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Comment by milkshakes | Hacker News Reader

For those with a shorter attention span, there's an addictive card game in which changing the rules is a move: http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Fluxx/

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Be forewarned, the game can go quite long as mathematically, there is no guarantee it will halt.

It can also be quite frequently won on the first turn.

Not at all in any of the variants I know of.

By first turn, he means "first play around the table".

If you get a play 3 or play all out in the first turn, and someone else has 2 keepers that match a goal card, someone can then win by playing all three.

In Monty Python Fluxx, you can play "Play All," use "Bring Out Your Dead" to get rid of all your cards except for "The Cheese Shop" which you then play to win.

But as a player there are many things you can do to ensure that it ends quickly (draw 4, play all, let's do that again, take another turn). You might not always be the beneficiary but the game will be over shortly.

I'm a fan of the zombie version, which is a hoot.

I have that one. The concept is interesting, but Fluxx doesn't allow you to change the rules, only some parameters (e.g. take n cards a turn, play m cards).

I felt it failed to live up to the promise of its concept.

That's what I found too - Fluxx is pretty lightweight. Well, compared to some of the rules that I've played with in Bartok eg. prime-numbered black cards are clubs, non-prime red cards add one to their value (mod-13, naturally), sevens "don't exist" (they have no effect on play, don't count towards your hand total, etc.)

There is also Mao, which halts but is just as fun. The first rule of Mao is that you don't talk about the rules of Mao. And the winner gets to add a new rule.

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