The folks at Looney Labs sent us a copy of Doctor Who Fluxx recently for review…and let’s get this out of the way first: I neither like nor dislike Fluxx. It’s fine.

Fluxx itself is a short game that’s fun with people you know and who get into the theme, so that’s what’s going to be the big deciding factor if you like this version of Fluxx or that one. This is why I really don’t care for Stoner Fluxx (by Fully Baked Games, the “more adult” imprint of Looney Labs) but I do like Zombie Fluxx.

The big thing with choosing a Fluxx game is the theme.

The basics of Fluxx are this: you draw one card and play one card. You’ll be playing new rules, which let you change the number of cards you draw or play as well as adding new things like hand limits; keepers, special cards that stay in play in front of you; goals, which give you a win condition that are usually based on the keeper cards; actions, which let you do one-time actions like trading your hand with someone else’s or stealing a keeper card; and creepers, which are like keepers but if you have them in play in front of you, you cannot win.

Doctor Who Fluxx‘s cards are all themed from the show. The keeper cards are all 12 Doctors, plus a “future Doctor” — the announcement of Jodie Whittaker was made after this game went to print, so no 13. Also are companions from the new run of the show, so Rose, The Ponds (one card), and even Sarah Jane Smith. Plus K-9. Rounding out the Keepers are the TARDIS, “that scarf”, and the sonic screwdriver.

Goals are combinations of these cards. If “Grand Theft TARDIS” is the goal, if you have The 1st Doctor and the TARDIS in play, you win! “Regeneration” is the goal? Win if you have two sequentially-numbered Doctors. Some goals require any Doctor or any Companion.

The Creepers include The Master, who moves to any player that has a Doctor in play. Weeping Angels, who move to the play area with the TARDIS. Daleks, who can be removed by sacrificing any Doctor in play (not just your own). And Cybermen, who just sit there. Some goals require Creepers: “The Master’s TARDIS” needs The Master and the TARDIS cards.

Doctor Who Fluxx also includes a small number of Surprise cards, which you can play out of turn to cancel out a card someone just played or their own special ability.

So, how well does this capture the Doctor Who IP? Not a bad job, really. It feels more of a themed set-collecting game than really evocative of the types of adventures the Doctor goes on. The best thing in the box are the creeper cards and how they interact with the other players, which is really cool. Looney Labs is primarily pulling from the revived series here with a nod at Tom Baker’s run, which was the Doctor from the original run that most people in the United States seemed to grow up with. The artwork on the cards is all vector-based and while some cards were really good representations of the characters and items from the show, there were a few that looked…off.

We played with one person who hadn’t seen the show and two that had. The one that hadn’t seen the show really enjoyed it, but she loves Fluxx in all forms. Being a fan of the show would have had her really dig into it. One player who had seen the show hadn’t ever played Fluxx before. She loved it, too.

So: Are you a fan of Doctor Who and want a simple, quick game to play? Here you go. If the theme doesn’t grab you, go for Zombie, Batman, Math, Chemistry, Monty Python…. There are many Fluxx variations to choose from.

 

A copy of Doctor Who Fluxx was provided free for review purposes by Looney Labs.

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Gale Force 9 is releasing a new Doctor Who game in March, but there’s not much more info other than we’ll see the 12th Doctor up against the Daleks. As you can see from the image, it still seems the artwork is pending licensor approval.

This is one I’m hoping to see more of at Toy Fair in a few weeks. A good Doctor Who board game is seriously overdue.

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Warlord Games announced they have received a license to produce a miniature battle game based on the wildly popular BBC television show about a man who talks his way out of violent situations. They state “the license covers not just the latest series of Doctor Who, but encompasses all of the Doctors, their companions, and their foes,” which means I’ll finally be able to find a miniature of Adric, the mathematical supergenius. Details on the game system are scant, but presumably the game will center around an elaborate system of running through gravel quarries and using one’s wits to defuse difficult situations before they lead to violence.

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Cubicle 7 is working on a dice game based on the hugely popular “Doctor Who” sci-fi television show. Dalek Dice is a stand-alone strategy game from the point of view of the exterminating extraterrestrial cyborgs.

The game’s summary is scant, at best. However, it seems that the goal of the game is to kill all the humans. The way to win is to kill more humans than your opponents.

And, apparently, you have to watch out for the Doctor because “he has a way of foiling your plans.”

The game was designed by Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello, who created the One Ring role-playing game and the Hobbit Tales card game.

The game is scheduled to launch this June for $15.

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USAopoly surprised me at Toy Fair. I mostly know them for their licensed versions of Monopoly, Clue, Risk, Yahtzee, etc…, but a handful of original titles filled their booth this year. Before I get into those, I’m going to post a gallery of all the licensed products that are new.

OK! There’s a lot of material to cover above.

Monopoly

The Legend of Zelda version is new as of last year, and has been an excellent seller. New to the scene are Mass Effect, Pokemon, Jurassic World, Doctor Who: Villains, Firefly, and Penny Dreadful.

Yahtzee

There’s Back to the Future (the Flux Capacitor case lights up!), Firefly, The Legend of Zelda, and new versions for The Avengers, Age of Ultron. These I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of, but the dice come in either an Iron Man or Ultron head.

Clue

Doctor Who. It rhymes.

BANG!

It was really cool to see that there’s a Hereos of the Storm version, and a comic book Walking Dead version. Also, Halo.

Munchkin

A Walking Dead expansion for Munchkin Zombies was shown, as well as Adventure Time Munchkin. I actually took a copy of the latter home from a Steve Jackson party, and it’s pretty sweet. USAopoly did an excellent job of capturing the feeling of the show and fitting it in with the equally zany world of Munchkin.

Puzzles

Two beautiful Legend of Zelda puzzles. One is of the Hyrule Map, and the other is a colorful piece from The Wind Waker.

Risk

I wasn’t able to take pictures of either Risk title I saw, but they’re both very exciting. The first is an Avengers: Age of Ultron version that comes with little painted miniatures of the Avengers. The packaging said something about “collect them all,” but the rep showing me around didn’t know what that was about. It could be a pretty interesting mechanic if there were an element of randomness to the figures in the box.

The second, and by far one of the most exciting licensed products, was the Game of Thrones version of Risk. This thing was huge. It comes with 2 giant boards depicting Westeros and Essos, and the game is played over both maps at once. The pieces were amazing in their detail, and the box was minimal and beautiful. This is one I’d go out of my way to purchase.

 

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OK. That horizontal line above is where we break from the licensed copies of classic and well known board games and get into original titles USAopoly is putting out.

TacDex – $9.95

TacDex is a newer game to the USAopoly line, and is a War-style card game developed by Richard Borg. Already having a Pirates! deck, they’ve now added a Super Mario Brothers deck, Walking Dead deck, and Halo deck. I was told you can mix and match the decks, if so desired. Right off the bat I’m interested because of Richard Borg’s involvement.

Rollandia

Rollandia is a really cool looking game where you’re rolling dice to try and build your castle. You need to roll groups of numbers to build each piece, and there’s a component of using your already-claimed numbers to effect other players. The whole look and feel of the game caught be totally by surprise after seeing such a huge amount of licensed Monopoly, Clue, Yahtzee, etc… games. Nothing against those, but it’s always nice to see new and innovative titles hit the market.

Nefarious – $29.95 – Ages 13+

Rollandia was really cool looking, but one look at Nefarious and I had already moved on. In Nefarious you’re playing evil scientists trying to take over the world. You do this by inventing devices, performing espionage, and doing research. Visually stunning, designed by Donald X. Vaccarino, and slick looking game play make this one to keep an eye on.

Pass the Blame : The Party Game for Irresponsible and Telestrations 8: After Dark  – $29.95 and $19.95 – Ages 17+

Two adult games following the new trend in the wake of Cards Against Humanity. Both party games involve compromising situations and foul thoughts. Pass the Blame has situations cards that players must write excuses for. Not as filthy as Telestrations After Dark, but it can get a bit dicey. Telestrations After Dark has you playing a game of Telephone, but with sketches. One player sketches a phrase, the next guesses what the phrase is and tries to draw it again, and so on. This one is a bit more intentionally dirty with terms like “doggie style”, “human centipede”, and more.

Wonky

Wonky comes with a box of mostly-cube-like pieces and cards that tell you what color cubes to place and where. Players have to follow the directions on the cards and build a tower as high as they can without it falling. A quick, easy, family game.

Tapple

A word game with an interesting twist. A card is drawn with a category, after which each player takes turns naming something in the category and tapping down the letter the word started with. Once a letter is tapped down it can’t be used again. Players who can’t think of a word are knocked out.

Lift It

This one had a pretty cool hook to it (pun intended.) Lift It has you trying to build certain structures with the pieces provided, but you must do in within a time limit, and by only using your hook on a string to pick up and place pieces. Some challenges are even cooperative, where 2 players need to each hook pieces and work togehter to build something. I gave this a shot, but was met with an almost insurmountable challenge trying to get my shaky, carpal tunnel ridden hands and wrists to do as I asked.

 

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