| Chez Geek
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|
| Players invite people, buy stuff and do things in order to be the roommate with the most Slack.
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| Players:
| 2-5 (more with expansions)
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| Age range:
| 18 +
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| Setup time:
| 5 minutes
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| Playing time:
| 45 minutes
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| Rules complexity:
| Low
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| Strategy depth:
| Low
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| Random chance:
| High
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| Skills required:
| Dice rolling, Communication
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| requires a six-sided die and a way of recording Slack totals, not included
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Chez Geek is a popular card game by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic that has a humorous take on geek culture and cohabitation.
In 2000 Chez Geek won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game of 1999 and in 2003 the spinoff Chez Greek won Best Graphic Representation of a Card Game Product 2002.
Gameplay
Each player is dealt a special purple-backed Job card and five yellow-backed Life cards which lists free time, income, a special ability and Slack goal. The space in fromt of a player is their Room, and they have a slack total of zero which is represented in any way convenient to the players.
Players take turns as follows:
- Draw Life cards until they have six in hand
- Make various rolls. Some Job cards have variable free time or income; they are decided in this phase. If there are any bad people in their room, they may roll to send them away in this phase.
- If any of the player's Life cards are green Person cards, they may roll to invite the person to their room. Some people are bad, and may be placed without a roll in any player's room. Cats can also be played in this round.
- For each free time the player's Job card gives them, they may perform one action (play a red Activity card) or go shopping (play any number of blue Thing cards). These cards have a cost; the total cost cannot exceed the income given to them by their Job card.
- If they have more than five cards, the player must discard cards until they have five or fewer. They may then optionally discard all but one of their remainin Life cards.
Additionally, some Life cards are orange Whenever cards which can be played at any time.
Activity cards and Thing cards typically list a slack value which is added to the player's slack total, though some have random slack totals and some have slack totals which vary during the game. TV Activity cards and some Whenever cards can be used to cancel cards ans they are being played, and some cause previously played cards to be discarded. Some cards add or subtract slack from every player's total. Some cards cause a player to change their Job card. Many cards alter other cards' actions.
The first player whose slack total equals or exceeds their slack goal is the winner.
Game interest
The game's main attraction is in its humor, evident in the cards' design, flavor text and illustrations. The game itself is very simple to play, which is often an advantage.
Some of the Activity and Thing cards available are unsuitable for minors (Nookie, Smokes, Booze, Weed, Shrooms) hence the game's 18+ recommended age.
Expansions
The game lends itself well to expansions, which help keep the humor fresh. In addition to the original 112 card set, the following are available:
- Chez Geek 2 - Slack Attack
- Adds 56 new cards (including a Dog) and provides some rules clarifications.
- Chez Geek 3 - Block Party
- Adds 56 new cards and a large box to house the combined 224-card set.
Spinoffs
The game has also seen several stand-alone spinoffs. While these each add some new rules to the Chez Geek core, they are still (in Steve Jackson Games' words) "compatible with the original game".
- Chez Greek
- Chez Geek set in a Fraternity house
- Chez Grunt
- Chez Geek set in the Army
- Chez Goth
- Chez Geek with Goths
External links
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