Retro Loonacy is a sophisticated game for those with a sophisticated taste. It’s also a family game. So grab an aqueous martini, a piece of licorice, and put on your sleekest coat while we slip into the super hip, and super fun game that is Retro Loonacy.
Designed by Andrew Looney and Illustrated by Andrew Heath Retro Loonacy is a fast paced matching game for 2-5 players. It is labelled as good for 8 years old and up, but I can tell you our 7 year old had no problems with it beyond some dexterity issues. The concept is quite simple. Everyone will have a hand of cards and try to match those card to the discard piles on the table.
There are two things I want to point out about how this works. First, each card has two images on it, so your chances are increased. Or are they? I’m not a statistician, but I did an internet search and found this, potentially(not at all), helpful video.
The second point I want to make is that the game has different set ups for the game depending on how many players you have. There is always one draw pile, but the number of discard piles related to players is as follows: 5 players-1 discard pile, 4 players-2 discard piles, 3 players-3 discard piles, 2 players-4 discard piles, 1 player-5 discard piles, 0 players… I may have gone too far…
Five Player Setup
“Wait,” I hear you saying, “Brandon, you have given us a lot of info, nice pictures, a very (not very) helpful video, but I still don’t feel like I know how to play.” Ah! You are correct. So, you know it is a matching game, and you know how to set it up, but what’s next? How many cards do you get? Who goes first? You each get 7 cards and you all go at once!!! Wait, not yet. Make sure you all have had a chance to look at your cards first and then, go!!
“Oh, man,” I can hear you remarking, “This game is moving so fast. Oh, I don’t have a match. You don’t have a match? None of us has a match? What do we do!?” Shh, it’s going to be OK. Look, there’s a draw pile. Everyone, take a card. Place it face down in front of you without looking. Make sure you are all ready and then go! The first person to play all the cards from their hand wins!
We here at Spaghetti & Meeples have covered various versions of Fluxx and Just Desserts and have enjoyed them. Retro Loonacy, however, is by far our new favorite from them. We all love the look, the style, the game play, the pace, and the player interaction. If you are a fan of Looney Labs then Retro Loonacy is a must have. If you have never played a Looney Labs game before then this is a great place to start. So get on it already!
You can purchase Retro Loonacy directly from Looney Labs here.
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