Introduction

There are a few ways to look at Funny Friends. Each player receives a set of goals, and attempts to fulfill those goals by getting life events that move them in the "right" direction. You can look at the game as a Eurogamer, a Role Player, or a Casual Gamer. I honestly think it has something for everyone.

Eurogamer

There may not be any wooden cubes, but each player has a bunch of round wooden markers and a pile of cardboard chits. If you ignore the theme, Funny Friends is all about resource management. Each player's sheet consists of tracks: smoking, drinking, drugs, money, sickness, obesity, grief, wisdom, and knowledge. Your goals require you to have a certain combination of on these tracks (e.g. 2 money, 1 sickness). Each track starts at 0, and you raise it by taking cards.

The neat mechanic is that when you reach 3 of something, whenever you would get a 4th you are instead taken to 0 in a different track. For example, if you would get a 4th level of Drugs, you instead take your Money to 0. This can be used to prevent other players from reaching their goals (forcing them to take a level of Drugs) or to complete goals that require 0 in a track (many do).

You obtain cards in the first round by laying out a set of cards and taking turns choosing one. Passing first gives you more money to bid in subsequent rounds. After the first round, players take turns choosing a card to put up for auction. This adds an interesting bidding dynamic, and an element of money management. As in the first round, the sooner you pass the more money you get to bid with.

The last gaming twist are the rules for "calling a friend". At the beginning of the game, each player receives one token for each other player. When a card involves other people they may be neutrals, or other players. Tokens can be used to force another player to suffer the effect of a card you just took, or allow you to receive the effects of a card another player just took. This introduces an interesting element of player interaction.

Role Player

Many games have theme, but the theme is often subsumed by the mechanics of game play. Funny Friends avoids that through amusing graphics and helpful icons.

At the beginning of the game, you receive a set of five goals. These goals give you an idea about the character you'll be playing. You can accomplish them in any order, but which order would make the most sense? Through the course of the game you'll use life experiences to tell the story of your character. There will be twists and turns, the good along with the bad.

One of the unique features of Funny Friends is that your goals won't be all happy-shiny-rosy. One of your goals may be to die miserable and alone, or lose your faith. It's not about being the best person or being perfect, but about telling the story of a character's life. By including some of the darker comedy we see in life, your character can take on real depth and personality.

Funny Friends is great for those who enjoy watching dramas, telling stories, or playing a character. It's a well-themed way of getting them used to the mechanics of a board game. More importantly, it's a game they'll be sure to enjoy.

Casual Gamer

At it's core, Funny Friends is not a deeply serious game. There's a random element to which goals you're dealt and which life events come up. It combines enough strategy to make it interesting with enough randomness to avoid being deterministic. The cards and goals focus on humor, and the interactions with other players can be hilarious to imagine. The best part of the game is going around the table reading off your stories at the end. Because goals are dealt randomly, your straight-laced friend could be telling the story of a cultist or a rock-and-roll star.

The art and theme are integrated so that it's easy to sit back and enjoy the game. Figure out which icons you need more of, and bid on them! Someone who's really more game averse could just sit back and pick interesting life events to tell a story. In Funny Friends it isn't about who wins as much as the stories you tell.

Overall Rating: 10/10