If you’ve never played Fluxx, this holiday season is the time to start!  It’s now easier to buy and less expensive than ever before.  A new edition of Fluxx has just been released in Target stores, and until December 8, 2012, it is on sale for only $4!  After that, it will be $10, still a bargain price for a great game.

I’ve been a fan of Fluxx since the first edition was released in 1997.  Since then, I have met the inventor and spent many happy hours demonstrating Fluxx and other Looney Labs games at conventions, plus even more happy hours playing various editions of Fluxx with my friends and family.  I am not being compensated in any way for writing this post–I’m just thrilled to share the news!

Any version of Fluxx is easy to learn (and the edition of Fluxx being sold at Target is simpler than most) and fun to play in social situations where conversation or distractions prevent you from really focusing on strategy–because strategizing only goes so far in this game of ever-changing rules.  When it’s your turn, simply draw a card and play a card.  The card you play may change the rules.  Pretty soon, you could be drawing 4 and playing 3 on every turn while trying to get the Cookies and Milk…or the Rocket and Moon….

Fluxx is officially for ages 8 and up because the instructions on the cards are written at about a third-grade reading level.  However, anyone who can read that well can play it, and a child who can’t read the cards can play on a team with an older person.  My son started playing Fluxx when he was 2!  We played at one of my family reunions with people ages 6 to 78, and a good time was had by all.  Older people have very little advantage in this changeable, mostly-luck-based game.

Fluxx holds up well to repeated play, so it’s great for trips when you can fit only one game in your luggage.  Every round is different!  A game might last two minutes or nearly an hour.  It might have several people almost winning and being foiled at the last move, or someone “accidentally” winning because someone else had to play a certain card.

Even now that Looney Labs has hit the big time and gotten one of their products into a major chain store, all editions of Fluxx are printed in the United States to support our economy.

Here’s my review of Pirate Fluxx (and two other Looney Labs games!)