Playing Games at PAX, Part One: Lighter Fare

Back to the Future, from Looney Labs

Great Scott! Looney Labs recently released a card game based on one of my favorite movies: Back to the Future. The gameplay has some similarities to their Fluxx line and Chrononauts, but there are also some important differences. There’s a timeline on the table which shows the original set of events, starting back in 1885 and going to 2015, featuring key points from the three movies. Each player has an identity card which shows what timeline they came from. For instance, Buffy Tannen (the daughter of Biff Tannen and Lorraine) only exists if Lorraine marries Biff instead of George McFly. Each player attempts to set the timeline to their own, and then stop Doc Brown from inventing time travel in the first place, thus cementing the current timeline in place.

Yeah, so there are some time travel paradoxes inherent in the game, but for the most part you can see how different events are interconnected as you attempt to get back home. For fans of the movie series, BttF is a fun way to play with time travel. One gripe: I wish the ID cards actually had a little bit about who each person was, because there are a few that i have no idea about. Overall: not my favorite Looney Labs entry, but worth checking out particularly if you liked the flicks.

Jonathan H. Liu

Jonathan H. Liu is a stay-at-home dad in Portland, Oregon, who loves to read, is always up for a board game, and has a bit of a Kickstarter habit. I can be reached at jonathan at geekdad dot com.