Got ten minutes? If the answer is yes, then you have enough time to pump out a game of “Retro Loonacy”, brought to you by the makers of “Fluxx”, “Seven Dragons”, and “Just Desserts”. It’s a simple, high-speed game of matching pictures and the first player to play all of their cards, wins! Before we get into the details, I’d like to quickly thank the folks at Looney Labs for reaching out and providing me with a free press copy for review purposes.
Retro Loonacy: 2-5 Players, Ages 8+, Average Play Time = 5-10 Minutes
Components
The game includes 100 cards and instructions.
Setup & Gameplay
The deck is shuffled and each player receives seven cards. After that, players will establish a number of discard piles by drawing cards face-up from the deck. The number of discard piles you’ll need all depends on the number of players (5 players = 1 pile, 4 players = 2 piles, 3 players = 3 piles, and 2 players = 4 piles).
There are no player turns in this game. Instead, players will race to make their card plays before the others do. In order to do that, they’ll place one card at a time onto any of the discard piles so as long as one of the symbols match. It’s important to stress that players only play ONE card at a time and can’t stack two or more cards at once if they happen to chain together. When no one is able to play (or voluntarily wants to play) a card, each player draws a new one from the deck. The new card is kept face-down until all players have drawn and are ready to look at them.
Should the draw pile run out, all of the discard piles are shuffled into a new draw deck and the discard piles are started again, just like at the beginning of the game. If a player has to leave, simply add a new discard pile and keep playing (obviously this doesn’t work if you’re playing a two player game). The first person to get rid of all of their cards, wins!
Editor’s Note: The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the manual, but should give you a general idea as to how the game is played.
The Review
Much like this review, this game is incredibly quick as there’s not a whole lot to it. Admittedly, part of me is conflicted about the number of discard piles used per player. At first, I was confused by the decision to add fewer discard piles for every player you added to the game…my mind was convinced it was a typo in the rulebook and that it should be the other way around. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that two players may have a hard time discarding cards with only one discard pile, whereas five players would have more cards in play and thus, better odds of one player playing something. Luckily, players are free to experiment to see what works best for them in terms of fine tuning a player : discard pile ratio.
The MSRP per the official website (link below) is $15.00, making it a fairly cheap filler game should you be looking for one. The card stock could admittedly be better/thicker as they tend to bend easily. Unlike some other filler games I’ve played, “Retro Loonacy” requires quick thinking and some insane reflexes. As such, some folks who prefer a more laid-back and less stressful experience may not take to this game all that well. If your game nights tend to get loud, frantic, and rambunctious, then your family / gaming group should seriously consider picking up “Retro Loonacy”.
Final Verdict: 6/10
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You can learn more about “Retro Loonacy” by visiting its official website, here:
http://www.looneylabs.com/games/retro-loonacy
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