FIXER is a trick-taking, area-control game.
Title: FIXER
Year Published: 2024
Designer: Iida Takaaki
Publisher: JELLY JELLY GAMES
Players: 2-4
Game Time: ~15 mins
Set-Up Time: ~1 minute
Ages: 10+
Theme: A dark world where players are trying to become the ultimate shadow ruler.
Mechanisms: Trick-taking, area-control.
How to win: Gain the most points by winning cards and scoring critical victories.
Game Description
The regime controls the capital, the capital controls the media, the media controls the people, the people overthrow the regime…
How to play FIXER
Learn how to play FIXER in a quick and concise way!
Main Mechanisms
This is a pseudo-trick-taking game that plays mostly as area-majority. You play cards, following suit as possible but only two cards go into a ‘trick’ regardless of the player count.
USP
The USP is this gameplay. It’s trick-taking but it isn’t, it’s area-majority but it isn’t… it’s cool.
Theme
The theme of the 4 ‘suits’ is familiar but it looks to be set in a (slightly) more dystopian world than ours.
Setup & Rulebook
Setup is simple for all player counts even though the table is set up differently for 2, 3 and 4 players.
The rulebook is good, except it doesn’t explain the two-player game as well as the rest of it.
Components & Artwork
The cards are OK but the boards are good and the tokens are really nice and chunky.
I really like the dark, minimalist artwork.
Ease of Teaching
The game is easy to teach. There are fewer elements to teach than some trick-taking games.
Similar Games
Joraku is a true trick-taking area-control game so I would put that down here.
FIXER Review
Positives
Simple gameplay keeps the card play ticking along.
It’s much more tactical and more thought-provoking than you would think if you hadn’t played it. Scoring critical wins is great, but reduces the options of cards you can get back into your hand later on.
The art is nice as are the components for such a small game.
Negatives
The two-player rules in the rulebook needed expanding.
FIXER Round-Up
A very fun and unique game mechanism.
Rating
I give it 7/10