Looney Labs

Question: My next question is what's coming out next from Looney Labs?

Response from Andrew Looney: Well, that would be Back to the Future: The Card Game! But before you ask, I can't give you many details about it at this time. What I will say is we have signed a licensing contract, released the cover art, and put out a 100 word blurb as well. (You'll find the art and blurb in my latest Wunderland.com update.)

Question: My next question is have any of your games shocked you in how popular they became or how unpopular they became?

Response from Andrew Looney: It's always kind of a mystery to me as to why some ideas are hits and others misses. Like most parents, I love all my little creations equally, so it's always a surprise to me when one thing is a hit and another is a dud.

Question: Alright other than Looney Labs products what games do you yourself enjoy playing?

Response from Andrew Looney:The honest truth, at this point, is that I've become pretty badly prejudiced against games other than my own. (I think that's fairly unavoidable for someone in my position.) I do try out new games pretty often, because I'm curious about what they are and how they work, but as soon as I've groked them I usually lose interest. But of course there are exceptions...

According to Andrew and Kristen Looney Looney Labs has signed a contract with Universal Studios to publish a card game based on the movie "Back to the Future." As both a Looney Labs and as a fan of the movie I am really excited. Currently it's planned to come out in September. I have requested a review copy so hopefully I will be able to review it here.

I was originally planning to post the entire interview together in one giant post but due to the amount of time the interview is likely to take and how long the first response from Andrew Looney is I think I will now post each response separately as they come in. I have created a tag to put them all together called Looney Labs Interview.

Question: I guess my first question is can you give my readers a little bit of a backstory about Looney Labs was started. How the staff meet each other? What was it like starting a game company, and how were the early years?

So yeah I am going to be interviewing Looney Labs via email in the next coming weeks. Its going to take a while due to them being busy and such but its going to happen. So if you guys have any questions you would like asked, post a comment to this entry and I will be sure to ask them. When the interviewing is over I will post the questions and responses in one post here.

After my previous three reviews of Looney Labs games I feeling a little burned out. I decided that I didn't want to review Family Fluxx when I wasn't able to give it a fair chance. Well I am all refreshed and ready to get back to reviewing. This is the forth game that was sent to me in my latest package from Looney Labs.

This version of Fluxx like the name says is designed for the whole family to play. The rules are a bit simplified and there is less of a politcal slant to it. Don't get my wrong I actually quite enjoy the slight poltical stances in other Fluxx versions like Stoner Fluxx but I can see it being a little hard to explain such things to children.

The deck is a little smaller then other versions with only 56 cards in it but I think that helps with making it easier for children to play. This version does not include any creepers or really any special keepers. The Keepers are all objects, pets, and other things that kids can easily identify and the other cards are simple. Don't expect anything like the "My Hovercraft is Full of Eels" card from Monty Python Fluxx.

Besides using this game to play with children I found another use for this version. When I want to introduce new people to Fluxx I use this version. I play a couple rounds with them using this version and then move on to another version. It's a nice way to introduce people to the game so they don't get as overwhelmed as Fluxx can tend to do sometimes.

I had played Chrononauts a bit when I used to live in Eau Claire but I never really got a chance to play it a lot. Still it caught my interest back then so when I heard that Looney Labs was releasing a new version I asked if they would send me a copy to review. As what most often happens when I make a request like this I did receive said game.

The changes for 1.4 are very minor so I think I will review the game as a whole an not compare it to older versions. They added four cards, nothing major. I do know that a lot of people even Looney Labs fans have not played this game so I think now is a good time to introduce people to the game.

Chrononauts is pretty much unlike any other game you have ever played. I believe the introduction on the back sums up the awesomeness well. "So, you want to be a Time Traveler? Messing with history can have it's consequences. For starters, your reality no longer exists. Then there are the Paradoxes - holes in the Space-Time Continuum that threatens to destroy the Entire Universe. Can't find your way back to your original reality? Then maybe you can win by collection the right collecting the right combination of amazing artifacts that only a chrononaut could acquire. So shuffle up this time-machine-in-a-box and start changing history!"

EcoFluxx was another game sent to me by Looney Labs. I quite enjoyed this nature themed version of Fluxx and am glad they sent it. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to play the first version of this game so I will not be able to point out the differences between the two.

One thing I quite enjoyed was that Looney Labs sent with it a promo postcard for the card "Recycling." Recycling is a new rule card that says "Once per turn you may discard a Keeper you have on the table and Draw 3 extra cards."

What's really nice is that Looney Labs is using a new system for their postcards that uses a peel off sheet that holds the card to the post card. This means the cards don't have those punch out edges any more and can actually be used in the game. Allison from Looney Labs recommended that you peel from the side and not the corner with the new postcards to prevent possible splitting.

I have always been a huge Aquarius fan so when I heard that Looney Labs was coming out with an updated version I was giddy with happiness. Looney Labs sent me a review copy of Aquarius but it got lost in the mail so they sent me another one. Luckily this time I received it.

For those who don't know Aquarius is a neat game that's sort like a hippie version of dominoes. Basically you have a secret goal that you try to keep people from knowing. This goal is one of five elements. Then you use the element cards that connect in various ways like dominoes to connect seven element cards together. The first person to get seven panels connected via their element wins. Some nice added fun and complexity is the action cards mixed in like "Zap a Card" that allows you to pick any element card off the table and put it into your hand. Or cards like shuffle goals that allow you to change someones goal. Let me tell you it really stinks when you get one turn away from making your seventh connection and someone plays "Trade Goals" on you.

Moving on to what makes this version better then the original version. The game is still pretty much the same basic premise, that have just added a couple of things that make it interesting. One great addition to the game is diagonal cards. In these cards the elements are split on the card in triangles instead of in squares. This adds new way to grow your connections.