Fliptoons

• Designers: Jordy Adan and Renato Simoes 
• Publisher: Thunderworks
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/45HYoSt
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

It’s time to cast the next great animated show! A top talent agent like you knows a star when you see one, and the director needs you to fill six roles for the big production. Search Flip Valley for the perfect toon characters, and make sure they’re ready to work together on the silver screen!  FlipToons is a quick deck-building game. You’ll begin with a deck of hopeful toon actors. Each round, flip six of these toons out from your deck into your screen grid to audition together. Each toon card in your 3-by-2 grid has different talent effects. Some are resolved as soon as they are flipped. Many will interact with one another and (hopefully) earn Fame for your studio. But they won’t all have that special on-screen chemistry you’re looking for. Some won’t work well together at all!

To set up the game, give each player an identical starting deck of 6 cards (they are grey and have a rank of 0, so they’re easy to pick out of the deck).  Each player also gets a Fame card and a player reference card.  In the center of the table, place the five price cards in ascending order.  Shuffle the toon deck, reveal the top 5 cards, and order them under the price cards so that the lowest ranked card is on the left and the highest rank is on the right (most expensive).

To start the round, each player shuffles their deck and then reveals cards one at a time, placing them into a 3×2 grid, doing left to right in the upper row first and then left to right in the lower row.  As each card is revealed, it may have an ability that is triggered upon placement.  If so, resolve that action before flipping the next card.

After the Flip is complete, tally up your current grid of toons’ Fame points – using your Fame Card and the arrow on your reference card to point at the right number.  Starting with the first player and going clockwise, players will then spend their Fame points to hire more stars (i.e.. Purchase new toon cards from the market and add them to your deck).  Alternatively, players can spend 5 Fame to dismiss a card, and get that bad actor off the stage. Sorry kid, you just don’t have what it takes to be a star in this show.  That card is removed for the player’s deck forever.  You must always have at least 4 cards in your deck!   After each player has gone, fill the Market back up to five cards, always arranging them by rank.  Any leftover fame after the market phase is lost. You never save Fame to use in a later round.

If your Flip is the first to generate 30+ Fame, you’ll earn the Critic’s Choice award (worth an extra 3 Fame points) and trigger the end of the game. After that turn’s market phase, it’s time for one Final Flip. The player who earns the most Fame during the Final Flip is declared the winner. Applause!

My thoughts on the game

I actually didn’t know much about Fliptoons before Gen Con 2025, but I was immediately enamored with the game after a short demo at the stand.  In this quick playing game, you work to build a deck that will score you points – but you’re definitely encouraged to make your deck as efficient as possible because you often only see the top 6 cards of your deck – so you don’t want to have too many cards in there that don’t help you score points!

There is certainly a bit of luck involved here, you’ll do better if you have the right cards in the right order at the top of your deck.  But trust me, you can certainly try to set up high scoring combinations to try to shift things in your favor.

The cost of cards is dependent on the rank order of cards in the market, and there will certainly be a few moments each game where a card will be ridiculously cheap or expensive just based on the ranks of the cards on the table.  While I know that my own card purchase will set the stage for the next player, I don’t try to think about it too much – I just worry about which card will benefit my deck the most.  

While it’s certainly possible to play defensively and take a card that I know they want, it just doesn’t seem worth it.  First, I lose the chance to get a card that I need. Second, I have to then play that card and then spend more points to trash it from play.   In a game that doesn’t have that many rounds, it doesn’t seem worthwhile to gum up one or more turns just to play defensively.

Additionally, given the way the game ends, even if your opponent has a great combination in their deck, it only matters if they flip up those cards in the right spots in the Final Flip.  This sudden death single round showdown for the win means that most players have at least a measurable chance to win – just flip up the best hand at the end, and you win!

The art of the cards is very reminiscent of the cartoons that I watched as a kid; and more importantly, the text description of the card actions on the cards are generally clear.  There are clarifications in the rulebook for some of the cards, but we found that we didn’t need it that much as the cards were generally enough.

Games play out in 15-20 minutes, and the whole thing moves quite fast.  Really, the only decision that can take time is in the choosing of which card(s) to buy or trash.  The flip phase pretty much plays out by itself, and once you’re played a particular card once or twice, you shouldn’t have any issues with how to resolve it.  

Fliptoons is a great filler-style game in a small package.  It’s easy to teach and comes in a nice small box.  This is a sure addition to my travel kit, and I play to keep playing it all summer long.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Lorna: Nice filler. Plays quickly. Easy rules and some push your luck as to which cards you choose. Works well with 2.

Alison Brennan: It’s like Challengers on speed, but an all-in version rather than duels. Draw cards until your 6 slots are filled. Your cards have different ways to get points – stacking, adjacency, etc. Anyway, spend your points on better cards and on thinning your deck (like, um, Challengers). Each round your deck gets better, you’ll get more points. When someone cracks 30 do a final round (like, uhm, Challengers) and whoever scores the most in that final round wins. Your deck plays itself (Challengers) and you’re very dependent on what’s randomly available when it’s your turn to buy … but it’s still fun to gradually build your deck and see how it plays out given it’s a short timeframe that suits the randomness.

Mark Jackson: Deck-building for beginners… the randomness means that bad decisions are “hidden” by the placement of the cards and that makes it a great introduction to meatier deck-builders for newbies.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Dale Y
• I like it. Lorna, Alison, Mark Jackson
• Neutral. Steph
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/45HYoSt