Card Game Review: ‘Doctor Who Fluxx’ from Looney Labs

Doctor Who Fluxx from Looney Labs is the latest edition of the card game with ever-changing rules. There have been numerous different takes on Fluxx, including Batman Fluxx, Firefly Fluxx, and Cthulhu Fluxx, each with its own eccentricities. Perhaps never before has there been a more fitting property to match the systematic chaos of Fluxx than the Doctor Who universe with its own “wibbly-wobbly… timey-wimey… stuff.”

The core rules of Fluxx are straightforward. Players take turns drawing a card and playing a card, although things may get more complicated depending on which card is played. It may be an Action allowing a special move, a Keeper that players set in front of them, a Goal that players have to meet to win, or a New Rule that will change the basic components of the game, such as offering more cards to draw, play, or hold within the hand-limit. Players will also have to watch out for Creeper cards, which prevent the player who drew it from completing the Goal unless it otherwise calls for it.

Doctor Who Fluxx gives its own flair and flavour to the game. Just like the Doctor, powers within the deck are ramped up for an especially wild time. Some cards are renamed from previous decks, such as the “Time Vortex” Action being a reshuffling of cards in players’ hands. Others are completely new, like “The Pandorica Has Been Opened” that causes all Creepers to be redistributed among the players or “Psychic Paper” that serves to duplicate an Action card in another player’s hand.

The biggest shift in Doctor Who Fluxx from other sets is the repetition of Keeper and Creeper cards. Each Doctor One through Twelve and even a Future Doctor has its own Keeper, any of which may pair with other Keepers like K-9 or the TARDIS to complete particular Goals. The Creeper cards include a pair of Weeping Angels and a wealth of Daleks, as it would not be Doctor Who without an abundance of danger. Thanks to some of the repeated cards, ties may occur for the winning completion of a Goal, in which case the game continues until only one player meets the conditions. Special New Rule cards help manage the plethora of Doctors and Creepers, with “I’m a Genius” wiping out any enemies and “The Blinovitch Limitation Effect” making it so that only the highest numbered Doctor remains on the table. Players will need special cleverness to manage not only their own timely plays, but what other cards opponents may have lying in wait.

Doctor Who Fluxx is a card game for two to six players aged eight and up. It is a fairly quick game, usually lasting about ten or fifteen minutes, although with the wibbly-wobbly nature of the game it could be over within a few minutes or go on for upwards of half an hour before someone matches the goal. Doctor Who Fluxx is a must-play for fans of the show just as much as it is for Fluxx enthusiasts, especially those looking for maximum madness on the table with new duplicates on the table.