The folks at Looney Labs have landed a partnership with Cartoon Network and are hitting their Fluxx franchise with a couple new additions to the brand, and today we're going to take a look at the first...

Regular Show Fluxx

Fluxx has been the flagship title in Looney Labs' line-up since its inception in the mid/late 1990's--yes, it's been around that long. And while the game can be polarizing at times, it has certainly become a staple at every FLGS, in my (Jeremiah's) collection, and even at your local Target store.

So what's the low-down on Regular Show Fluxx? Let's jump in and check it out!

I won't take a huge amount of time explaining the game play because... Well, you should totally know how Fluxx plays... Seriously.

The Components -

Cards! Yep, Fluxx is a straight-up card game. You'll see...

Action Cards - These cards will have instructions explaining actions you can take when you play them--no two are alike in the game!

Keepers - These are typically a character, or an object, that is placed in front of the player who played it. In some cases these will have abilities for the controlling player. These are often part of the win condition for the game, which brings us to...

Goals - Exactly what it sounds like. Goal cards change the goal of the game; a goal is often a pair of Keepers, or a certain number of Keepers, etc.

New Rules - Yes, you can change the rules of the game by simply playing a new rule card. These typically change the number of cards drawn or played in a turn, or hand limits etc.

Creepers - These creep into play when a player draws one. It's placed in front of the player, and he draws a card to replace it. Typically you can't win with a Creeper in front of you, unless the Goal specifically says otherwise.

The Game Play -

Each player is dealt three cards to start off. And the game begins, like this:

Draw one card, play one card... That's it. At the beginning of the game there is no way you can possibly win, because no goal has been played. So players draw one card, and then play one card. As rules and goals change they take effect immediately.

The first player to complete a goal while it's active wins the game!

The Verdict--

The one thing I have always enjoyed, and what brings me back to the many different flavors of Fluxx, is the clever way that cards and their function tie in to the theme of the deck. For instance, in Pirate Fluxx if you get the "Scurvy" Creeper card, and you play the "Oranges" Keeper, you get rid of the "Scurvy." In Zombie Fluxx there's an Ungoal card, which causes everyone to lose the game if there are a certain amount of Creepers in play. It's a little on the chaotic side, but the thematic elements are awesome! And so it is with Regular Show Fluxx; the subtleties of the show blended in very well with the game play. There are also some sweet Action Cards that are thematically specific to the set--cards such as: "Step Off!" "Rock-Paper-Scissors Showdown," and "Do Me a Solid."

The cards are what you expect from a deck of Fluxx: high quality, vibrant art, and fun design. The one thing that really jumped out at me with Regular Show Fluxx is that this is the first licensed Fluxx deck for an animated franchise, so the appearance of the characters on the cards is exactly what you see in the show -unlike Monty Python Fluxx where characters are mostly artist renderings/interpretations. This really brings the theme and flavor to life for the deck!

The only downside to this is that the theme seems oddly specific,. If you missed the Regular Show bandwagon, there may be a lot of subtly and cleverness that's lost on you. If that's the case, you may want to wait and pick up the Cartoon Network version that's coming soon.

There's also a $2.00 promo set of 7 New Cards from the Future! These mix in Future Mordecai and Future Rigby, as well a few Goals and a new Action card, referencing that one time Rigby and Mordecai went back in time to convince present-day Rigby and Mordecai that they could be rock stars by lip-syncing... But I digress...

The Final Verdict--

With Fluxx and its many versions you have to ask yourself two questions: "Do I like Fluxx?" and, "Do I like the theme?" If the answer is "No" to either of those questions, give it a pass. If you like Fluxx, but not the theme, keep looking; there's a version of it out there that will strike your fancy. And so it is with Regular Show Fluxx, Looney Labs has masterfully tied theme into gameplay to give you a fun Fluxx experience wrapped in a Regular Show shell!

I'd like to thank Looney Labs for sending me a copy of Regular Show Fluxx, this in no way affected my opinion of the game!

Watch our Take-Two video review of Regular Show Fluxx on YouTube!