Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
2016 was a much different time for me. I was newly into my love of board games, Meeple Mountain was not even a year old, I’d never heard of Reiner Knizia, and the selection process I used for games was a mix of “did it look good on Tabletop” or “that cover looks really cool”. The latter criteria was what I used to decide on Kickstarting an unknown to me game called Circus Flohcati, by the aforementioned Reiner Knizia. I ended up selling it several years later, unplayed, because the game just never spoke out at me.
Fast forward to this past October when I received a box of games to review from our friends at 25th Century Games. Included were Tasso Banana, Sausage Sizzle, and Circus Flohcati. But this time I was ready: the good Dr. Knizia had become one of my favorite designers, my love of light card games had grown immensely, and it didn’t hurt that the cover and graphic design was still eye-popping!
Let me tell you about Circus Flohcati.
The Greatest Show On Earth a Dog’s Butt
Ahem! A quick reminder that Circus Flohcati is a game about literal fleas in a circus.
In gamer parlance Circus Flohcati is a “light press luck card game mixed with set collection”. This means that on your turn you get to flip over cards from a shared deck, deciding when to stop (and taking a card), or possibly busting and being forced to stop (with no card for your troubles). The goal of course is to be the player with the highest score, and taking cards is the only way to score, so let’s try not to bust hmm?
As cards are flipped over, they are laid face up, so that they are visible. If you choose to stop, you take any card from the open tableau, including ones which might remain from a previous player’s turn. In fact, you don’t even have to flip. If there’s a card you particularly want, you can just take it and your turn is over. If, however, you flip over a card whose suit (color) is already showing on the table, then you bust. The card you just flipped is discarded and the next player takes their turn in the spotlight.
So why exactly are you taking cards, and how do you choose?
There are three main ways to score in this game. Collecting any three of the same number, and playing it in front of you will score a “trio”, earning you 10 points.
You also score face value for the highest numbered card of each suit, so if you have a 1, 3, and 6 Tightrope Walker, then you’d earn 6 points for that suit.
Finally, if you have one card of each suit, you can call a Gala Show and end the game, earning you a 10 point bonus.
It should be noted that this version of Circus Flohcati also includes a number of action cards to shake things up. These are generally related to stealing cards from other players, flipping over more cards from the deck, and generally being a source for laughs, or groans depending on who turns over the action card.
What the heck is a “flohcati” anyway?
Circus Flohcati features ten different suits, each with their own color and performer name, with cards numbered from 0-7. The colors are bright and vibrant, and several of them are pretty close to each other (making the illustrations critical). The Grail Games version I owned previously was pretty cool as well, but the illustrations were…weird to say the least. But this new version is fun and exciting, and a bit silly, which fits the game more so that the earlier version.
This is a fun game, and you shouldn’t take it too seriously.
In our first play, we didn’t realize we could take any card we wanted, which meant we busted a lot trying to draw cards we wanted/needed. But after re-reading the rules, we realized we could take any card from the display, and things skyrocketed from there. If you’re collecting 0s for a Trio and someone flips over a 0 and just skips past it, you’re cheering on the inside. When it gets to your turn you snag the zero, play the Trio for a cool 10 points, and your turn is over.
While I’m not the sort of person to count cards, it is worth a few mental cycles to pay attention to what other players are picking up. If they’re lucky enough to snag a green 7, that’s a definite 7 points, and will certainly not be added to a Trio. But if they’ve picked up two 1s on previous turns, then you might want to consider denying them that 1 you just flipped over.
The player count on Circus Flohcati is 2-5, and is one of those rare games that take the same amount of time to play no matter how many people are sitting around the table. You’re going through the entire deck, so you can be assured that the card you’re looking for will get drawn. But you’re certainly not assured to get it.
If you’re looking for a light and fun game for your collection, you can’t go wrong with Circus Flohcati. In the words of Ernest Hemingway “The circus is the only fun you can buy that is good for you.”
Circus Flohcati details
- Designer: Reiner Knizia
- Artists: Franz Vohwinkel, Heiko Günther, JBJ, Łukasz Silski, Yusuke Mamada
- Publishers: 25th Century Games, ABACUSSPIELE, AMIGO Games, Grail Games, Muduko, New Games Order, LLC, oook! Game, OPEN'N PLAY, Play Smart, Playte, Popcorn Games, Rio Grande Games, Süddeutsche Zeitung, TWOPLUS Games, University Games
- Release Date: 1998
- Player count : 2 - 5
- Age range : 6+
- Time range : 15 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Open Drafting, Push Your Luck, Set Collection
- BGG Geek Rating: 6.65993 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 3.5.
- More articles about Circus Flohcati.
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