Delta Quadrant Fluxx

The seemingly unstoppable Fluxx has launched a fourth variant as part of the Star Trek universe.

Following on from TOS, TNG and DS9, Voyager was the only logical choice. The basics of the game remain the same as detailed in our earlier reviews with that journey home twist that formed the basis of the series. For newcomers, the core goal is to match a pair of cards you have out on the table with the items required to fulfil the Goal in play. As you'll discover, both this and the rules themselves can change as you play, meaning that every game is different.

Lining up as your Keepers this time are Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, Paris, Kim, Torres, the Doctor, Seven, Neelix, Kes and, unusually, Future Admiral Janeway. As for ships, Voyager is there alongside the Timeships Aeon and Relativity. As well as the standard equipment options, the Doctor's Mobile Emitter and Coffee also come into play. Interestingly the Emitter, Seven and Future Janeway can pose as Janeway, The Borg and the EMH as required which will open up play options.

On the Keepers, Looney Labs have added a little flourish to proceedings with players needing to "State the nature of the Medical Emergency" when playing the Doctor. The flexible Future Janeway can cancel a Surprise and Torres discards the Malfunction.

Posing as the Creepers we have the Borg (also appearing in the TNG set), the Kazon, the Krenim Timeship and Species 8472. As with all of the previous three packs, the artwork for all the characters, ships and items is impeccable with the sketchy imagery theme running right through all four packs.

Noticably absent from this version (and TOS) is the Meta Rule allowing you to trade five goal cards in at any time, leaving only the Basic Rule card in play at all times. Not that this will make a huge variation to play as I'd be hard pressed to remember an occasion where this has been utilised. Wisely the rather confusing UnGoal remains absent after appearing in only TOS and the TNG packs. 

Within the Actions, the new Caretaker card lets a player remove Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, Paris, Kim, the Doctor and Voyager from play and into your hand and then discarding down to five. As for Rules, the only change is the addition of Ancestors Eve (a reference to 11:59 and Gene Roddenberry on one card!!!) wherein players can refer to relatives born before them to take an additional card from the draw pile.

Each of the four versions of Star Trek Fluxx has had its individual spin on the franchise. The TOS and TNG packs are more flexible played together with the Bridge Expansion which leaves DS9 and Voyager there for a smaller, shorter game. The core of Fluxx never changes but players will find which nuances they prefer and probably end up sticking with that pack for the future. 

The Voyager pack certainly covers a lot of key points through its Keepers and Creepers; Caretaker, Year of Hell and 11;59 being three obvious picks. In turn this means that Voyager's set is perhaps most in tune with the show relating more to specific points than any of its predecessors. It makes it in a slight way less generic than you might find any of the packs singularly and isn't stepping near anything as oddball as the Darmok card from TNG.

The ability to use alternates instead of the "actual" Doctor, Janeway or Borg cards is another clever move by Looney Labs and something that only exists in the Voyager pack. I see this as a way to not only to speed things up but to add that moment of uncertainty if a goal requiring any of those cards is played. Does anyone have an alternative? If not where are they???

Looney Labs have refined the Star Trek licence over the four versions and from a production and implementation perspective, Voyager is the cleanest pack of the four with the unnecessary pieces removed, more relevance to the actual series and a couple of new card features trickled in to spice up the pack. This is Fluxx at its most Star Trek and its most complete and just just trounces the DS9 pack for its adherence to the show.

What's your pack of choice for Fluxx? 

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