Falling (game)
Encyclopedia
Falling is a real-time card game
from James Ernest
in which all players are falling from the sky for no apparent reason. The object of the game is to hit the ground last. As the box copy says, "It's not much of a goal, but it's all you could think of on the way down."
The game has an uncommon element in card game
s, in that one player is a dealer whose only role is to smoothly pass out cards in front of the other player. All players may play cards simultaneously, as in other real-time games like Brawl and Fightball
. A game takes about a minute to play before everyone hits the ground with predictable results.
The players receive stacks of cards, and try to cope with them as quickly and accurately as they can. At any time, a player may take the top card from any stack belonging to him or her, and then must play it before doing anything else. Some cards are called riders, and can be played on oneself or any other player (except the dealer). These have effects such as creating an extra pile in front of a player, or giving a player an extra card when the dealer gets to him or her. Other cards cancel or move the effects of riders between players. When encountering riders, the dealer immediately removes them and implements their effects, then moves to the next player.
On the bottom of the deck are five Ground cards: when a player get a Ground card, he or she is out, and the last player to hit the Ground wins.
Real-time card game
A real-time card game is a card game in which all players may act simultaneously .The card game Set has a real-time element; in Set, the players are racing to identify patterns in the cards on the table...
from James Ernest
James Ernest
James Ernest is an American game designer and juggler. He is best known as the owner and lead designer of Cheapass Games. Prior to founding Cheapass, he worked as a juggler at various venues, including Camlann Medieval Village, and as a freelancer with Wizards of the Coast. He also worked for...
in which all players are falling from the sky for no apparent reason. The object of the game is to hit the ground last. As the box copy says, "It's not much of a goal, but it's all you could think of on the way down."
The game has an uncommon element in card game
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
s, in that one player is a dealer whose only role is to smoothly pass out cards in front of the other player. All players may play cards simultaneously, as in other real-time games like Brawl and Fightball
Fightball
Fightball is a real-time card game designed by James Ernest and Mike Selinker and published by Cheapass Games in 2002. Fightball is the third real-time card game published by Cheapass Games, following the success of Falling and Brawl....
. A game takes about a minute to play before everyone hits the ground with predictable results.
The players receive stacks of cards, and try to cope with them as quickly and accurately as they can. At any time, a player may take the top card from any stack belonging to him or her, and then must play it before doing anything else. Some cards are called riders, and can be played on oneself or any other player (except the dealer). These have effects such as creating an extra pile in front of a player, or giving a player an extra card when the dealer gets to him or her. Other cards cancel or move the effects of riders between players. When encountering riders, the dealer immediately removes them and implements their effects, then moves to the next player.
On the bottom of the deck are five Ground cards: when a player get a Ground card, he or she is out, and the last player to hit the Ground wins.