Review

Zombies abound in Zombie Fluxx, the newest addition to Looney Labs' Fluxx line of card games. Each deck of Zombie Fluxx comes with 100 cards and an instruction sheet with rules for playing basic Fluxx or playing with undead baddies.

There are a number of concepts to understand when playing Zombie Fluxx. First, as the name would suggest, the game is all about change. The basic rules are simple: draw a card and play a card. But the game evolves very quickly due to the nature of the cards.

There are five card types. First are New Rule cards. With these cards, players actually begin to modify the rules of the game, and subsequent players must adapt to the new rules or try to change them. In many cases, new rules specify how many cards can be drawn or played during a turn, limit hand size or alter victory conditions.

Keeper and Goal cards are used in conjunction to win the game. Once a Goal is played, that card defines the conditions for winning the game. It applies to all players at the table, and as soon as someone meets those conditions, they win.

Players take Keeper cards out of their hand and place them in front of them on their turn. Most Goals require a player to have a particular pair of Keepers to win the game. The more Keepers a player has, the more likely he will meet the current Goal's victory conditions.

The fourth variety of card is an Action. When an Action is played, the player does whatever the card tells him to do. Sometimes it will cause more cards to be played, allow you to steal cards from other players or even reset the rules.

Finally, there are Creeper cards. These are the zombies! Creepers, unlike Keepers, are cards that you do not want, since, in most cases, they prevent you from winning. Creepers are kept with a player's Keepers and are played as soon as they are drawn. The nasty part about Creepers is that they do not count against the number of cards drawn or played, so you might end up with a truckload of zombies before you pull a card that isn't.
Some Keepers, like the shotgun, chainsaw and baseball bat, can be used to kill zombies, which is a good thing because they're unnatural, and under normal circumstances, you can't win if you have a Creeper. Other Keepers, like the Sonic Tranquilizer, allow a player to ignore any zombies they have when trying to win.

Players may also attempt to modify the rules of the game with cards like Zombies Ain't So Bad to nullify their zombie handicap. On the other hand, dastardly opponents might then steal important Keepers or turn them into Creepers!

Zombie Fluxx can be played in as little as five minutes, but some games can last a half-hour or more. And while designed for two to six players, there really should be at least three players, especially for cards like the Zombie Shuffle, where zombies are moved from one player to another.

Once it's played, Zombie Fluxx is very easy to understand and is playable over and over again. While the box says that Zombie Fluxx is appropriate for ages 8 and up, 10 is probably more accurate on the whole; any younger and an adult should be present to help things run smoothly.

Zombie Fluxx is compatible with original Fluxx, as well as EcoFluxx, Family Fluxx and Fluxx Español. The cards from any of these games can be added to Zombie Fluxx, or vice versa, to make games even more challenging.