Doctor Who Fluxx

“Oh, How To Explain The Mechanics Of The Infinite Temporal Flux?” – 10th Doctor

In Fluxx (there is no exception for Doctor Who Fluxx), you draw a card then play a card. Sounds simple right? It is…at least until you read what’s on the card you just played, then everything goes a bit wibbly wobbly timey-wimey. You see, every card you play changes the game in some interesting way, for better or worse. I think the Doctor Who universe might be the setting that fits the chaos that is Fluxx the best.

How Does It Work

“A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.” – Fluxx is a great example of this quote by the 3rd Doctor.

Rules

The rules start as I mentioned, draw a card, play a card. From there the rules change whenever a card is played. New rule cards create additional rules or override old ones if they conflict, for example you might have a Draw 2 rule which would be overridden by a Draw 3 rule. As long as they don’t override though, they work alongside each other, leading to some truly galactic levels of chaos. For example, you might have a hand limit of 2 but are drawing 5, meaning you have to immediately discard 3. Then you can play 3 but only have 2 left in your hand. One of your cards is the Doctor, but there is another rule stopping there being more than one Doctor on the board at once, and someone played one last turn!

Keepers

The Doctor is an example of another card type that can be played, Keepers. These are what you need to achieve your goal (whatever that may be). There is no initial limit to how many you can play, but as the rules can change at any time, Who knows what will happen. These are all nicely themed around the Doctors (up to 12….although I guess with recent news it would also include 14!), their companions and a few recurring items. You’ll usually need a combination of two of these to win, although there are some edge cases.

Goals

There is no initial goal when the game starts and it will change depending what goal card is in play at any given time. Each new one overriding the previous. It’s all well and good playing ‘Impossible Girl’ and trying to play the 11th Doctor and Clara, but if someone drops ‘Exterminate!’ you’re suddenly looking for a Tardis and a Dalek instead.

Creepers

I should mention the Creepers right? I mean, some of them are pretty scary but I feel like I need to at least mention them. These are cards that, if you draw them, have to be played straight away (and you draw another card). They feature the likes of the Master, the Cybermen, the Daleks and…the Weeping Angels (quickly putting that one away so I can blink again). Usually they stop you from achieving any goal, however there are a few goals that actually require one of the creepers to achieve it.

Actions & Surprises

There are also action cards which are as straightforward as they sound, whatever is written on the card happens immediately. Sometimes this has a simple effect, other times (especially when drawing and playing) it can set off a chain of effects that could signal the end of all time and space! Not to mention the surprise cards, which are essentially action cards that can also be played during an opponent’s turn. Turn interruption is usually something I find off putting, but there are very few of these and they can be amusing, so it’s not too bad.

The Theme

“Now drop your weapons, or I’ll kill him with this deadly Jelly Baby.” – No reason for this one other than it’s a great quote from the 4th Doctor.

Like I said, Doctor Who may be the best setting for Fluxx. I can imagine it as a game the Doctor and various companions might play in their down time (ha, like they have down time), but it would be even more crazy.

The main theming here is around the Keeper, Creeper and Goal cards. The others interact with them but aren’t necessarily Doctor Who themed. That’s fine though as the theming has been done well. There are no examples of someone just changing the image on a card, they have given it at least some thought. Having the Doctors as Keepers is a given, and they have chosen a good smattering of more recent companions (or ones who reappeared recently). Having the old ones would have been nice, but there are simply too many. Perhaps they could release a classic Doctor Who Fluxx edition in the future. Perhaps my favourite Keeper card is ‘That Scarf’, which is a great callback to one of the best Doctors.

In a similar fashion the Creepers are easily identifiable as the Doctor’s enemies. I was however disappointed to see there are multiple copies of the same Creepers, instead of adding additional enemies into the mix. I can only assume this was done for game balance reasons and it would have been difficult to have every Creeper be unique.

The goals too show that thought has been put into the creation of this version, they each contain a pairing and accompanying name which makes sense within the universe. I found that this can also bring back related memories of episodes you’ve seen, which is both fun for you and the group as it becomes the start of a discussion.

This is all brought together by the artwork, which is beautiful. They have created likenesses of all the characters we see on screen, with a very slight comic style that works well.

Conclusion

“Everything’s got to end sometime. Otherwise, nothing would ever get started.” – The 11th Doctor was very wise, and this review too, must come to a close.

If you’re not a fan of Doctor Who then this probably isn’t for you. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t another version of Fluxx out there. I hope I gave you enough of a rough idea of how it plays to journey through your own universe to find your perfect theme.

For the fans however, Doctor Who Fluxx, I feel, is an essential buy. Not only is it great for parties and board game nights, it also reminds you at every turn of the fantastic show we all love.