Funfair- RFY / WFY
Review copy provided by the publisher
It would be easy to think of Funfair, the latest board game from designer Joel Finch and Good Games Publishing, as Unfair-lite. The designer has taken the elements that made Unfair a bigger and more variable game—the modular theme decks, the player event deck full of positive and negative actions, the city event deck that switches from benevolent to challenging—and then created some other mechanisms to establish a friendlier, faster iteration on the theme park tableau-builder. Even the BoardGameGeek entry describes it as a reimplementation.
That’s what happened, right? That’s all that’s changed?
Not really.
Funfair does play faster. It is friendlier. But it’s also its own thing. The game can be viewed from two different perspectives. You could look at it and say that it’s a beginner’s experience before stepping into the deep end of Unfair. And you could also consider it as a game that’s meant for an entirely different audience than its bigger predecessor.
I tend to think of it as the latter. There are variants and additional setup rules that can enable players who own Unfair to create a shorter or less antagonistic experience inside of the game. Funfair instead stands alone as a special little game that plays in a breezy 30-60 minutes, builds positive player interaction, and keeps an integrated set of four themes in one deck.
The designer Joel Finch partners with the husband-wife duo Mr. Cuddington—who were just awarded for their artwork in Tidal Blades. So, four years later, the theme park world condenses into a smaller package but exists separately from the previous entry in the Good Games Publishing catalog.
Let’s see if it’s the right game for you.
Overview
Players will engage in a tableau-building competition where you use your wits, your money, and the shared resources or events on the board to create the most memorable (and hopefully highest-reaching) theme park of the bunch.
You’re not just building something randomly, though. The budding architects of fun have plans for the theme parks. Following blueprints helps to organize the chaos and create an intentional experience rather than a haphazard one.
Each park will have attractions, likely headlined by the big showcase attraction. But these attractions will need some more pizzazz, some spice to make them hot and appealing to all of those easily-swayed guests. The bigger the ride, the more upgrades, the more likely it will be that people want to pay for them and come to your park. And the city might even help too, creating opportunities for growth outside of your own actions. The builder that can leverage the right attractions, combine the right upgrades, emphasize the right showcase—and combine all of those elements together under the same blueprints and plans—will end up winning the day.
Theme
The guest screams in delight as they plummet down the drop in the rollercoaster, only to, moments later, scream in terror as they fly off the rails and plunge into a lake, never to be seen again.
Wait, that’s not right. Let me try again.
Yet another guest pukes all over the walkway and the embattled janitor must wade through a sea of nauseous people to clean it up before the disgusted patrons of the park decide to leave.
No, that’s still off. Ah… now I understand. This is not RollerCoaster Tycoon. This is Funfair. You can’t be sadistic in this game because the guests are mechanical constructs and not physical entities that you can manipulate like some mad teenage puppet master. And you don’t have to deal with all of the logistical nightmares involved with running a park.
You’re just here to build something wonderful. Something with thrill rides. Something with food. Something that will make people want to visit.
And if you can’t get behind something as pure as that, then maybe you need to go play The Sims!
Accessibility
Unfair hands players a game full of modular pieces and encourages them to explore and take control of the game they want to play. It can be tweaked and customized in multiple ways to create a personal experience with crazy replay value. Variability to the max.
Funfair doesn’t boast as big of a footprint, but it also doesn’t need to. With the same rules and mechanisms in place every game, players will know what to expect. You’re building a theme park and making the most of the combinations you play. It’s easy to understand and simple to get to the table. However, what’s wonderful is the DNA of what’s great about Unfair still exists in this standalone game. The ways that you use staff members, themes, attractions, and blueprints (or even the City event cards) will differ every game and players can have a lot of fun discovering all the different ways to create a tableau.
Games that play in under an hour are becoming more rare by the day it seems. So many titles are being released that are trying to offer a meaty, juicy, crunchy experience and it tends to stretch the playtime. It’s why I loved the Escape the Dark series. It’s why I’m excited any time a game offers a fun and variable experience in less than 60 minutes.
Another good thing about Funfair is the visual simplicity of the game. You’re creating one row of attractions with upgrades tucked above them. And if you want any information as to what cards do, the text is right there to read, as well as the player reference cards which condense all of the game’s rules and order in succinct fashion.
Everything about Funfair seemed to be designed with accessibility in mind. Even the Tabletop Simulator mod, which is fantastic and something similar should be what all developers aspire to create with their own mods on the physics engine.
Gameplay
Four steps govern a game of Funfair: City step, Park step, Guests step, and Cleanup step. That’s all you have to worry about.
The City step will reveal one of six cards. Those six cards signal the six rounds of the game and start each one. Players will react, in turn order, to the beneficial event that occurs. Things will be cheaper. You’ll get free cards. Stuff like that.
The Park step is the core of the game. It’s where the players will take three actions (four if you’ve built your Showcase attraction) that involve building attractions and upgrades, hiring staff members, acquiring cards for later play, selecting Blueprints to complete, demolishing cards in your park, or getting some loose change if you’re short on cash. Those are the actions that players will juggle in order to keep building what they need and start to optimize their theme park.
The Guests step is as easy as counting up the star value of your theme park (which indicates the number of guests who are visiting your attractions and providing revenue). If you have any staff members that add bonuses during this phase, count that up as well. Then take that many coins as income.
The Cleanup step clears the Market for the next round, forces players to discard down to five Park cards, and then leads into the next City step.
Learning to play is simple. Understanding how to play well is the trick. Managing your coins in a way that allows you to buy the right cards and complete blueprints is important. Knowing how to leverage your three of four actions best will take practice. And discovering all of the ways to connect the cards together is fun.
Also, visually the gameplay will be made easier depending on your player count with the dual-sided board. If you’re playing with just two, you can have all of the cards facing both players. If you’re playing with three or four, you can use the side that splits the cards with half facing each way. This helps to mitigate the amount of neck-craning and awkward reading that takes place when someone can’t read the board or the components. It’s also helpful that once you learn the cards you don’t really have to look anymore because you remember what they do and the combinations that they can create.
Modes of Play
With one Park deck and a set number of cards, there is one way to play Funfair.
If you’re looking for something with variants and modular board elements and solo play or anything like that, then this won’t be able to offer that. It’s a compressed, fast-paced light- to medium-weight tableau game and that’s all it really needs to be.
Innovation
In terms of modification to the core rules of the game, there aren’t really any. Funfair isn’t really aiming to do that. It’s a light- to medium-weight (depending on your own definition of games) tabletop experience, but it makes a lot of small tweaks to the mechanisms introduced in Unfair and creates an accessible and fast-playing tableau builder.
With 97 Park cards, it’s very likely that you’ll go through the deck at least once per play. But the clever part is how the staff members, the themes, the guest services upgrades, the features—all of that— will be drawn into your hand or revealed in the Market at very different points in each game, especially given when you take Blueprint cards (and what cards you actually attempt to complete). And the City event deck offers another variable that players must consider and adapt to. They’re all positive events, but they can possibly give you a much-needed boost or leave you with a tough decision to make between two options.
This plays in 30-45 minutes and still offers all of those tantalizing combos to discover. Do you want to build your Showcase right away and capitalize on actions? Or do you want to build up your coin economy by focusing on guest-heavy attractions and upgrades, as well as staff members who boost your income?
These choices are what keeps you coming back to Funfair and experimenting.
One last note: While it doesn’t affect the physical copy of the game, Good Games Publishing must really be commended for an accessible, well-scripted TTS mod for Funfair. If we’re discussing innovative design, then that’s something that I can’t ignore, as it makes introducing players to the game remarkably easy.
Pricing
Funfair is priced right above (most) introductory board games. At $39.99, it’s comfortably in the range of the most affordable games without entering into the $50-$100 area of most heavier retail offerings.
Its predecessor Unfair costs $49.99 for the base game and then $34.99 for every expansion (of which one is currently out and four more are on the way). You’re getting a lot more content there, but it’s more involved in the setup as you’re combining modular decks and you’re creating the theme park game that you want.
Considering all of the other games that Funfair would sit beside on the shelf and compete with on the price, it’s a solid asking price for a game that accomplishes what it does (in terms of both space, time, and gameplay).
Funfair is…
Right for You!
Be sure to check out the Good Games Publishing website to learn more about the game.
Order the game from the Geek Game Shop or on Amazon.
To see what the community thinks, check out the BGG page.