The first time I played Fluxx, I had a lot of fun. It was wacky! The mechanic of changing the rules was clever! And the cards themselves were funny!
Sadly, repeated play made the game's flaws all too visible. Changing the rules is a clever idea, but the rules themselves aren't that wacky or interesting. Worse, an unfortunate combination of the "Play [too many cards]", "Draw [too few cards]" and "Hand Limit [too few cards]" rules can lead to several frustrating turns where you have little to no real choice and just play what you draw because you have no hand, or your hand is full of cards you don't want to play. The game can even force you to play cards that do nothing but harm you, which is rather annoying in a game intended to be light fun. Some versions go as far as having cards that can make everyone lose.
Another annoyance is the game's inconsistent length. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes someone wins on turn 2, and sometimes it drags on past the point where something as luck-based as Fluxx is enjoyable. This illustrates the game's main problem — once the novelty of the rules changing and the funny cards wears off, there's still some fun to be had, but the game is just too inconsistent at providing good experiences.
I'd still recommend it if you can get it for cheap and just want something your friend group can mess around with. When it comes to party games, you can do much worse than Fluxx, and it can be pretty enjoyable if you're in the kind of mood where you'd just laugh at dumb stuff like turn 2 wins. Star Fluxx in particular is one of the more interesting versions, as its Surprises allow for some strategy, and a lot of its Keepers have some effect instead of just sitting in front of you.
TabletopGame Mostly a novelty
The first time I played Fluxx, I had a lot of fun. It was wacky! The mechanic of changing the rules was clever! And the cards themselves were funny!
Sadly, repeated play made the game's flaws all too visible. Changing the rules is a clever idea, but the rules themselves aren't that wacky or interesting. Worse, an unfortunate combination of the "Play [too many cards]", "Draw [too few cards]" and "Hand Limit [too few cards]" rules can lead to several frustrating turns where you have little to no real choice and just play what you draw because you have no hand, or your hand is full of cards you don't want to play. The game can even force you to play cards that do nothing but harm you, which is rather annoying in a game intended to be light fun. Some versions go as far as having cards that can make everyone lose.
Another annoyance is the game's inconsistent length. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes someone wins on turn 2, and sometimes it drags on past the point where something as luck-based as Fluxx is enjoyable. This illustrates the game's main problem — once the novelty of the rules changing and the funny cards wears off, there's still some fun to be had, but the game is just too inconsistent at providing good experiences.
I'd still recommend it if you can get it for cheap and just want something your friend group can mess around with. When it comes to party games, you can do much worse than Fluxx, and it can be pretty enjoyable if you're in the kind of mood where you'd just laugh at dumb stuff like turn 2 wins. Star Fluxx in particular is one of the more interesting versions, as its Surprises allow for some strategy, and a lot of its Keepers have some effect instead of just sitting in front of you.