Game: Lunch Money

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llamaface — 2008-08-20T21:04:14+00:00

A random sampling of Lunch Money cards

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

AbundantChoice — 2008-07-14T05:10:34+00:00

douglasbushong wrote:
It's one of those things that you bring down from the shelf and see if it has dust on it. If it doesn't, you put it back; if it does, it is ready to be played again. That's the only way to keep it fresh.

Exactly. You can use it once in a while to blow off steam at the end of a long night full of other games, or bring it out now and then once everyone's had a few beers. It helps to get drama/LARP types involved, theyre more willing to get silly and verbose with it. It can also be fun to see who is all apologetic versus who is like a shark sniffing blood.

Maybe it's my running crew, but i've always noticed its the wives and girlfriends who start out pledging solidarity to their S/Os only to mercilessly turn on them at the most inopportune moment

Thread: Re: Ling Ling was going down, and I was just the girl to get it done.

Animal Control — 2008-05-08T15:57:51+00:00

already running off to get a doctor's note?

Thread: Re: Ling Ling was going down, and I was just the girl to get it done.

Kronman — 2008-05-07T16:53:22+00:00

I'm not going to make it this week Ling Ling, but get ready for a beat down!

Thread: Re: Ling Ling was going down, and I was just the girl to get it done.

Animal Control — 2008-05-06T16:12:54+00:00

Ling Ling found her grandpa's old Samurai sword. You've got nothing on me Edna. I challenge you to a one-on-one. Bring your granny's dentures, you are going to need them after school today.

Thread: Ling Ling was going down, and I was just the girl to get it done.

Kronman — 2008-05-02T23:11:29+00:00

Ling Ling had been talking trash all week long. It was just about 3:00 high at the bike rack. She had just gotten to the schwinn's back tire when I stood up and launched myself at her back. Wouldn't you know it. Her little friend Sissy called out to her at the last moment and she dodged out of the way. Thats ok. I ate my wheaties this morning. These girls were going downtown, and I'm was just the lass to take them there.

I didn't realize Minnie had shown up until I saw the most pathetic attempt at an uppercut float past my face. Queeny saw it. I think the Queen of the playground must not have gotten a cut of the daily take, and she was pissed! She pulled a lead pipe out from behind her and nailed Sissy a good one. The dull thunk of metal on meat had the desired affect however. Bloodbath!

What came next was a flurry of rage. Minnie ducked a jab only to get hit with a spinning backfist. Sissy got caught up in a tussle and not only got a mouthful of worms, but somehow a good mess of hair ended up missing. Ling Ling was dealt a flurry of blows and after blocking the first, ended up a pitiful lump in the dirt. I took care of Sissy with a hail mary that left my hand cracked. Just what I needed right before the weekend! She dropped like a water balloon, with a splash. Queeny was just getting fired up however. I was getting poked in the eye by Minnie and pimp slapped by the Queen. I tried to dodge but just couldn't keep up with these bitches.

My eyes opened to see Queeny getting her face shoved in the mud puddle. I'll have to keep an eye out for Minnie. She's a lot tougher than she looks...

Thread: Re: Why My Wife Likes Lunch Money

Kronman — 2008-04-25T17:13:01+00:00

Good to see she was able to beat you down for a change!

Thread: Why My Wife Likes Lunch Money

phillbri — 2008-04-25T15:53:40+00:00

My wife and I (mostly I)have been gaming for a few years and have a game night every Thursday with 5 - 6 players. Once we got past Ticket to Ride and a few other gateway games, she lost interest due to game complexity (I'm guessing it's more about Grey's Anatomy being on Thursday but I'm not going to point that out to her). I think the constant beat-downs left her feeling helpless to win and helped her decision to stop playing for awhile. Here is where Lunch Money helped revive her interest.

Lunch Money - a game of school-yard beat-downs completely composed of random luck of the draw. I had just gotten done beating her at our newest addition, Dread Pirate (for some reason she really wanted to get this game). I pulled out Lunch Money and told her it would be fun as I started explaining the rules. At first she wasn't so sure but I got her to sit down long enough that she was interested in reading the cards and looking at the creepy images. The first game started out slow, couple of jabs, uppercuts, and headbutts and I was unconscious. It took a game to get to know how the cards worked but I wasn't too concerned with the loss. My wife however had a big grin on her face.

I challenged her again and this time she was getting into it! I kick, she blocks, grabs and uppercuts! OUCH!The second game was a little better battle but the same result, I'm lying unconscious with her smiling at me and telling me how she just beat me to the ground.

It's almost midnight and I'm ready to go to bed but SHE convinces ME to give it one more shot. I'm game, feeling confident that it was just a fluke so we go at it again. Now she is just being mean when she attacks! She pokes me in the eye, I try to knife her but she disarms me, she kicks me, I get my roundhouse blocked, she grabs and uppercuts. She then hits me with a spinning backfist. The whole time she is trash-talking and acting out the moves at the table. She even asked me, "did that one hurt?" The clincher was when I went for the Hail Mary and she Humiliated me. She described the humiliation in detail and then proceeded to block my next attacks. I was finished off with a Big Combo that even though I could not block, she wanted to tell me how it happened. First she pulled my skirt around my ankles and when I fell over she rubbed my face in the gravel. Then she slammed my head in the toilet and smashed the seat down on it. Wait a minute I yelled, you only get to do two of those things! Her reply was, "I'll do what I want because you will never know, you're unconscious." Final score on that game, she had 14 life points to my 0.

I think she used that game to take out her aggression on me for beating her so many times. We had a great time and she was even willing to play again to give me a shot at winning. All in all it was a light-hearted game with a lot of trash-talking which made for a great quick game.

I'm now using this game as a filler in between other games. We played last night and found that if everyone gangs up on the person who just won a big game, we all feel better when we leave at night.

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

Sick Leave — 2008-04-07T01:09:12+00:00

While we didn't immediately catch on that you could discard as many cards as you like as part of your turn, we caught it before I really started taking a beating. Despite my best efforts, I could not get one lick of defense on my side. The other two players had them in spades though. Sounds like it might have just been a cruel deck...

As for the acting, perhaps we weren't in the right mood to sustain it. We have several games where the winds must be right to play. If we break it out again, I'll be sure to print out some references to avoid that wind from being sucked out of our sails.

With our group, we usually don't require a mechanic for the smack talk to come out!

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

ced1106 — 2008-04-06T21:31:01+00:00

I found the game oddly bland. Maybe the rich theme of the cards set my expectations too high (sorta like when a tv series blows $$$ on set and costumes but the characters are weak?). The smack talk was okay, but, heck, I play pretty much every "beer and pretzels" game with some smack talk! Or perhaps I've been playing Wiz War too long!

Too bad there's no "hit location" variant table...

aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

jollypirate — 2008-04-05T13:10:57+00:00

DnaDan56 wrote:
Best to take up Ti Kwan Leep!

Have we learned nothing from the story of Ed Gruberman.

Come closer so you might learn.

(I've got this coming in trade...I think my group will enjoy it.)

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

tommynomad — 2008-04-05T12:14:18+00:00

And one for Jenny and the wimp!

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

mgamer72 — 2008-04-05T00:49:26+00:00

We only play this with 4+.

I always redraw to keep a defense card in hand. Or 2.

Trash talking is also quite important (also accompanied by appropriate sound effects, cries, and taunts). I like drawing attention to the another player with the most health. If there's a runaway leader with 4 players, it's no one fault but everyone else.

Trash talking can also tempt another player to make mistakes that you can take advantage of.

Usually it's left to me and one other player. We spend several turns just redrawing - akin to the last 2 kids at the playground sizing each other up for the final bout.

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

Peso Pete — 2008-04-04T23:01:42+00:00

This game is just brutal when played multiplayer. Heaven help the poor sap who doesn't have a defense card when they are attacked in a multiplayer game, because he/she is going to get his/her bell rung by everyone until it is the poor sap's turn. I like it, but you can't take it seriously because it is too random.

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

DnaDan56 — 2008-04-04T16:41:23+00:00

Best to take up Ti Kwan Leep!

Thread: Re: Boot to the Head... My Head

CrankyPants — 2008-04-04T16:29:45+00:00

I'll be the first to admit that
1. Lunch money is not for everyone
and
2. The game would play better with rules printed on them. This cheatsheet will make things much simpler for you: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/5082

but

I love beating the hell out of my friends and the aesthetic of the cards is awesome.

Firstly, it sounds like you missed the rule that allows you to use your turn to discard and try to draw better cards -- usually defense or health.

Secondly, You will get picked on when you're weak -- it's the law of the school yard!

For someone who plays poker, you missed out on the sweet threats and bluffs that can make this game hella-fun. Next time you're out of D, just pull out a Big Combo or a Poke in the Eye, show it to your opponents and explain that the next person to attack you will get it right back and a whole lot more.

Ironically, the discard option is a sign of weakness -- I've played one on one and intimidated my opponent so much that he just sat there and drew cards while I pummelled away without a single D in may hand. I've even played with my cards face up and explained to people just how badly I can kick their asses and they don't even want to tangle with me.

Once you get the right group and have the rules under your belt -- It's a great game.

Thread: Boot to the Head... My Head

Sick Leave — 2008-04-04T13:42:14+00:00

My friend has had this game sitting on a shelf in the basement for quite some time now, and with a few early exits from an Omaha Hold 'Em tournament, we ended up giving Lunch Money a try. I think I would've rather had someone just hit me in reality.

To quickly sum up the mechanics, players use their hand of five cards to play attacks of varying strength on opponents while they try to fend them off. Once a player takes a net of 15 damage, they are "unconscious" and out of the game. There are a few general offensive and defense maneuvers that are simple and self-explanatory, but the majority of cards have a unique mechanic that requires a certain move to precede it, gives a player a bonus after it, or both. These rules are printed on the card for easy viewing in a standard 0.001 point font; they're there, go ahead look, I swear it...

So every time we drew a card, or tried playing one, or needed to defend ourselves, or were idly watching someone else take a beating, we each reached for the rule book. After each play, we seemed to be passing it around out of necessity. It doesn't seem like such a stretch to improve playability by putting at least a brief description on the cards, but apparently it would've ruined the artistic nature of such a delicate game.

But even assuming we knew what the cards did, this didn't make the game more engaging. During the first play, I didn't see a single defensive card; I took damage every time it came my way. The only thing that kept me alive for longer than several minutes was my friends' desire not to eliminate me whilst we were learning the game. Was that really such a blessing? As you fall perilously close to losing all of your life tokens, you gain no advantage to keep you in the game. Your only hopes are the luck of the cards or your opponents' sense of game theory.

So it seems that the motivating mechanic behind making this game and assuming it will be fun is the dialog and acting as each move is made. We did have some fun with this, but as the game wore on, the effort put into this dwindled. I suppose the beatings were finally taking a toll.

Pros: role-playing/acting, short play time
Cons: luck of the draw, runaway leader, obscured mechanics

I don't see us breaking this out again for quite a while. Pardon the pun, but I'd say save your lunch money and buy something else.

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

GaryB — 2008-03-25T17:21:05+00:00

This game sounds similar to the cowboy gunfest card game that is "Bang!". I hated "Bang!"

Thread: Re: So just how many people can play at once?

enzo622 — 2008-03-19T01:09:52+00:00

I just saw this under "General Comment" after I posted my question:

Though the box says it's for 2-4 players, you can easily play with more - probably up to as many as 10. You'll just have to shuffle the discard pile a little more.

Also, an average game probably takes 30-60 minutes, depending on the number of players and their speed (mainly dependent on familiarity with the cards).

So I guess I'm b*tch-slapped across the face for asking a question when the answer was already out there!

Thread: So just how many people can play at once?

enzo622 — 2008-03-19T01:06:02+00:00

I just bought this game off eBay ($9.00, new. Woo hoo!). Seems like the perfect fit for my trash-talking game group.

I'm just curious how many people can play b/c the game listing says 2-4 but I see people mentioning 6 or even 8 in the session reports.

So what's the deal, beeyatch?

Thread: Re: Inventive maiming at the hands of friends....

Rush2112 — 2008-02-26T01:23:10+00:00

how bout a tip, "just cause i roll like that" as my kids would say...

Thread: Re: Inventive maiming at the hands of friends....

mojo shivers — 2008-02-26T01:21:02+00:00

Where were teachers like you when I was going to school? I would have loved to play Lunch Money during lunch when I was younger.

Thread: Inventive maiming at the hands of friends....

Rush2112 — 2008-02-25T23:35:14+00:00

I am a teacher and have never had as much fun with a group of 6-10 students as a rough and tumble game of Lunchmoney during our hour long lunches. I have played with males and females, gamers and non-gamers. Eveyone loves this game. I've even had parents play with us after school (they loved it and now own the game as well).

So last time I played, it was with 8 non-gamers, half male, half female. The quietest person in class ripped out a girl's earings and force fed them to her for a big combo. Tantrums softened up several hardy lunch warriors. A boy got poked in the eye four times - twice is was a wierd attack after sticking the finger "in some dog poo". One player was drug around the playground Hector style by an overly friendly wedgy. More than one foot was broken off in someone's backside. A Hail Mary was even blocked by a atheist who refused to acknowledge the concept of a virgin birth and claimed the attack therefore had no power over him.

But my personal favorite was either when I finally had both a block and a grab and able to counter attaack successfully for the first time ever in the game, or when I was killed by a 2-fer in which 2 pencils were shoved up my nose and then savaged pulled up ripping my nose from my face.

By the way, we use d20 to mark health & it works well.

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rseater — 2008-01-08T08:21:25+00:00

house rules for weapons: now they aren't all the same!

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rseater — 2008-01-08T03:19:06+00:00

Some house rules of mine, which make the level 2 attacks more interesting.

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rseater — 2008-01-08T02:56:19+00:00

I used fine tip sharpies to write reminder text on each card, to combat the terrible information representation in this game. There should really be text on these cards!

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

Ashlar — 2007-12-29T22:18:59+00:00

I am not sure i can play it with my gaming group, but someday I am getting it just for the artwork.

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broken_halo20575 — 2007-12-10T00:00:43+00:00

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Shiny Blue Robot — 2007-11-03T21:01:48+00:00

My friend Zeb organized his Lunch Money set into a lunch box... great idea.

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

douglasbushong — 2007-09-27T00:36:41+00:00

I think this game, like many games, is great for the occasional play, but it can get boring quickly.

It's one of those things that you bring down from the shelf and see if it has dust on it. If it doesn't, you put it back; if it does, it is ready to be played again. That's the only way to keep it fresh.

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

graan_jonlo — 2007-08-20T23:05:18+00:00

Wow, if there was ever a game that so divided people's opinions. I played it for the first time today with a couple of mates who are both gamers and roleplayers and we had a tonne of fun. We played five games straight and by the end of the second game we didn't need to refer to the rules anymore.

Don't know what to say other than so far it's working for our group (or the three of us who have played it so far anyway. I'll have to see what the others make of it). It definitely plays fast with most games over within 10 - 15 minutes so I don't know how you're getting the drag unless the expansion seriously alters the game.

First opinions are it's a quick fire take that where over the top and in character trash talking is encouraged. Luck can play an important part but getting taken out before you've had a chance to do anything doesn't feel like a big deal as the game will be over real quick so you can immediately jump in for the next one. We've found this leads to a sort of plot continuity where events from previous games influenced actions in the current game E.g. a terminal happy slapping incident behind the bike shed lead to a retaliatory knifing the next day.

All in all, currently really enjoying it.

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

Advocator — 2007-07-29T13:20:39+00:00

Wow, I never thought the review would garner that much attention. But it'll definitely give anyone thinking about picking the game up some food for thought!

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

Gmsnctry — 2007-07-29T10:32:25+00:00

awesome game have played since the day it came out... The classic schoolyard bully (or the chance to stand up to him)

I jab you girly man.. opponent blocks... I get elbowed but dodge so the next guy blocks.. next guy gets jabbed by his openent grabs headlocks and chockes.. the I humiliate ("Jesus hates you and so do I") for the kill.

Just a knee slapping and maybe beer drinking (if your of legal age) time.

Like beer pong and quarters (start out boring as hell.... Not sure why people like the game but it sure can get interesting and fun

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

arkibet — 2007-07-29T07:30:10+00:00

meh... it's all about the roleplaying. We all had fake girlie names like, "Miss Sissy" "Miss Prude" "Slutty Sally" and "Sister Blister" as we played a double team to introduce someone to our boyfriend, the "Brick" *slam* "Wall" *slam*

There was nothing like being at the Lunch Money tournament, where Lindz wouldn't attack anyone... until Mitch decided to get up on top of the table, step on her lunch money, and scream, "BABY! BABY! Stick your head in gravy! Wash it out with bubblegum and send it to the Navy!" She uppercutted him. (With a card...)

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

Stephen Glenn — 2007-07-29T06:14:57+00:00

It's a dreadful piece of design that tries to save itself by being too hip for the room. This game offends me in ways that have nothing to do with its "dark" theme. It offends me by putting more energy in trying to offend me than by putting a good game in the box.

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

Dignan — 2007-07-28T23:37:34+00:00

Well, this game definately thrives on the "right kind of crowd". I've gotten a bunch of non-gamer guys around the table and we've had a blast just trying to beat each other up.

It's simply a "take that" sort of game. Nothing fancy. The fun for my group just comes in trying to build up cool card combos and unleash them on your opponent (ala block->grab->powerplay->hail mary, etc). It's just a fun way to blow off some steam and have a good time.

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

fullerbd — 2007-07-28T23:18:37+00:00

People of my age group (I'm 28) love this game. It's hilarious and funny, maybe it's not a masterpeice, but it's fun time. This has been my single most successful game to introduce to non-gaming males. I've never had much of a problem with remembering what the cards do, after you play once or twice everyone remembers. I can see why over-serious gamers wouldn't like it. The saying on the cards have brought nothing but laughs from everyone I have played with, however some people say they are offended by them. The expantion is a lot to remember, but consulting the rules briefly never bothered my players. Overall I say it depends on the crowd and their age. Don't take the game for more than it is.

Thread: Re: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

BradyLS — 2007-07-28T22:52:43+00:00

The theme, the art, and the rules all work against each other. The theme is "school yard fight." The art is "pretentious goth/emo portraiture." The rules are fairly simple but the structure is complex and the result is a system that works more like a Three Stooges slap-stick routine.

If they could have somehow gotten a license for a Three Stooges card game and had a sympathetic rules editor write the thing, it could have been a hilarious slap-stick comedy "fight" game.

Thread: Someday, I might figure out why people like this game.

Advocator — 2007-07-28T18:38:54+00:00

Okay, chances are that day will never come.

The general premise of this game has been summed up quite well in other reviews. Briefly, each player is dealt five cards that allow them to perform various types of attacks on the other players or allow you to thwart another players incoming attack. Each attack does a certain amount of damage. Once you take 15 points of damage, you're done.

Now apparently the allure of this game is trash talking people as you hurl your attacks at them. So, instead of just saying "I play my kick card at Ron" you are supposed to embellish it out to something like "I run up to Ron and kick him square in the...," well, you get the idea. That, I'm told, is what makes this game entertaining.

The big question is, does that save the game? At first, this really can be quite amusing. At least in my group, quite a number of descriptions can quickly cause bursts of laughter along with more than a few "Oh my God, did he really say that?" The problem is, as the game drags on the creativity seems to drag down. Before long, the creative ideas starts to get buried by the fact that it's really not that much fun.

To add to the lack of enjoyment, the cards provide little help in explaining what the heck they do. Some are self-explanatory. There's not too many ways to get confused about what a roundhouse does. But other cards are not so simple. For example, a card in the expansion is the Hippie card. It's special power, everyone at the table gets a free attack on whoever you just played it on. Sure, once that's happened once most people will remember what the card does (and likely dread it since it tended to slaughter whoever got hit with it), the problem is that a number of the cards are equally devoid of any information about what they do.

Speaking of the expansion, it doesn't help the game much. In fact, I'm forced to say that the expansion makes the game worse. It adds a plethora of new cards that, just like the original, give little guidance as to what they do. They also introduce a number of attacks that require grabs to pull off, but they lack the extra grab cards necessary to make playing this attacks feasible.

So, before long you've got people's creative attack descriptions becoming more mundane. And you've also got people scrambling to double-check the rules to see what the heck their cards can do.

In the end, I've yet to figure out why some people seem to truly enjoy this game. The trash talking, this game's novel feature, is something that can be easily introduced into so many better (e.g. fun) games. Ca$h and Gun$ immediately comes to mind. Like Lunch Money, it's a quick and simple game and there's plenty of room for trash talking there. But it adds in a good underlying game-play.

Overall, I've yet to see why people find this game to be fun. You may ultimately find yourself to be one of those people who ends up raving over this game. But I believe people who are creative enough to make something out of Lunch Money's only saving grace can apply that creativity into games that don't need it to cover up an otherwise poorly developed game.

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Von Cougar — 2007-06-04T15:45:02+00:00

Hail Mary!!!

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chindent — 2007-03-18T03:16:52+00:00

Box & Custom Quick-Reference Cards

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Reloaded — 2007-03-15T03:52:40+00:00

Justin putting the smack down on Nelson... BOOYA!

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kilroy_locke — 2007-02-05T14:06:30+00:00

Particularly disturbing cards

Thread: Tourament Rules

DWashburn — 2007-01-31T22:44:26+00:00

I've been playing this game for almost as long as it's been out. It wasn't until after a few years of playing, that I was introduced to the "Tourament Rules" at Origins in the later 90's. This only adds three different rules to the game. The first rule is that first-aid cards can take you above fifteen. In the original rules, it never states that you can't go above fifteen, my friends and I have always played with the rule that a player cannot use first-aid cards to go above fifteen. The second rule, is that if you discard on your turn, no matter how many cards you discard, you lose your next turn. This rule forces players to use the cards they were dealt. There has been too many games where a player keeps discarding round after round, digging for the defense and humiliation cards. The third rule, which only really works with the second rule is, if a player holds a weapon and a disarm card, they are allowed to disarm themselves without the penalty of losing their next turn. This helps a player who doesn't really have anything to play, but does not want to lose a turn. There is always the occassion where a player cannot do anything, and must discard. That does not change the tourament rules, that's just tough luck. These three new rules are great for veteran players of Lunch Money. It makes for a faster game, and forces players to use their imagination and skill to win the game, instead of just luck.
This is my first variant/review I've ever written. I hope this variant adds some extra fun to your game of Lunch Money.

Thread: Multi-Aspect Review

schuwa — 2006-11-13T20:38:23+00:00

Overview: Players use cards to represent fight moves/tactics to knock all the remaining players out. Last one standing, wins.

Components: The components for this game are simply cards. About 100 of them in the basic set. It will accommodate 2-4 players, but you can push that easily. In addition, you can combine as many basic sets of cards as you’d like to give it an infinity high maximum number of players. The cards are your standard sized cards with a large printed number in the upper left corner and the card’s name written vertically along the side. This makes for quick visualization as you hold 5 cards in your hand at all times. By far, the best part of the cards are the artwork. Photographs of the artist’s daughter in a dark, haunting, tinted light give the game a just plain evil feel. {Of note: those who bought Beer Money, the photographer uses his same daughter…much older now} There is one major downside to this game’s components. The cards do not tell you what they do; people that have played “Bang!” will be familiar with this. You either need to have them memorized, or refer to the instructions constantly. There is also no reference sheet for the cards actions. Since the game is meant to play fast, this can really disrupt the feel of a gang fight.

Pros: The wonderful use of photographs, instead of drawings, really make this eerie in a Trent Reznor sort of way.

Cons: There needs to be a reference sheet for this game. I strongly recommend making one, or downloading a pre-made one from the internet. See: http://www.atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/lmref.pdf

Mechanics: Simple, fast, furious. Each player starts with 15 life points (use pennies or glass beads) and 5 cards randomly dealt. One player starts. Each turn consists of: (1) Play a card, OR (2) Discard ANY NUMBER of cards, or (3) Pass. There are 4 types of cards:
1. Basic Attacks – These are things like punch, kick, pimp slap, elbow, etc. You declare a target when you play it and, if it is not countered, remove a number of the target player’s life counters equal to number value of the card. The card is then discarded, whether it did damage or not.
2. Weapons – Same as Basic Attacks, except the card goes back into the player’s hand, instead of being discarded.
3. Defensive – These consists of either getting life back (i.e. First Aid), or preventing damage (i.e. Dodge)
4. Specialty Cards – These are usually attack cards or specific counters. But more importantly, they set up a great combination of other Specialty cards or Basic Attack cards doing a ton of damage, and are usually unblockable once the sequence starts. In addition, they also tend to cause additional effects. For example, a person Poked in the Eye cannot defend for 2 turns due to being blinded.

After a card or series of cards has been played by a player (and possibly also the target player, if he uses Defensive cards), EVERY player draws to fill their hand up to 5 cards. If you are at 5 cards, you don’t do anything. If you lose all your life counters, you are out of the game. Last person left: wins.
The mechanics are very fast and simple, but they are most certainly not easy for a new player. Unless you have memorized the reference sheet, each Specialty card has its own counter-defense and follow-up move. In addition, even a few Basic Attack cards have a few twists and turns. While this makes it a ton of fun, new players will be constantly looking at a reference sheet each time a new card come out to see how to counter it or what to follow up with.

Pros: Player’s turns move fast and the rules are actually quite simple.

Cons: Until you are familiar with the game, expect to be spending a lot of time referencing the instructions.

Strategy: The strategy is obvious: Do you save your cards to get that supreme combination that will wipe an opponent out in one fell swoop, while your opponent could be pecking away at your life? Or do you do a little at a time, making him waste all his defensive cards, until he falls? Most of the time, it’s a little bit of both. What’s the trick to winning, though? Diplomacy. This game thrives on people teaming up on their opponents. You put your buddy in a Headlock? Expect your neighbor to wail on him while he’s in the hold (assuming you didn’t piss him off first, in which case, he might wail on you!). Intra-game smack talk is a must, and any player who tries to stand alone will lose more times than not. There is a huge amount of luck, waiting for the right cards to come your way. In that regard, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But the game doesn’t sell itself as high on the strategy list, so it’s no surprise to the people who buy it.

Pros: Simple strategy. Diplomacy encourages players to interact and add the social aspect of the gaming hobby.

Cons: Massive amount of luck, as a lot comes down to the cards you randomly draw. {Note: this may not be a “Con” to some out there, depending on your style of game}

Will is work as well with few (i.e. 2-3) players as with many (i.e. 4+) players?: Lunch Money is the party game for gamers. It is best played with at least 4 people, and more = better. I once had the chance to play a 6 player game (with only 1 set, and it worked quite well) and it was a blast. People throwing cards at the “weakling”, making him go from “cherry” to “dead” in about 45 seconds. 2-3 player games work, but they are not nearly as enjoyable.

Will my non-gaming spouse like it?: It’s a quick game, clocking at about 5-10 minutes with 4 people or less. The rules themselves are simple. Those 2 points might get you to convince a non-gamer to play. However, the fact that a lot of referencing is going to be done and the theme are probably going to be enough to turn this game off to the non-gamer. My suggestion: if a non-gamer is going to play, be sure it’s in a larger group (5 or more) and they have someone there they can “pick on” to make it a bit lighter for them. Since the game centers on ganging up on people, if a new player is ganged up on and is out in about 3 minutes, they will not likely come back.

Good for kids?: No and no. Did I say No? If the theme doesn’t somehow keep it off the kiddie list, the many, many different card effects will. There’s just too much planning with setting up combinations and knowing the counter attacks to make it easy for kids.

Should I buy it?: As I’ve said above, this is the Gamers’ Party Game. If you can get at least 4 people together on a semi-regular basis and use filler games, whether that’s between big games or between dinner and drinks, this will work wonderfully. It’s only $20 and there is 1 expansion (Sticks & Stones) and 1 stand-alone game (Beer Money…which can also be mixed-in), so there’s lots of opportunity for duking it out. This game is definitely for those who like the light-hearted, fast paced games. It also plays very well with people who know each other well. Nothing says, “I love you,” when I saw my dad at Thanksgiving one year say, “I Pimp Slap your Ma…again.” My wife and I almost died laughing. You can imagine this mixes especially well with drinks

Thread: I know it's wrong, but...

flyinghogfish — 2006-11-11T21:04:00+00:00

I haven't played this for a long time, mainly because I've been living a long way from the folk I know who own it. When it hit the table I thought "oh no, that's a bit of a cruel sentiment, not sure about whether I'm keen". What a fool.

Within a few turns, I was happily Kicking my opponents with abandon, cackling at the thought of Stomping on the poor unfortunates and at one point sticking a Knife in one of them. Now that's wrong, surely?

My merry band of companions went for the usual attacks, Big Combos, the occassional Grab and a few weapons. Life points were draining away left, right and centre. Me, I went for the only stylish way to finish off your opponent, a few turns of Poke In The Eye. Talk about guilty pleasure, as you watch those points drain away, one at a time.

One player went out (Poked In The Eye to death, I hear). The another, the victim of a viscious headlock that left them open to all kinds of abuse from the other players, and finally, there were two. Myself and a slightly bruised opponent. In my hand, a Powerplay and some nice extras to finish them off, along with a Headlock for good measure if a Grab ever came up. I figured they'd be likely to be carrying a dodge or somesuch, so I started off with a few smaller attacks in hope of exhausting them. However, it was not to be, I was Powerplayed first, and with no defences, game over - though a decent second place... lunchtime can be a pain.

Thread: Re: Its more fun in real life

hancock.tom — 2006-11-03T23:48:22+00:00

Yeah: Can't you tell? We love to play Busen Memo with sister eva.

Thread: Re: Its more fun in real life

Philip Thomas — 2006-11-03T20:40:51+00:00

Tom, are you really a Catholic schoolgirl?

Thread: Its more fun in real life

hancock.tom — 2006-11-03T17:23:54+00:00

Yes, beating up kids and taking their lunch money is more fun in real life than in this game. Lunch Money has a lot of potential, but stumbles a bit in the execution. Lunch Money is a game where two schoolyard girls battle it out for each other's cash. The game tries to be a light filler fighting card game, but it is bogged down by its own rules snafus and design flaws. However, some groups will love it anyway.

The gameplay is fun, but it needlessly rewards defensive play at times, and the components have some issues. This game is a filler, not something you are going to play for its own sake. However, there is an exception to that statement-- certain groups can get a lot of mileage out of this game.

1.) Components: The cards and art in this game are beautiful and the quotes on them are very nice. The rulebook is a sheet of paper, with fairly small print. Although the game requires 15 life tokens for each player, none are included in the game. I guess this was done so that they could sell it in a card box format, but having to locate 30 pennies or carrying poker chips with you tends to hurt the portability of the game. Some kind of paper markers that fit in the card box would have been welcome.

Perhaps two cards that sit on top of each other, and you move one up and down a numerical scale on the other? That would have helped. Also, the cards, while beautiful and funny, don't have any of the special rules on them. For instance, the card grab has about 3 paragraphs of special rules on it. Often, I'll see someone pick up the rules and I'll say "drew a grab, huh?" This is very annoying and takes away from gameplay. The special rules should have been printed on the cards as well as in the book.

2.) Rules: Besides the issues above with the rules, the rules seem overy complicated for what they seem to accomplish. You can grab after a block but not a dodge and follow the grab with any maneuver. Grabs can normally be dodged but not blocked but if they follow a block they can only be freedom'd, not dodged. I'm not sure if thats correct but the rules for this game are full of stuff like that. The complexity of these interactions is what makes the game interesting from a gamer's point of view, but it also makes the game a little bit inaccessible to new players and non-gamers who can't keep track of this sort of whacky interactions. The whole block-grab-powerplay thing is a mess.

To top it off, the rules aren't very clear about anything, they are poorly written. In addition, many of the special cards with special rules just aren't that effective. Why would I stop to read a half page of text just to get a 3 damage move that can be stopped 3 out of 4 ways, when I've got a regular move worth 4 damage that can be stopped 4 out of 4 ways? Screw it, I'll throw the regular move. The rules in this game really need cleaned up and thought over again. Did I mention they aren't on the cards and you have to read the rules sheet nearly every time you draw a special card?

On the other hand, a few of the special cards really feel right and their special rules are simple enough. For example, spinning backfist functions as a normal move except if you dodge it, whereupon it goes to the next player to your left who must try to dodge or block it.

The rules for more than two players lead to a lot of "beat up the weakling" tactics. While this models the theme of the game very well, it isn't a whole lot of fun for anyone. Oh, you don't have any dodge cards, I can tell because Mike hit you? I'll hit you too then. Not fun!

The complexity isn't bad but the rules are hard to remember, causing constant references to the rules sheet.

3.) Theme: The theme of the game, as mentioned in my introduction, is great. This theme is modeled fairly well by the special cards, as you can imagine little girls grabbing, throwing, choking, headlocks, all of that, and the mechanics model them fairly well. Of course, many of these special cards don't get played because their effects are not that good or they are just not worth the trouble of trying to reread the rules or explain to the new person what is happening to them. The theme is a lot of fun though, especially with the right group.

4.) Humiliation: I originally thought this was one of the niftiest cards in the game, but after just one or two plays I realized that it was so incredibly overpowered that simply discarding your hand every turn in a hope to draw humiliation is actually a viable strategy to win the game. Humiliation reverses any card (even a defensive card) and allows you to play an unstoppable move afterward. The only thing that can stop a humiliation is another humiliation. Many games of lunch money are decided by who draws this the most, the earliest, or who uses it at the right time. Simply dumping your hand and hunting until you get enough humiliations/big moves to kill someone is a viable strategy. While this card is a lot of fun to play, it really ruins the game.

5.) Luck: This game is heavily luck based. If you get a starting hand with a humiliation in it, or a lot of defensive cards and a weapon, or somehow luck out and get one of the oddball special card combos, it can be a fast game. Otherwise, the luck balances itself out as the game goes on because so commonly players discard cards trying to ensure that they have a defense card in their hand or in a "fishing for humiliation" tactic. Sure, the cards can screw you, as in any card game, but aside from a few situations, this game isn't any worse for luck problems than any other card game.

6.) FUN: Who would like this game? Its too light and fiddly for most gamers, and its too unbalanced and rulesy for non-gamers. Its a filler game that takes a while to learn, and once you really learn it, the flaws are so obvious that you don't want to play it anymore.

However, I wholeheartedly recommend Lunch Money to one particular type of gaming group. Trashtalkers. Roleplayers. Close friends who like to rib each other a little bit. We had a variant for this game when I was in college that we played the hell out of. It had only two special rules.

First, you had to describe, trash talk, or roleplay out every move that you made. For example, if I wanted to play a kick on my friend Mike, I would say "I run up to Mike, pull his schoolgirl skirt over his head, and plant my foot in his care bears panties." To which Mike would play dodge and respond "When you pull my skirt up and try to kick me, I grab your foot and bite your toe."

Our second house rule involved pimp slap. Pimp slap was just a basic 1 damage card, but our house rule was that it did 5 damage for every card titled humiliation or pimp slap already on the table that turn. Most of the time, this just resulted in a humiliation-pimp slap combo for 5 unstoppable damage. Once in a while, it resulted in nasty instant death combos. I attack, you humiliate, I humilate back, I pimp slap for 10, you die. It also lead to excellent narrations based on variant rule 1.

******Conclusion*******
So, in closing, I would not recommend this game to anyone, unless you have a silly gaming group that likes to talk trash to each other. Its great for RPG downtime for groups like that but I would
not really consider this game for anyone else or any other group of gamers. They might enjoy it for a couple games after the inital rules learning phase and before they realize its an almost totally broken game, but I doubt it.

Pimp Slap!!!!

Thread: Re: User Review

Jathomas — 2006-08-21T16:46:54+00:00

On the other hand, gameplay is, by definition, where a card game stands and falls.

Well, it should be that way. I read a lot of reviews and people just talking glowingly about LM.

"It's like a schoolyard fight! Awesome!"
"The pictures of that little girl are amazing!"
"How often do you get to use a chain to hit a little kid! Not often... Great game!"

If you took away the goth appeal: the cool photos and the dumb, awful gothy quotes* ("I'M in my happy place. ARE You?"), would this game be tolerable to anyone at all?

People play this game for theme alone. Compare it to Bang! or Lost Cities, two card games which have strong themes, but which don't rely on them for good gameplay.

I also agree that the game is intended as a shoolyard fight, but they have gang-type weapons intended to make it more hardcore. It just shows a lack of creativity and the eagerness to play off the popularity of goth at the time it was published.

How about "Handful of sand", "Hurled jawbreaker", "Hair pull!" (photo: handful of hair), "Taunt" (photo: girl crying, red faced), "Eat some dirt!", "Eat a bug!", "Indian Burn". There, I just thought of seven.

*Maybe instead of the indulgent forced-creepy quotes, they could actually have a description of what the cards do, rather than have to pass the instructions around the table for people who haven't memorized the cards yet.

Thread: Have fun at lil girls expense

trailofdead — 2005-12-07T20:08:24+00:00

Okay Lunch Money. Here's how it works. Each person gets 15 life points. We use poker chips, but you could use anything. Then each player is dealt 5 cards. Now before play commences, each player picks a lil' girl alas to use. This isn't in the rules, but we think it adds to the fun.

So Chris decides to be Betty, Tom decides to be Sally, Rachel will be Lucy, etc.

Each card contains an attack, defense, weapon or specialty move. Attack cards vary from kicks and pimp slap to Hail Mary's. Defenses include block, dodge and humiliation. With the Humiliation card you can cancel any attacker action and then you have to describe your retaliation. If you play with imaginitive people it can be pretty fun.

If you can't defend an attack, you lose some of your life. Each move takes a different amount of life. If you lose all your life your out. Last one standing wins.

The rules state only 2-4 but I've played with up to 7 people.

Not a game you'll want to play all the time, but it's a good way to quickly kill time and fun while your at it.

Thread: New Player Aid

orodreth — 2005-09-01T14:28:51+00:00

I took the bwridge player aid and modified it so that it could fit on ONE side of a page. I added in most of the Sticks and Stones expansion cards (we don't play with a couple of them since it becomes too laborious for newbies). But its a Word doc, so modify it as you like.

I also added a Health Counter at the top of the page, which you can just slide a paperclip along (makes it way easier for larger groups... those pennies fly everywhere) AND it makes it playable in the car on long trips.

Also added was a Character Bio section. I found it much more fun when each player assumes the personality of a character (school kid) and with a one sentence bio, it gives something for the other players to use to help taunt and humiliate with. Just save the file with seven or eight different characters and bios. We use mostly androgynous names with no he/she pronouns so that the sheets can be randomly given out to male and female players without grumblings... the BIO lines we use are:

CHARACTERS:

SAM WET I AM - Sam peed in class during a math test because the teacher said nobody could leave during the test. Gross.

CRYBABY CORY - Cory still wets the bed and recently lost both front teeth. Rumor has it that Cory carries a weapon.

PUKEHEAD PAT - Pat got sick at lunch last year and puked all over Jen. That was funny.

CHU-MAI POO POO - Straight A's all the time. Nobody likes Chu, but nobody else wants to be a microbiologist either, whatever that is.

BIG BOBBY - Bobby is the biggest kid in school. But slow too. The larger they are, the harder they fall.

SMELLY KELLY - Kelly is the oldest in school after being held back several grades. Kelly smells all sweaty and gross after gym.

JUMP-ROPE JEN - Jen is always skipping or playing jump rope or wiggling. She can't stay still. She takes Ridalin.

HOT HOT HAMSINI - Hamsini is good looking. Everyone does what Hamsini wants. Kelly's dad said Hamsini came here to steal our jobs.

COOTIE CHRIS - Chris kissed Pat behind the bleachers and the teacher caught them. That's what Danny says.

DIRTY DANNY - Danny was always the shortest kid in school. But watch out, he is the sneakiest and meanest jerk.

Thread: Re: User Review

Materu — 2005-07-18T14:18:58+00:00

I can imagine a variant, tough, where players collect coins they have taken from another player in a seperate pile. At the end of the game, there are two winners, the last girl standing, and the one who caused the most pain to the rest.

Thread: Re: User Review

Bandit Ripshawd — 2005-07-08T19:33:10+00:00

tharrop wrote:
Another point: what about the damn lunch money? The rules say to use coins or anything else for counters, which represent HIT POINTS. Why not, duhh, I dunno, represent *lunch money*? Does the game work if a victim loses her counters TO THE ATTACKER? Meaning, you may start with 15 counters but you could rake in more as you beat on the other players, taking theirs. Has anyone tried this?

The point of the 'Lunch Money' in the game is just for thematic purposes. That gives a reason for the fight. If a player dies, the person dealing the death blow collects that person's Lunch Money... basically, last one standing will win.

As for gaining HP when attacking another player, that does make for a long game and a game where the big get bigger and the weak get weaker... imagine a 4 player game... 60 HP out there... when you are down to 2 players, that's 30 HP a piece, _not_ including those gained from First Aid cards... so, you are in an epic duel with 40+ HP a piece by the end, most likely.

Thread: Re: User Review

Bandit Ripshawd — 2005-07-08T19:29:23+00:00

jmw23 wrote:
To sum up, if you are looking for an intelligent, interesting card game with high replay value, try Steve Jackson's Knightmare Chess. If you are hell bent on Lunch Money for the artwork or the buzz, go for it, you could easily do worse.

Really? Knightmare Chess is intelligent and interesting and has high replay value? I own both games... Knightmare Chess, like Lunch Money, is extremally random and chaotic. It truly takes Chess on another level, but I don't think that level is any higher. Knightmare Chess definitly changes up the game and is interesting for a diversion, but I rarely play the game, while LM continually hits the table. Granted, it too is random and chaotic, but it isn't patterned after chess, it's patterned after a playground fight (which is both random and chaotic!)

Thread: Re: Explain Humiliation to me

Bandit Ripshawd — 2005-07-08T19:17:16+00:00

It is especially cruel, so cruel, that we have had to start a house rule that does not allow Humiliations to cancel defensive plays. It is just too harsh. It also leads to the senario of someone Humiliating a Humiliation after a defensive card is played. Is the defensive card re-activated? Too messy for us. Humiliations stop _everything_ when we play... the entire intended attack, the remainder of the attack (in the case of the Hippie or Two-Fer), etc.

My personal favorite, though, is to Humiliate a player using First Aids to come back into the game after being below zero... that is particularly cruel!

Thread: Re: User Review

tharrop — 2005-05-09T02:56:28+00:00

I finally tried the game last night. There were four of us and we played twice, the same person winning both games. Next time no mercy.

We agreed that the game is fun but the design is flawed. I like the image of school girls bullying up on each other, but the language of the game completely works against that theme. Some of the names of the cards, like Uppercut, Uppercut Squared (lame!), Chain, Pipe and especially Pimp Slap make me think of street hoodlums, not schoolgirls. Better would be things like Scratch or Rake, Hair Pull etc. After reading the description on the package I expected psychological cards, but the only one is Humiliation; there's no Taunt or Insult to inflict psychic damage.

I could do without the quotations as well, e.g., "I'm in my happy place. ARE you?" So what? What's amazing are the photographs! These girls, or is it really just the photographer's single daughter, are incredible, and the presentation of the photos are quite disturbing. THAT makes for a powerful deck of cards, a work of art, as haunting as it is. Unfortunately someone added lame quotes which rob the players of their imagination, and completely weakens the effect of the imagery. Hey, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

As for the game mechanics, I liked it, we had fun playing once we didn't need to pass around the instructions so much.

Another point: what about the damn lunch money? The rules say to use coins or anything else for counters, which represent HIT POINTS. Why not, duhh, I dunno, represent *lunch money*? Does the game work if a victim loses her counters TO THE ATTACKER? Meaning, you may start with 15 counters but you could rake in more as you beat on the other players, taking theirs. Has anyone tried this?

th

Thread: Session Report

thoia — 2005-03-23T14:45:27+00:00

Players; Neil (writer), Lee, Morgan.

I was the newbie to this game and was quite pleased with the game itself. Very easy mechanics led to us being able to get right into the game very quickly. Round one tended to last a pretty long time in comparison to the other rounds probably due to me trying to get use to having to Block before Grabbing and tyring to misplay cards. I won that match however.

Next match was taken by Lee who seemed to have unending supply of Combo cards.

Match three saw my delt a large supply of defense cards so every attack at me that started the round off was coutnered. This made the other guys gang up on me and I was out first. Lee won again.

Morgan takes the fourth match as I all I seemed to pull this time was low level attacks, never had a good roundhouse or even a poke in the eye. Lee was trounced very quickly.

I finally managed another victory in round five with no real heroics at all. Just card, card, card, win.

Last match I again was delt powerful cards right off and weilded them causing me to be the focus of both players fury. I was taken down very quickly after that and Morgan scored the victory.

With each of us at 2 wins and 6 games down we ended the rounds of Lunch Money all satisified.

Thread: User Review

thoia — 2005-03-23T14:07:12+00:00

I played this game for the first time last night. We got through about 6 games of it in just over an hour. WOW. That was cool.

Here's a game that's given both HIGH and LOW ratings seemingly for the same reasons. Truth be told it is for the same reasons.

Lunch Money is a game that simply WILL NOT appeal to everyone. Those who detest luck based games....stay far, far away as everything is based on card draw. You will be hit and there will be times when nothing in your hand can stop it. Players who do not like player elimination stay even further away, as that is the main goal of the game....eliminate other players to win. Players who don't like games that encourage ganging up on a single player stay furthest away of all. It's not a rule or anything but it's human nature. There is even 1 card that does extremely encourage this type of play.

HOWEVER those of us who are into violent and senseless acts grab a copy and enjoy! Fans of Quintent Tarentino or Guy Ritchie films, see this as a story by them based on a playground. Players who revel in the "Take that" type of game stand proud with a fist full of Lunch Money cards THIS IS YOUR GAME!

I guess the one thing that appeals most to me is the speed of the game. Bam, bam, bam, done. It's a great little game that can be played on your lunch break several times and still is fun enough to bring out at a game night and toss around with several people.

Bottom line here is know the game before you buy but more importantly know the type of gamer YOU are before you buy. If you are into this type of dark material have fun.

Thread: Session Report

BrianH — 2005-03-12T07:02:33+00:00

Three of us sat down to play Lunch Money this week on our game night. I'd been introduced to the game some years back by my friend Matt, and enjoyed it's quirky images and fast action. I bought a copy and decided to introduce it, but was unsure how it would go over.

I have to report we had a blast with it. There's something very appealing about just throwing a "pimp slap", a "hook", or the "big combo" on your best bud - it just cracked me up. We all work in high-stress jobs and having the outlet was great. After the first game (which took about five minutes, even with all the rules-reading), the nickels were quickly counted back into 15s, and the cards were dealt again.

I kept expecting them to get tired of it, but the pace of the game is quick, the action hard-hitting, so it just keeps you drawn in. Get knocked out? No matter, a new game will start in about 2 minutes anyway.

The "Lunch Money" set had plenty of cards for three players, though we did have to reshuffle once. "Hail Mary" was in the last five cards that time, and we all were down to two-three coins at that point.

All in all, a great game - quick, easy, and very fun.

Brian H