Meta Rules are played at the start of the game and remain in force until someone wins. Meta Rules are only added to the game if all players agree." Martian Fluxx comes with one Meta Rule called Time Limit. As it's name suggests it allows the players to set a time limit for the game. I would of liked to see more Meta Rules in the box. Time Limit does seem to not be anything that special.

One thing I am really happy they included in Martian Fluxx is an Ungoal. For those who don't know Ungoals are played like any other goal but if the terms of the Ungoal are met the game ends with no winner. I first remember seeing one in Zombie Fluxx but they may of been around earlier. The Ungoal for Martian Fluxx is "Retreat!" If Germs and the Army are on the table and all players have at least 1 Creeper, the game ends with no winner. I believe the germs may be a reference to the radio program "War of the Worlds."

Martian Fluxx like other Fluxx games does have special keepers. By that I am referring to things like the "Knights of the Round Table" in Monty Python Fluxx and similar keepers in Stoner Fluxx & Zombie Fluxx. The special keepers in this game are Martian Technology. These keepers have a little "Martian" symbol on them and interact with certain Goals and New Rules cards.

One thing about Martian Fluxx is that it doesn't seem to have any real interesting New Rule cards. What's in there is pretty much your standard fair and is rather predictable if you have played Zombie Fluxx.

Favorite New Rule: You can win even if you have Humans or the Army (but not Germs.) If Human Season is in play, discard it when you play this card.

Favorite Goal: You win if you have at least 2 female Human cards and Mars on the table. (Male Humans do not prevent this victory.)

Favorite Action: Begin the Invasion!, All players must immediately play all Keepers in their hands.

Favorite Keeper: Telepathic Translator, If you have this card on the table, you may look at another player's hand once per turn.

Favorite Creeper: Germs, You cannot win if you have this unless the Goal says otherwise. If you had this card during your previous turn, you can move this to any player you can touch.

I would recommend this game to any sci-fi or Fluxx fans. It was a blast to play and look forward to playing it again.

Buy Martian Fluxx Here