Have you gone completely looney? Oh wait, that is probably trademarked… Have you gone completely flipped? These toons are looney too, but above all they are completely flipped. Build your perfect deck, but do not be surprised when your strategy gets turned upside down. During FlipToons, you will find yourself shouting “flip me!” more than once.
FlipToons puts a twist on the traditional deckbuilder. You still buy cards to build an efficient personal deck, but preferably you keep that deck as lean and efficient as possible.
Each player starts the game with a deck full of promising cartoon characters. During every round, each player shuffles their entire deck. Then players reveal their toon cards one by one and place them in a grid, where they can audition together and try to earn fame.
Every toon card in your 3-by-2 grid has different effects, often depending on where that card ended up in the grid. Many cards interact with each other and, hopefully, earn fame for your studio. Some cards, however, do not play nicely together at all, so it is up to you to make sure the characters in your deck work well as an ensemble by hiring new cards and adding them to your deck.
After players have revealed their cards, they add up the fame points from the toons in their current grid. They can then take up to two actions: buy cards and/or discard cards. Buying and discarding cards costs fame, and better cards naturally cost more fame. Cards you may have bought earlier are worth less later on, which is why you will often be only too happy to discard them.
Card effects vary widely. Sometimes you have to stack cards so your grid contains more than six cards, you may or must discard cards, you may take extra actions, and so on. Why go through all that effort? To be the first to gain as much fame as possible, preferably as quickly as possible.
If you are the first player to score 30 or more fame points in a single round, you earn the Critic’s Choice Award, which is worth extra fame points, and the end of the game is triggered. After the market phase of that turn, it is time for the final flip. The player who earns the most fame points during that final flip is declared the winner of FlipToons.
FlipToons is a wonderfully snappy little card game. It contains the core of a traditional deckbuilder, but combines it with a lovely dose of push your luck and a genuinely fun twist. Better yet: a fun flip. Flippin’ fun!
