Every game of Fluxx is unique because the game changes constantly.  To start the game, you place the Basic Rules card in the center of the table.  As the card instructs, each player gets 3 cards.  On your turn, you do as the Basic Rules say: Draw 1 card, Play 1 card.  Each card is one of several different types: Action, New Rule, Keeper, Creeper, and Goal.  Each type of card does a different thing, but they all have instructions for how to 'Play' it if it needs explaining.  The 'New Rule' cards and the 'Goal' cards are what make the game so dynamic.

'New Rule' cards change what you can and can't do in your turn.  As stated before, the 'Basic Rules' card that you set down at first tells you to Draw 1 and Play 1.  Later on, when 'New Rule' cards are played, this could be changed to Draw 5, Play 3.  There are also rule cards for Hand Limits, which keeps you from holding more than a certain number of cards.  And then there are the whacky rules, which can be especially crazy in the themed expansions like Monty Python Fluxx.  For example, there is one rule that instructs you to speak in an accent, which lets you pull more cards if you keep it up during or in-between your turns.

When a rule card affects the same thing (for example, one of the rules in play is 'Draw 3' and I play a 'Draw 2' card), the old rule is discarded and the new one takes effect immediately.  As such, the rules constantly change.  This is the part that scared my wife away from playing.  However, the wonderful part is that all the cards (and therefore, the rules themselves) are always on the table.  So if you're ever confused or wondering what to do, you just look at the rule cards that are currently in play and follow along.

This is the next question that tends to confuse people who ask.  When you start playing a game of Fluxx, there is no condition for victory.  Only after a 'Goal' card is played is there a way to win the game.  Goals generally consist of you collecting a pair of Keepers.  So, for example, in Monty Python Fluxx one of the goals is to have both the Holy Grail and the Holy Hand Grenade.  Another requires that you have at least 3 Knights of the Round Table in your hand.

However, some cards, called 'Creepers', keep you from winning.  Unlike Goals, which must be played as part of your turn, anytime you pick up a Creeper you must immediately play it in front of you.  Until you get rid of that Creeper, you're unable to win, even if you have the Keepers needed for the current Goal.  The only exception is if the Goal requires that particular Creeper.  As with all the other rules, this is clearly stated on the Creepers themselves.  The "This is an Ex-Parrot" goal pictured left is an example of this.

You can get rid of undesirable Creepers several ways.  Certain cards have special abilities written on them.  For example, you can use the Holy Hand Grenade (a Keeper) to eliminate a Creeper, although this means you have to discard the grenade itself.  The other way to get rid of Creepers (and other things) is to use 'Action' cards.

'Action' cards cause all sorts of trouble.  When played, you do whatever 'Action' is described on the card.  These Actions range from the simple "Draw 3 Cards and Play Them" to the oddly complicated "And Now For Something Completely Different", which instructs all players to push their Keepers right, their Creepers left, discard their hands and redraw a new hand of 3 cards.  Actions add to the "screw your opponents" style of Fluxx by letting you do all sorts of disastrous things to the people playing with you.  Move Creepers to your buddy, steal all his Keepers, give your Creepers to somebody else, force people with tons of cards to discard them all.  It's impossible to plan ahead because every turn somebody could forcibly take all of your cards or steal the Keepers you were planning on using to score a victory.

Just to be clear, this is not a serious game.  If you're going into this trying to strategize and insure your victory, you may as well find a different game to play.  The chaotic and random nature of Fluxx makes it a perfect time-waster.  Unlike other games, where at the conclusion I feel proud that I've won or dissappointed about a move I made that caused defeat, after our games of Fluxx I didn't have any hard feelings.  Most of the time nobody had any idea the game was going to end, it was just a matter of looking at our hand and realizing "Oh wow, I happen to have the 2 Keepers needed for this Goal!" and suddenly the game ended.

In fact, it's almost anti-climactic, because after a while the game gets somewhat dramatic.  At one point we had about 7 rules on the table.  Hand limits, draw rules, play rules, the "1, 2, 5!" rule (which tells you to replace every 3 in instructions with a 5), requirements to speak with an accent, etc.  Every turn you're drawing and playing cards, trying to undermine your opponents with Actions, bending the rules and goals to your favor, and then out of nowhere somebody lays down a few cards and the game is over.  At the end of every game we all just kind of looked around like "Wait, that's it?  That was quick!"  At the same time, though, if the winning combination just happens to not show up, the game can drag on for way too long, again with an abrupt ending that nobody expects.

One cool thing about Fluxx is that you can expand it over and over.  All the Fluxx games (Fluxx 4.0, Zombie Fluxx, Monty Python Fluxx, etc) have the same, plain cardbacks.  This means that you can mix and match any number of Fluxx decks to create a truly ridiculous game.  However, as the Monty Python rules advise, combining different expansions can prove "extremely perilous."  As it is, there is a rather lengthy FAQ on the back of the Monty Python Fluxx rules to cover odd situations that come up, so when you add different Fluxx games together there are more of these strange possibilities.  In fact, these FAQs can all be found at the official fanpage for Looney Labs games.  Once you get the hang of it, though, the rules that aren't printed directly on the cards are all pretty simple to remember, so you could theoretically combine every Fluxx deck ever created, plus all the promo cards, and have one gigantic, confusing, but playable Fluxx deck.

I'd love to see such a thing.

If you're a serious gamer, stay away from Fluxx.  If you like silly games where anybody can win, or if you're looking for something simple to get your wife to play with you, Fluxx is great (as long as you don't over-explain the rules).  Also, if you're a big fan of Monty Python, the Monty Python Fluxx deck contains tons of funny references to the Holy Grail movie, and you'll enjoy the challenges related to quoting Monty Python dialogue or singing songs from the movie.  If you hate Monty Python, there are plenty of other versions of Fluxx to try out.

And if you decide to get a deck of Fluxx cards, make sure to add one of the free promo cards from our Free Stuff section to your order!