Hello there,
While I have been observing the Icehouse and Chrononauts lists for quite some time now, I have never felt I was knowledgeable enough to contribute to discussions. But finally I have a way to contribute out of ignorance. I have a question to ask. But because I am long winded and tend to take the longest path to a point. (which I guess is redundant) I am going to give some personal background and a little bit of set-up. If you prefer to just help with the answer, skip to the third paragraph. (unless of course I find something else to bring up, in which case I will probable edit the previous sentence with the correct paragraph.)
First some background. My family and I have been playing Fluxx for about 2 years (I think maybe 1). I gave Fluxx to my teenage daughter for Christmas because it appeared to be a wacky random game which she and her drama club friends would truly enjoy. Naturally she tried it out on the family first, and we all loved it. So much so that we soon acquired family Fluxx. Then Christian & Fluxx. (have yet to get eco-fluxx although we did give it as a present to a friend who would appreciate the them) It is one of the first games I ever introduce people to because it is so easy to explain, and so much fun. (for most people.) Fluxx has gone fishing, camping, to family holidays, cast parties, picnics, the zoo, and many other places. It's a wonderful go-to game which I will never turn down an opportunity to play. (Unless I am washing the dishes because wet hands are bad for the cards.)
So to setting up the question. This Christmas I was given ZOMBIE FLUXX!! it is soo cool, it is FLUXX with Zombies. What could be better. An incredibly genius idea which is greatly appreciated. By one and all. (or at least by me.) I was so excited I immediately read the back of the box twice. And later that day at my wife's sister's house I got the opportunity to play. That first game got cut short because more relatives showed up and we had to greet them and be nice. But that was a good thing because we got 3 more people who had never played Fluxx before to join us. At first people worried about the creepers and avoided them. Then my wife got Zombie repellent and started passing out creepers right and left. Then people started trying to get them. So at one point I think we had like 10 creepers out. Plus the Dead Friends rule out. Anyway, at one point I get my wifes Zombie repellent and pass most of my creepers to her. Then the goal changes to Zombie victory. There were well over 5 creeper cards on the table (well we were playing on the floor, but it was doing a fantastic imitation.) but I didn't have any because of my zombie repellent. So my wife gets draw 2 and use them. One of the ones she has to use is the action return of the dead. Which causes all in play creepers to be shuffled and dealt out in order to everybody in play. Which leads to my question:
If the Zombie victory goal is out and there are 5 or more Creeper cards on the table and One person has the Zombie repellent card and a zombie gets passed to the person with the zombie repellent, is the zombie victory condition fulfilled? Or does instantly imply that the person never actually gets the zombie card? For example it is given to him, and he passes it on to somebody else before he sets it down?
In the scenario above, I arbitrarily decided that the zombie victory was not fulfilled. I don't know if I was correct, or not, but my thinking was this. I was playing with 3 people who had never played any version of Fluxx before. Many people tend to view a game as less "fun" if they lose the very first time they play it. And the fun is lessened even more if nobody wins the very first time they play it. So I figured in that case, it was in the best interests of the game to interpret instantly as without any intervening time. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if that is officially and technically correct, or if I actually cheated. Any insights?
Thank you for your contemplation, and I apologize for being roundabout, and redundant.
Christopher