Game: Chez Geek

Thread: Dude,... post college living rocks... Ch'naaaa!

m0rtaar — 2008-08-27T10:56:59+00:00

Date: 2008-08-26
Location: London
Length: 30 minutes
Quantity: 1

Comments:
This was the first time my girlfriend and I did this game, so there was a fair amount of confusion getting the rules down.

I felt I had gone to living off campus at university again!

so...my girlfriend and I moved into some dump together as roommates. She picked up a job as a temp (slack goal 18), while I had a sweet gig as a web designer (slack goal 19, but with more money).

With her first large paycheck, she went shopping and decided to read up on The Origin of Species by Darwin (what a nerd!). She grabbed a pack of menthol cigarettes and headed to the cafe to read the book (slack 6 right off the bat).

I had a few hours to kill in between jobs, so I decided to watch a TV nature show on Sloths. Since I was pretty hungry, I went out and bought myself some canned spaghetti and some takeout from the Generic Dragon Chinese restaurant. After that, wonderful sleeeeeeep (slack 4... I'm already behind!) But I was able to get an extra gig so I had more money to spend!

Her Significant Other moved in next. The bathroom was getting crowded now! She decided to keep him happy by buying some used music CDs of some unknown crap garage bands. He also loved action figures, so she bought him the latest kung-fu grip Muskratman. Doing all that made her tired, so she took a nap (slack 5... now she's at slack 13!)

I could barely deal with all the racket that her boyfriend was making, so I locked myself into my room and watched my 'Shakespeare in Love Canal' movie rental. I then got into an all-night fragfest and stayed up until noon the next day playing computer games (slack 4... total of 8). I decided to get out of the house the next day and sell some blood plasma for extra money.

Well, she didn't do much on her next time off, other than to buy some mangy cat whom she named 'Lottie'. Damned cat ate my computer mouse too (slack 1... total 14)!

I sat down with some chips & salsa and surfed the web that night, ignoring the mewlings of the cat and the noisy boyfriend. In one of those surreal moments, some dude I didn't know came walking into my room, sat on my couch and promptly fell asleep. I thought she knew him.

I found some change in the couch when the dude sat down, so I now had more money! But I got really pissed off that the Signifcant Other had the last slice of pizza we bought... that was MY SLICE! So, after a sharp discussion, out he went (my slack 4... total 12. I was still far behind. So I turfed her S.O.... she now had 13)!

She was so annoyed with me that she went out, had some beers (she likes stout) and saw a movie on her own (slack 4... total of 17... ouch!)

I was glad to have her freeloader boyfriend out of the house... although I still had the dude on the couch sleeping. I decided to take a nap too (slack 1... total of 13).

That's when she found a new couch in the dumpster for the flat. She outslacked me!

Fun session. We both agreed that it would be more fun with a larger group. We also thought that all the die rolling could have been avoided in this game to make it more straightforward.

[Post Comment]

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joebelanger — 2008-08-20T19:17:59+00:00

Sweet, sweet nookie.

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jsper — 2008-07-27T23:03:55+00:00

Promotional in spanish

Thread: Re: A game about the Gen-X life script

ced1106 — 2008-07-23T22:13:30+00:00

We don't have that problem. Everyone slowly gains Slack, and it's harder to dogpile on anyone than Munchkin.

Thread: Re: A game about the Gen-X life script

garysax — 2008-07-23T21:44:29+00:00

The humor is occasionally funny, but the incessant take that cards and inability to actually get anywhere or do anything because of them is incredibly irritating.

Thread: A game about the Gen-X life script

sbarrera — 2008-07-23T20:47:06+00:00

Chez Geek is a light and humorous card game that appeals to me because of how it reflects the life and times of my generation.

The premise is that the players are all young adult roommates with different jobs, aspiring to have the most slack. Each job comes with a slack goal, which is higher for the jobs that are inherently more stressful. For example, the Corporate Drone has a higher goal than the Drummer.

Two aspects of Generation X are expressed in this thematic representation - our tendency to define success in life in terms of self-expression and personal enjoyment, and our habit of associating without regard for social or economic class. Above all, the theme reflects our ethic that life is more about our past-times and our friends than about our jobs. A job is just part of what life deals you, something to make the best of as you pursue life’s real purpose – having a good time.

The cards themselves showcase the preoccupations of the young adult Gen-Xer - hanging out at the coffee shop, consuming entertainment, getting laid, drinking and doing drugs. And even gaming (RPGs)! Also, being in a social group where the personalities enhance your self-fulfillment. The wrong kinds of people will just cramp your style.

Can you just tell us about how the game plays, please?

I just had to do my little sociological exposition because I find these things interesting. But now just a little about the game itself.

It is not a deep game, it's just for fun. It is one of those games where the luck of the draw determines who gets ahead, and then the other players play the cards to try to stop the leaders, until everyone's out of plays and some lucky person wins. Chez Geek is good for non-gamers, especially if they are slackers. The same people you might play Grass with. It is not a family game, because of the adult content.

You will have to supply your own way to keep track of slack, as none is provided. You will probably run into two rules troubles. First, everyone will forget that you're supposed to play person cards before the others, and will want to play one out of order on their turn. Just let them, who cares? Second, no one will get how "buying stuff" counts as one action, but you get to buy as much stuff as you can afford in that one action.

But it's really no brain-burner. It's just a chance to enjoy some humor that pokes fun at how you and are all your friends have wasted your lives.

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Carrotteer — 2008-06-27T10:51:59+00:00

A 5 player game (5th player not on picture)

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Motorkopf — 2008-06-10T16:01:34+00:00

Pegasus Supporter (german promo card)

Thread: Re: User Review

Narlgoth — 2008-03-18T12:25:18+00:00

Cheers for the review dude, got this last night and you've cleared up some rules queries I have after reading the booklet!

Thread: Re: By gamers...for gamers...about gamers...

Narlgoth — 2008-03-18T12:16:02+00:00

I think I stand by Philip when I say "where's the rest of it?".

Thread: Re: review by Westpark Gamers

Narlgoth — 2008-03-18T12:13:39+00:00

Poor review. The idea is to write a review that gives any people interested in the game an overview of how it is played and what to expect, and not to shoot it down with a poorly constructed rant that gives no proper explanation as to why you don't like it. It is a Steve Jackson game- therefore it will play with luck and humour rather then with serious strategy as do most Steven Jackson games. If you don't like this type of game then surely you should have avoided playing it.

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jsper — 2008-02-17T10:20:20+00:00

Promotional in spanish

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Mortiis — 2008-02-07T17:19:38+00:00

My Chez Geek Storage Box

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cobalto — 2008-02-06T12:27:22+00:00

Playing with crystal counters

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cobalto — 2008-01-31T13:18:12+00:00

WARNING: This game intended for adut audiences. No actual maturity required.

Thread: Time play with expansions?

Armington Lewis — 2008-01-18T21:25:47+00:00

I liked Chez Geek enough to keep a copy as a beer-night-game but I have not tried any expansions yet.
Is the time play reasonable using the three sets? There is no way to differentiate cards between expansions, and I don't want to get a huge, almost unplayable game as happenend when mixed a few Munchkin sets.
Can I mix the sets or is it better to take out from the original deck as many cards from a type as new cards of the kind are inserted?

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Typse2Fsat — 2007-10-30T09:30:55+00:00

Hi-res Box Front

Thread: Re: Unnerving Flashbacks

kohee — 2007-06-25T18:07:49+00:00

nice review mate !

ubergeek card seems to affect me the most since I'm the only one in my gaming group who has a broadband internet connection

for me this game is good for 4 players
5 players seems too much (imo)

go go chinese fire drill !!!

Thread: Unnerving Flashbacks

El Hidalgo — 2007-06-24T08:20:27+00:00

There are times in our lives that we would like to forget...there are times in our lives that we should forget...this is a game that reminds us of those times.

At the end of this game my best buddy Gregory stated..."It seems like some guys got together, reminisced about their late years of college and early years of independence, and decided to make a game out of it!"

The setting is oddly familiar. One is a Geek amongst geeks sharing an apartment. You occupy one room in that apartment and contribute to the general welfare. The game has Colored Cards like...

PURPLE
These are the Job cards for each player "Geek" in the game. They have attributes of Free Time and Income. They also have that card player's SLACK POINT GOAL. The first player to attain their Slack Point Goal wins the game

RED
These are Activity cards. Activities include everything from Watching TV, to Sleeping, to running an RPG group, to Back Rubs and beyond. Each Activity will gain you a number of Slack Points. Ahh! The sweet memories of the simple life when Hamburger Helper was the House Specialty and we were happy!

BLUE
These are Item or Thing cards. From Video games, to beer, chips, hash brownies, and cigarettes...when you go Shopping you can buy as many things as you have income which also help you to gain Slack Points. We remember this part because the few things we had could all fit into our cars.

GREEN
These are Person cards. They include Invited and Uninvited guests. Invited guests you have to call and see if they answer the phone. Uninvited guests just show up...but you get to pawn them off...I mean play them on someone else. Nice Persons give you slack points. These are Significant Others, Cats, etc. Lame ducks like Uninvited Guests destroy your Chi and thus take away Slack Points by encroaching on your time, space, and things. This is where the painful memories start to come back!

ORANGE
These are WHENEVER cards. They remind us of the sometimes good, sometimes bad events that peppered our simple existence before our slavery to home ownership and personal space. This can be anything from the Moron with a Chainsaw keeping us awake at night, to the one random parent visit that helped us to boot that freeloader off of our couch and out of our room. There are lots of these cards that will take us on an emotional roller coaster ride to help us understand why we finally decided to grow up!

PLAYING CHEZ GEEK
1. Draw Cards back up to a hand of six

2. Roll dice to determine variable income or variable free time. Dice rolls also happen to see if you can unload an unwanted guests.

3. Calls for guests. There are some people you will want over (I got an S.O. for less than one turn... darn that was a short relationship... and darn if it didn't remind me of a similar experience!)and some who will just show up but you can pawn off on your friends.

4. Free Time allows you to engage activities by laying down corresponding number of cards for the amount of Free time you have. Three Free Time allows me to lay down three activity cards, or two activity cards and go shopping to my hearts content!

5. Shopping is what we do when we can rub two cents together. Shopping counts as one activity but I can shop for as many items or things or food that I can afford.

6. Discard

Whenever cards can be played...whenever...duh!

GAME SENSE
This is a game that depends a lot on the randomness of the draw from the deck. In our play Whenever cards make game play as capricious as life seemed back in the days when we were Geeks. Strategy is not the strength of this game.

However, player interaction in this game is high. That is the attraction! Trying to find a better job, or trying not to get fired. Being careful of the things you accumulate for fear of the freeloader lurking out there. Really learning to value cats for the space they take up and the ability to keep unwanted guests with allergies away from your room!

The art is engaging, and the flavor text on the cards is funny. When you are done your play area reads like a comic book! This is the third time I play this and the first time as more than a two player game. This kind of game needs more than two to make it truly enjoyable.

CONCLUSION
I have had fun with this game everytime I have played it. Two player is okay, three player is much much better. It is light hearted and best used to finish up a night of gaming. I would not start off gaming nights with it and enjoy this primarily for the interaction it affords. The game itself is disturbingly fresh and enjoyable but involves little strategy except in the area of deciding which cards play and when.

Chez Geek will come out in my house maybe once a month. When we need to play games just to interact and be silly, with some vacuous objective in mind. We all need to accumulate Slack Points every now and then.

For me Chez Geek was a walk down memory lane that is best taken as cathartic group therapy with friends. It will make one realize how far they have come...or if they have come very far at all! For some of us the flashbacks are from long term memory storage...for others it may be just yesterday...ouch!

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Agape — 2007-06-02T19:42:00+00:00

A game including the 2 expansions

Thread: On Board Games - Game Night: Chez Geek

Bstripe — 2007-05-09T16:56:25+00:00

Every Tuesday is board game night at my local gaming store (On Board Games). This week one of the chosen games was Chez Geek.

I arrived to board game night a little late, so I watched the first game being played. This worked out well for me, since I could scan the rules and watch game play at the same time. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Chez Geek is a “beer and pretzel” type of game with fairly simple rules. The goal of the game is to earn the amount of slack on your job card, which varies from job to job. Slack is earned by food, booze, cats, people, and…nookie. All in all, it is an amusing theme to play around with.

Once the first game reached its end, I jump on into the second round. I received Web Designer for my job. This was a really nice job for my first time playing, since it gave me 2 free time (which is how most slack is earned) and 3 to 4 for income to buy things. I was able to earn some nice slack by bumming some cigarettes, purchasing a book, and going to a movie festival. Unfortunately, as I neared victory, the tech bubble burst and I lost my job and was forced to start a new life as a drummer. This slowed me down enough to allow the person to my left to snatch a slack filled victory out from under our noses.

In the second game I played, I was the noble convenience store clerk. The 2 income with the job was not too constricting in play, since I got a discount on all food, booze, and cigarettes. Again I tried my best to earn the slack I deserved, but was beat to the punch yet again. The person to my right was able to go on a large shopping spree for some serious slack and the win.

Chez Geek felt similar to games such as Munchkin (not a big surprise as they are both Steve Jackson games illustrated by John Kovalic) and Killer Bunnies. One important difference with Chez Geek, is that the end game seems to be designed better than the other two games mentioned. There are some “screw the leader” components, but it never slowed down the game to an aggravating point. Instead, the negative cards seem to buy you the one extra round you need, and only if your opponent has more than 3 or 4 slack left to go. Because everyone is able to generate more than one slack a turn (in the first game, the winner earned 7 slack for the win) it is hard to stall the game. This is where free time became important. If you had 2 or more free times, even if one of your actions is canceled you can still put down some cards to earn slack and be closer to the win. The end game combined with the theme and illustrations made for a fun game, which I would gladly play again should it hit the table.

Thread: Chez Geek: Good laughs, high interaction; best with a group.

samidha — 2007-02-19T14:19:21+00:00

Chez Geek was one of the first games that I played beyond the standard stuff, so perhaps I have a biased view. Yes, it is a light game. But it fits my sense of humor, and fit well with the people who first taught me the game.

Let me also add that I have never played this two player. I have in fact avoided doing so, because the game has a light take that factor and I feel like this shines with a larger group. I don't want to play a game where we are just trading cards that screw each other.

Premise
The premise of Chez Geek is pretty clear from the title. You are a geek living with other geeks in an apartment. Each player's personal area is their room in the apartment. Each player has a job card which determines their income, free time, and slack goal. A player wins by achieving the number of slack points on their card. Slack points can be gained by performing actions--which spend free time--or buying and playing item cards, like weed or booze. You can also invite people over, and put the in your own room or someone else's. Finally, there are cards which benefit the entire apartment, like furniture.

Gameplay
At the start of the game, each person draws a job card which determines their slack goal, income, and free time. Depending on what job you get, your income and free time can be fixed or variable. If a person has a variable income and/or free time, they roll for them, each separately if both are variable. A low roll gives them the low number and a high roll gives them the higher number.

Here are some sample job cards.
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Then their turn proceeds in two phases: In the first phase, they can invite people to the apartment, either to hang out with them or annoy their roommates. If they have a negative person card in their hand, like an annoying gamer who nobody likes, they can roll to invite (high roll means they succeed in enticing the person over, low roll means it doesn't work) and put that person in their roommate's room.

Check out The Whiner from Chez Geek 2 (an expansion) as an example of a negative person card:
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They can then perform actions (play cards) up to the number of free time they have. If they go shopping, they can spend their income for that round. What they do will depend on what's in their hand and will give them the most slack. Players can also play cards which effect other players directly. A TV card, for instance, can be played if you want to block someone from performing an action that'll give them slack. TV cards essentially distract your roommate from doing whatever it is they were thinking about doing. They're played at the same time as the player plays an action card (so there is some playing out of turn in the game.). See Laundry Day, from Chez Geek 2, as an example of an action-canceling card.

As you can see, there's a lot of player interaction built into the game, and a lot of back and forth with irreverent actions and the simulation of rude behavior on the part of annoying roommates. The competition is lighthearted, as the whole game is lighthearted and definitely doesn't take itself too seriously. It's best enjoyed when people play up the flavor text for laughs and when people do things that are somewhat in character for their job. (Which is often prescribed by the job card anyway.)

It's a game about geeks, for geeks, but also can be enjoyed by just about anyone who's had a roommate and I think that's a strength of the game. It's really a social game, so maybe it is a party game--I don't know. It can be played with a small number of players so isn't as much a party game as Apples to Apples or Encore.

Conclusion
I really enjoy this game although I will say that it doesn't hit the table as often as I would like because I don't really feel compelled to play it two player with my SO for the reasons I've given here. But it is definitely good for laughs in a group.

I give this game a seven personally for its enjoyability factor, but since it has a limited audience (at least in my opinion) and is not high strategy it is not so much a gamer's game. So, I'll rate the game as follows:

Among light gamers and/or at a generic geeky gathering: 7
Among more serious gamers: 6, if you can take a break from your eurogames.

Thread: Re: First play, wife and me

gamer-geek — 2007-01-22T19:31:09+00:00

That's pretty close to the experience I had the first time I played Chez Geek with my wife. The game seems fun from the two times I played it, but also seems like it would be much more interesting with more players.

Thread: First play, wife and me

carl67lp — 2007-01-22T18:52:50+00:00

I'll post a full review after we've played a few rounds of the game, but here's a session report from last night's game.

I was in the mood for some gaming; my wife was less than enthusiastic but humoured me by playing Chez Geek, my newest game. Neither of us had played but I'd read through the directions already. I kept them close by so we could get a handle on anything that might pop up while we played. After a few turns, the rules became ancillary--we knew what each "round" consisted of by that point.

I dealt out the cards and the jobs. My wife was a Research Subject, and I was a Web Designer (ironic, since that's my real-life job, too). My wife went first. Initially she was perplexed as to how to shop and play activity cards; I coached her through and she was on her way.

In a couple of instances, she attempted to play a Whenever card after the pre-condition had passed (e.g., to cancel a just-played card, but after my turn had ended). She expressed some frustration, but was fine.

A few turns in, I played a New Job card on her; she drew the Tech Support job, and as luck would have it it proved crucial to her eventual win--no longer was she restricted from having Weed or Booze in the apartment, and so she could play the hash brownies. Her increased income didn't hurt either, nor did the modifier cards she played to temporarily boost it.

We kept some counters nearby for cards with variable slack, but never ran into any, so we didn't need them.

At the end of the (quick) game, my wife had won, 20 to 9. She declared it a "decent" game, but that we'd have to play more of it to form a good opinion.

Thread: Re: Rules Question

Anarchosyn — 2007-01-13T22:16:41+00:00

ipreuss wrote:
Generally Activities can only be canceled when played. They are not discarded, though - they stay in front of the player.

In some cases, an Activity can be even canceled later - for example a Sleep by a Noisy Nookie.

I'm a little late to this party, but I wanted to make an correction:

General Activities can only be canceled when played. They ARE discarded if this cancellation occurs.

ex. You say you're going to spend some time going to a rock concert, but as you're playing the card your buddy plays a Watch Tv action on you. This not only invalidates your rock concert plans but you must discard the card as well.

When a shopping trip is canceled, however, you don't have to discard anything. You merely return the item cards to your hand for play later.

Thread: Re: Rules Question

Throknor — 2006-05-03T20:12:28+00:00

We look at it as there are things you can possess that give you credit while you have them, and there's things that you can do that you get credit for having done. It's possible to lose things for a variety of reasons, but to lose what you've done takes something out of the ordinary. (In the above example, the nookie was so noisy you lost the benefits of a previous Sleep. Not very logical, mainly for the humor of it.)

Thread: Re: Rules Question

ipreuss — 2006-04-23T20:19:07+00:00

Generally Activities can only be canceled when played. They are not discarded, though - they stay in front of the player.

In some cases, an Activity can be even canceled later - for example a Sleep by a Noisy Nookie.

Thread: Rules Question

saejinn — 2006-04-22T18:40:31+00:00

I couldn't seem to understand the rules when talking about what cards to keep and which to "use" then put in the discard pile. The first time play-testing the game I kept all cards on the board (including action cards). But I realized it didn't make sense to be able to, for example, go to a concert that could later get discarded reversing time making so I never got the slack points.

It seems logical to keep the items (which can later be discarded by your opponents if they have the right cards to do so) but actions would seem to be played, then if no opponent decides to cancel it with a tv, it is used and cannot be later reversed.

Is this correct?

Thread: review by Westpark Gamers

Eggo — 2005-10-14T19:53:50+00:00

Chez Geek!
Peter is going to torture me forever for this present of mine....”Chez Geek!” is another one of the totally useless card games Steve Jackson has produced lately (with the exception of the excellent “Spooks”). The theme and the cards are funny because of the humour of the creator of “Dork Tower”, John Kovalic, but the game play is dominated by the usually deadly combo of “solitaire game” with “take that!” cards. Each player represents a “slacker” who wants to acquire as many “slack” points as possible. Basically game play consists of you playing cards to acquire “slack” (depending entirely on what cards you happen to draw) and other players playing “take that” cards to prevent you from playing these cards. This continues until some player has enough luck and the other players have run out of “take that” cards. The only “strategy” consists of “going shopping” several times to drain your opponents of “take that” cards against you instead of shopping all items at once so they can all be prevented at once.
Boy, were we glad we didn’t play this totally useless game with Walter! One could cut out the pictures and create a nice comic with them, but playing the game is the only thing that will REALLY make you wish you were a slacker instead, as you might find hanging out in front of the tv more exciting than playing this game. Seriously!

www.westparkgamers.de

Moritz Eggert

Thread: Re: By gamers...for gamers...about gamers...

Philip Thomas — 2005-10-06T19:39:37+00:00

Erm, would it be possible to go into a little more detail? They aren't paying you 1 geek gold per sentence you know!

*Harumph*

Thread: By gamers...for gamers...about gamers...

justnord — 2005-10-04T22:23:05+00:00

Honestly, I'm surprised to see that (1) there's only 1 other review of this game, and (2) the ratings are fairly low. CG is a funny and fun game, even if it isn't a great game. I think the mechanics and gameplay are designed to point out how much gaming can resemble real life, and for that the game is a blast. Your perception of CG will likely depend on why you play games in the first place. If it's for intellectual challenge, you won't be a chez geek fan. If it's to get together with a group of friends, trash talk a little, and laugh a lot, then this is the game for you. It's not tough, in fact, success in the game is, literally, the luck of the draw. The cards themselves are kinda flimsy and the game is quite overpriced. But the experience of playing the game and saying "this game is based on my life..." is unique and fun.

Thread: Re: User Review

SeeMo — 2005-06-14T09:59:45+00:00

Well, if you get the first extension, you _HAVE_ to get the box extension too. It's extremely unpractical to carry one card game in two worthless boxes. The third one gives you the quite dang nice box to carry the game around. Also, the box has room to store something you could use as the slack points for the cards you happen to need them for. I myself have these small (like 0.65 cm) cheap (and also obviously unbalanced) dices for slack and they fit nicely in the box.

Thread: Re:Session Report

yoacusna — 2005-03-03T18:24:49+00:00

Clearly writing isn't your "fortay" or you would know it was spelt "forte".
Sorry, that was nit-picking.

Thread: Re:Session Report

escapistfish — 2005-01-27T23:56:16+00:00

escapistfish (#80413),

Some corrections (forgive me, it's my first article)

We weren't eating Fried chicken and bear. We were in fact eating fried chicken and drinking beer!

In addition if you know Chez Geek, you will know that if a drummer rolled three 6's it would add up to 18 and she wouldn't need the smokes. My wife in fact rolled three 5's. Still pretty cool. Hope I didn't ruin a moment for anybody.

p.s. God still has a sense of humor

Thread: Session Report

escapistfish — 2005-01-27T13:36:22+00:00

Writing is not my fortay, but I would still like to contribute something to this wonderful site. I can't believe how many nice people are here.

Anyway on to the session report. (not that I really know what one is, because I haven't read any. muahaha)

So we get back from eating some fried chicken and bear and everyone is itching to avoid bed at all costs. Usually this involves playing video games or drinking card games (We're having difficulty growing up, I think half the problem is that no-one is trying). Luckily My sister had sent me Chez Geek as a christmas present (perhaps knowing my inability to completely grow up...whatever that means).

I quickly explained the rules to everybody in about 5 minutes and throughout the entire game there was not any trouble. We must have played about five games. To be honest I didn't take exacting notes, but here is the break down of victories.

Me: zero (this game has little strategy, so I try to fortune tell who is going to win and screw them the most. Unfortunately I always predict wrong )

Wife: 2 (Corporate Drone and Drummer)

Nathan : 1 Web designer

Kathryn : 1 Corporate Drone

Bill (Kathryn's significant other): 1 Karaoke machine operator (its fun to use the blank cards when you are drunk)

Darn I forgot why the heck I'm bothering with a Chez Geek session report. Ooh yeah two reasons. First, there is very little stuff for Chez Geek on the page. How about ideas for cards guys! Second, the way my wife won with the drummer.

Favorite moment: 5 minute game! with five people playing! My wife is a drummer. First three rounds plays nookie and roles a six each time. Fourth round smokes a cigarette for the win. Odds of rolling a six on three consecutive nookie cards (not to mention HAVING! three consecutive nookie cards) 1:216. Irrefuteable proof that god has a sense of humor. Plus the cigarette is a perfect ending after that much noisy nookie. To top it off she bummed the smoke off of Nathan.

Thread: Re:User Review

Foodgeek — 2004-11-22T23:06:28+00:00

TragicHeroBC (#66911),

getting both expansions is good cuz u get the carry box...and people don't get board with the cards because they dont see the same cards as much.

Thread: User Review

TragicHeroBC — 2004-11-22T14:28:06+00:00

Chez Geek is a card game produced by Steve Jackson Games that is based around a group of roommates living together each trying to amass an amount of "Slack" in order to win the game.

The game box holds 112 cards quite nicely, although the box itself is made of relatively thin cardboard, not the nicer stuff that is found in games like the KOSMOS two player series. However, all told, it is fully functional.

Production Values:

The cards themselves are illustrated by John Kovalic (who you might recognize as the artist/writer of the Dork Tower comic strip. The art is suitably whimsical for the topic of the game, and some of the pictures are fantastic. The art is one of the best parts of the game, and really helps the game come to life and stay comical. The cards themselves are a little on the thin side, but are not of terrible quality, and it certainly does not detract from the game.

The directions are black and white and printed on two sides of a single sheet of paper. A tad on the cluttered side, they do convey everything you need to know about the game, although perhaps not in the most straightforward way.

Value:

The game costs around $17.00 at retail, and the price is honestly a bit steep for what you get in the form of 112 cards. Still, the cards are amusing, the game plays well, and it can be found cheaper than retail some places online. I had no problems paying the price for the game, although others may balk at almost twenty dollars for cards.

Game Play:

The game itself is fairly straightforward: each player has a certain amount of two commodities - freetime and money - a turn depending on which character they draw at the beginning of the game and they must use their freetime and money to maximize their amount of Slack to reach their Slack Goal. Some of the characters also require a roll to start their turn to determine a variable amount of one or both of the resources. These variable rolls, while good in the long run, since they further balance the characters, may serve to confuse non-gamers at first.

Some characters actually do play differently from the others, particularly the Corporate Drone, who may hold an extra card in his hand and has a ton of moeny, but little freetime to do anything but spend his money shopping.

Slack is usually accumulated by one of two ways: Free Time activities or Shopping. When you Shop you use one of your allotted "Free Times" to buy as many objects as you can afford. To the Corporate Drone mentioned above, buying as many cards from his hand is crucial. Other characters, who have a lower money resource and more Free Time, may instead choose to spend their Free Time getting nookie or hanging out at the cafe to amass slack. However, the strategies are pretty minimal so long as you can adjust to the kind of character you draw. Also, there is a great deal of luck involved in the game so far as drawing better/higher slack cards you can use. Still, you can discard a large amount of cards each turn to try and maximize the chance of getting cards you need.

The cards in the game have a variety of consequences besides simply gaining the user Slack. TV cards, for instance, may be used to gain the user a Slack on her turn or may be played on an opposing player instead to cause that player to lose whatever activity they were just attempting to do ("Well, you were going to get nookie, but you decided to watch 'Sloths: Natures Sedatives instead. Too bad, really.").

The other important type of cards are people cards who may be called over at the beginning of a turn on a correct die roll that add slack and sometimes give other abilities. There are also bad visitors who may be played on an opponent to do something bad, like drink all of their booze until they are kicked out or sicced on someone else.

There is actually a pretty high "screw your buddy" quality to this game, although the game's lighthearted nature helps in keeping aggression down. Still when someone just had a guy come and drink all of your booze and then kills off your significant other, well, things get personal.

The game ends the second one player reaches his slack goal, and it usually does not take more than half an hour to play a game.

The Verdict:

Chez Geek is a lighthearted card game that is better with more people (and really is only good with at least three, in my opinion). Still, if the kind of humor provided by the game appeals to you (and it will likely strike home if you have lived in an apartment or dorm) then the game can be a nice filler. It is a long way from an instant classic, but this game (and its expansions) still make it out on the table, especially when we are more in the mood to goof off than think hard about strategy. It is worth noting again that this is a very light game played more for messing with your friends and having a good laugh than playing competively - although we have had a lot of close games.

From my experience, non-gamers pick up the game easily, although some have had trouble with the extra benefits of TV cards, variable income/slack, and that some cards exist simply to counter other cards.

If the game really grows on you there are also two expansions for Chez Geek (as well as a few other variants), so the game is easy to expand if you decide you want a larger card base and more jobs to goof around with.

Grade: B (Above Average)

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-08-23T18:02:52+00:00

After Apples to Apples, we let new mom Elizabeth pick a game. She chose Chez Geek, which can be a fun game if everyone gets into it.

Joe was the Graphic Artist, whose Slack Goal of 20 was the highest this game; he got +1 Slack for each Cig or Weed card played. I was the Waitstaff, with a Slack Goal of 18; I got +1 Slack for each Sleep card I played. Elizabeth was the TA, also Slack Goal 18, who is never affected by Tuition Due or Student Loan events. Kurt was the Temp, also Slack Goal 18, who is never affected by the Fired event.

Usually, when I play a career that gets bonus slack from an activity, I never seem to draw those cards. This time, the first hand I had, I drew the Snooze Button (which adds +1 to the Slack of each Sleep card played) and got to play 2 Sleep cards, each worth 4 Slack. If Kurt hadn't canceled my third Sleep card the next turn, I might have won the game just on Sleep cards, an RPG and some Cigs.

Anyway, Joe played cannily and won by stealing my Cigs and the judicious use of Whenever cards. Kurt and I were tied at 13 Slack, while poor Elizabeth had 9 since Kurt played the Robber on her and most of her Slack had been tied up in Things which were stolen.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-07-27T18:14:20+00:00

After Sandy left, we got down to business, playing Chez Geek with the Slack Attack! expansion.

In Chez Geek, everybody plays roomates in an apartment. Everybody draws a job at random to start. Each job gives the player an amount of Free Time and Income to spend in his quest to accumulate enough Slack to meet his job's Slack Goal and win the game. The better the job (in terms of Income and Free Time) the higher the Slack Goal. Each Activity you can play (using your Free Time) or Thing you can buy (using your Income) gives you a number of Slack points. At the beginning of each player's turn, he draws cards from the draw pile to bring his hand up to six cards. People cards can be played during the Call People phase, and Activities and Things can be played during the Activity or Buying Things phase (simple enough). Finally, there are Whenever cards that you can play whenever you like (duh!) that usually do not give you any Slack; they usually have some power that allows you to interrupt someone else's plots.

Steve drew the TA, who has a Slack Goal of 16 and is immune to certain Whenever cards. Kurt drew the Drummer, whose Slack Goal of 14 is one of the lowest in the game. I drew Tech Support, with a high Slack Goal (18) and the ability to play one Computer Games or Surf the Net Activity card each turn for free, without needing to use my one Free Time to do it. On the other hand, my 5 Income was the highest among the group.

I got unlucky early in the game; I couldn't seem to draw any of my two free Activities, being forced to use my only Free Time to Buy Things for Slack. I got a little steamed when I saw that both Kurt and Steve were Surfing the Net and playing Computer Games; I'm Tech Support -- that should be me!

Anyway, Steve managed to take a powerful lead with Activities, while Kurt got many Slack Points with People he called over. Few Cancels were drawn or played, and Steve won handily about four or five hands into the game.

Thread: Preview

BoardGameGeek — 2001-07-21T16:01:13+00:00

Basic, screw-you type game where you try to accumulate cards in your "room" to gain Slack points. You have a Job that states a goal in Slack points - you gain enough Slack points, you win. Cards you can play range from Things (such as Booze, Weed, etc.) to People (which can be played in your room for points or in someone else's room to handicap them) to Activities (which is my favorite - you can conquest for Nookie or Sleep and score Slack) to Whenever (interruptions that can be played "whenever" you want).

Your Job limits the Free Time (actions per round) and Income (you can only buy Things that fall under your Income score), and sometimes throws a wacky advantage/disadvatage into the game. Of course, some Jobs have variable Free Time/Income levels that you have to roll a 6-sided die to determine for the turn.

Turn phases:
1. Draw
2. Roll (for varied Free Time and Income and to get rid of those pesky People in your room that you don't want there)
3. Call People (you can play People cards - you have to roll to see if the beneficial People come over, but you can just play the pests - friends have to be Called, but idiots just show up. If you want to play a Cat, you do it now).
4. Free Time (the action phase where you can do two things - Shop for Things or try to conduct an Activity. Usually limited by the cards in your hand and the Income it takes to take the Action)
5. Discard (You must end your turn with no more than five cards - you can discard down to one card if you want).

Trying to keep this short: it plays well, fast and you often laugh at others because they get stuck with annoying People or their Activities don't work out ("Man, I didn't get Nookie again??!!" and "Ah! What's the Hungry Girl doing in MY room??!!") There are other things in this game, such as TV Activity cards that you can play to either gain slack or cancel other people's activities and the Car Alarm, which makes other people lose Sleep cards (and the Slack that came with them). When you get the Expansion, the game goes on and on in scope.

I rate it an 8 for "play whenever there's four people who are up for a light, fast game with obnoxious cards." That seems to happen a lot to me, since the group I play with like to chose games with a max of 4 people when there are 7 or 8 of us around.

As the game says, "You can't throw them out - they live here."