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Michael Van Biesbrouck
United States
Mountain View
California
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Girl Genius: The Works is based on Phil Foglio's Girl Genius comic ( http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/index.php -- now available as a free web comic or as graphic novels) and the James Ernest/Phil Foglio game xXxenophile ( http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewitem.php3?gameid=1627 ). (It removes Settings and Gizmos (cards with continuous effects) and CCG aspects.)
12 cards are arranged in a cross pattern with card orientation alternating (crossweave). Only two cards in opposite corners are face-up. Players have five cards each in their hands. Each turn a card is flipped face-up (if there are any face-down cards), one card is rotated 180 degrees, cards are popped, popped cards are replaced and cards are drawn to restore the player's hand to five cards. Popped cards usually go into score pads and play goes to 100 points (cards average about 5 points). If all cards are face-up then popping is mandatory; if it is impossible then the board is shuffled and dealt out face-down.
What is popping? Each card has symbols along each edge in varying quantities. There are five types of symbols and a different type of symbol appears on each edge. If the 180 degree rotation causes edges with identical symbols to line up then the card with more symbols pops (both if they are equal; up to five cards might pop at once). When a card pops you follow the instructions on the card (which may pop more cards or give some advantage to your opponent) and then put the card in your scorepad (unless it told you to put it elsewhere). Note that the first description of `Popping' in the rules is ambiguous and tends to cause people to do the wrong thing. Use the explicit definition in the glossary.
Strategy consists of forcing moves on your opponent while leaving good moves for yourself so that you will not be forced to take moves set up by the other player. Some cards have instructions such as `do X or lose a turn' or `put in the scorepad with fewest points' so not all cards are good for both players. The parity of card moves means that you can leave a move for the other player such that when you rotate the card back into position you will get many cards.
When I teach this game I make sure to point out the quantities and card text for the Mimmoths (8), Dirigibles (8) and Submarines (4). Mimmoths all stampede to one scorepad, possibly with dramatic effects. The vehicles allow you to win if you have collected a sufficient number of the other type of vehicle. I will describe `pointing', but rather than describe all of the game terminology I point new players to the glossary. Why load them down with details that they will forget or misremember before they come up? The instruction `BOOM!' does cause a bit more confusion than `Don't think of a monkey', though. Most of the cards have meaningful and interesting instructions, of course.
My wife and I enjoy playing this game. A well-executed trap is quite satisfying, much like getting a Rube Goldberg machine to operate correctly. Great moves are designed ahead of time and carefully watching changes to the board is essential -- forgetting about an opening on the board can turn your plan against yourself. People who don't like it seem to have failed in either forcing moves or setting up a strategy when opportunity presented itself. This is a game to play with a clear head and the intent to be devious, while still preserving some lightness through card text and art. A typical two-player game is one to two hours.
Girl Genius can be played with more than two players; I suggest teams in this case but only play this way to introduce new players to the game. Alternation between teams is important because the odd/even parity is built into the game. Putting all of the players who have been drinking on the same team may lead to an unbalanced game. 
Combining these cards with xXxenophile may require card holders with opaque backs. (Or you could destroy the Aphrodisiac of Lila card to bring a card from outside of the game into play, in which case you are probably the sort of person who would buy the Girl Genius deck for tactical advantage.) Some of the Girl Genius cards contain references that suggest combining the games. There are many `Queens' in Girl Genius but no cards to affect them. There is a card with the instruction `Pop one Vampire' which can only be used to pop itself (and then only with the card that when popped allows you to `Follow the instructions of any card in play' -- apparently James Ernest did this to win a tournament). Note that the rules for pointing are different and you will need to resolve how to handle that issue.
The game contains intentional hints/clues/spoilers for the comic. The Foglios have worked on the background for years so they like dribbling out details and watching what people think.
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Posted Mon Sep 29, 2003 1:56 pm