Late Thursday, April 7th, 2005

by the Writer's Guild of Wunderland

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If you've read my What's on the Stove? document, you should recall that we've lately been testing out a couple of new versions of Fluxx, one for younger audiences called Fluxx Jr plus another version of the game we're calling Fluxx Reduxx. Well, after due consideration, we've decided to press ahead with Fluxx Jr but to slide Reduxx onto the back burner. Reduxx just isn't close enough yet... I want to let it percolate a while longer before trying to publish it. Moreover, we've decided there's something else we want to bring out sooner: Eco-Fluxx!

This idea is actually not all that new... we've been talking about Eco-Fluxx ever since last summer, when Alison returned from summer camp with a rough plan for a nature-themed version of our #1 hit. Since then, the idea has just been simmering, but over the weekend we got busy and built a prototype deck. We've been playtesting it all week, and it's great! We're really excited about bringing it out!

What's in Eco-Fluxx? Well, it's got a whole food chain of woodland creatures, ranging from caterpillars and the leaves they eat, to the birds that eat the caterpillars, the butterflies the caterpillars metamorphosize into, and the bees that join the butterflies in pollinating the flowers. It's got frogs and snakes and bears and fish and spiders and flies and beetles and mushrooms and worms. It's got air and water and dirt, and it's got the humans whose pollution can endanger such things. It's got all the standard new rules and actions that make it Fluxx, plus a few new ones that go with the theme, including the Recycling rule (which lets you draw from the top of the discard pile) and an action called Eat Dinner (which lets you steal a Keeper if it's something that the current Goal says is eaten by a Keeper you have on the table).

Eco-Fluxx will be the perfect version of the game to play at summer camp, on camping trips, or even at school, where science teachers will delight at the game's subtle but undeniable educational value. And it'll be fun with a purpose: much like Stoner Fluxx, we plan to donate a dollar for every deck we sell to organizations working to support the cause, in this case, protection of the environment. (We plan mostly to support our favorite such group, the Nature Conservancy, but other groups will be eligible too.)

We're planning to have a nearly-final prototype ready to send off with Alison for playtesting at this year's sessions of summer camp. When she returns, we'll make whatever final changes are needed, send it off to the printers, and begin selling it just in time for the holidays!

For those who can't wait for the real release, we plan to post the preliminary Eco-Fluxx card list here in the next week or 3. Meanwhile, the playtest card list for Fluxx Jr has finally been updated!