Converge, Fluxx and design structure

 I’ve been teaching myself Converge via the Aspects of Vision solo module, a process that has been both simpler and weirder than I expected. I don’t know if two-player or one-player is better but I am sure two-player is more intuitive.

So the cards are multi-use. Basically, you can play cards in front of a player as part of a tableau, in the middle as a goal and discard cards to do an action. And it felt so familiar, like a framework I knew well, but I couldn’t figure out why.

Then I realized that that Converge follows a very similar structure to Looney Labs’ Fluxx! You lay out keepers like you add to tableaus. Action cards are the same as  discarding for an effect. And goals are, well, goals.

There are clearly significant differences. There is no equivalent to New Rule cards in Converge, which is honestly the distinct element of Fluxx. The goals of Converge are much more structured. Converge is its own beast, not a reskin of Fluxx, obviously. But it did give me a hook to understanding the structure of Converge.

(I do think Fluxx is underestimated. There is a tight structure to that chaos. Then again, it’s remained in print for over twenty years and has more versions than Baskin Robins has flavors so it’s doing pretty well)

It will take a while for me to process Converge, largely due to its publication structure. There are three sets, each with three factions. (Every card in a faction has the same discard power) A game uses three factions but it can be a mix of any three factions.

Are the factions bundled together in preferred combinations? With only three actions in a specific game, are there going to be combinations that are particularly strong or even unbalanced? Will I play it enough to find out?

I backed the Kickstarter so I have all three sets, plus the solo module. I made a copy of Catalysts of Change since it seemed to be the base set to try the system out. After that, I have decided to make the other two sets. Even though I haven’t decided if I like it or not lol.

Converge is an interesting enough idea that I want to see how much long term value it has. I’ve gotten close to twenty years out of Fluxx.