Full disclosure: A preview copy of Flockton of Flamingos was provided by Weird Giraffe Games. Some art, gameplay, or other aspects of the game may change between this preview and the fulfillment of the Kickstarter, should it fund, as this is a preview of a currently unreleased game. 

I was going to have a productive day, but then a buddy of mine came over and we talked about our lives for five hours or so and so here I am, at two AM, posting this review. But that’s okay! It’s been incredibly busy since I got back from Gen Con, but I got back to a ton of interesting, new, and novel games, so look forward to that for the foreseeable future along with Kickstarters. This one’s new from Weird Giraffe Games, but their flagship title, Effervescent, is coming down my review pipeline next week. So let’s see what’s happening with Flockton of Flamingos!

In Flockton of Flamingos, well, there are a lot of them. You love them; you might crave them, but you want as many as possible. That said, you want them to be happy, and as everyone knows, flamingos are happiest in groups of two, three, or six. Depending on number, color, and hat style. So gather up your flamingo-obsessed friends and try to achieve as many flamingos in one place as you possibly can. Can you end up with an absolute flockton?

Contents

• Setup
• Gameplay
• Player Count Differences
• Strategy
• Pros, Mehs, Cons
• Overall

Setup

So there are plenty of suits of Flamingos; choose a number of suits appropriate for your player count:

• 2 players: 3 suits
• 3 players: 5 suits
• 4 players: 6 suits
• 5 players: 7 suits
• 6 players: 8 suits

Shuffle the deck and deal each player two face-up cards and four face-down cards. The face-down cards will be each player’s hand. Place five cards face-up in the center to form the Lagoon. If you’re playing with Flair Cards, choose one and place it face-up next to the Lagoon. You can also pick randomly if you’d like.

With that, you’re ready to play!

Gameplay

Flockton of Flamingos is all about having as many flamingos as possible! You love those goofy birds. Try to build up your roost while making them happy in pairs or triples or even groups of six! It’s all possible.

On your turn, choose one of three options:

• Play 1 card to the Lagoon. When you do this, take all other cards of the same color or adjacent numbers. If you play a Red 7, you take all red cards, all 6s, and all 8s. If you take three or more cards, you trigger a Flamboyance of Flamingos! Everyone yells Flamboyance and they all also get a card from the deck. So that’s fun!
• Draw 2 cards. You can choose to draw them from the Lagoon or the Deck, in either order.
• Play 3 cards to your Roost. Take three cards from your hand and place them in your Roost.

And that’s kind of that! Continue play until the deck is empty and then finish the round so everyone gets to play the same number of turns. Once you’re done with that, move to scoring:

• 1 point per pair
• 2 points per run of three consecutive cards (each card can only be part of one run)
• 3 points per set of six cards of the same color

Note that a single card can be part of a pair, a run, and a set of six! Just not multiple pairs or anything like that. Total up your points (counting Flair if you’re playing with that) and the player with the most points wins!

Player Count Differences

The major difference with player count comes down to the Flair cards. Certain Flair Cards are a bit more interesting with more players than others, I think. With fewer players, things like the “most cards of a color” are a bit more of a swing. There are fewer suits, so it’s easier to get multiple cards of the same color. Less interesting. Similarly, trios is a lot more work at low player counts. With more players there are more suits in play, which shifts things around. There’s something worth considering there: marking certain Flair Cards for which player counts they support, but that’s a level of micromanagement in game design that I don’t think is super critical to my enjoyment of the game. Beyond that, though, the game plays pretty similarly at every player count. The one thing worth noting is that a Flamboyance gives a lot more cards at higher player counts, since there are more players. Worth noting; not surprising. I think Flockton is strongest with more players than fewer, but it’s a fairly light recommendation.

Strategy

• Lock down your scoring options. You don’t want to necessarily wait to play cards to your Roost, as the game can run out more quickly than you expect if you’re not paying attention. Any cards you don’t play by the end of the game are just worthless, so you can’t do the Ticket to Ride strategy of spending most of the game drawing cards and then placing only what you want. Be careful!
• It’s not necessarily worth playing a card to the center if you’re only getting one card back. It’s a useful way to get rid of card you’re not going to play, but if you’re not getting a pretty good deal for doing so, why not just draw two cards the normal way? Keeping a card in your hand means that your opponents can’t get it.
• Overlaps are allowed! You can have cards contribute to pairs and runs. This is a good plan; if you have 3 4 4 5 5 6 you have the 3-4-5 run, the 4-5-6 run, the 4-4 pair, and the 5-5 pair. That’s a lot of points with minimal overhead!
• Keep an eye on what your opponents are playing! There’s only one of each card, after all. If you’re relying on the Blue 15 and your opponent plays it, you have 0 chance of ever getting it to your Roost and you need to pivot. That said, sometimes it’s worth keeping a card like that in your hand for as long as possible to give someone hope and let them play thinking that it’s possible to get it before dashing that. Cruel, but sometimes necessary.
• If you think you’ve got a comfortable lead, you can work on accelerating the end of the game. If you’re doing well, draw cards and try to trigger Flamboyances so that you burn through the deck faster and get closer to the end of the game. That said, it’s unlikely you’ll be so far ahead that you can do that multiple rounds in a row, so keep an eye on the table state and play more cards to your Roost as needed.
• Similarly, if you’re near the end of the game (finishing the final round, for instance), you might as well play cards to your Roost. If it’s your last turn, you don’t need to draw cards; just play your cards to the Roost instead.

Pros, Mehs, and Cons

Pros

• The art is impeccable. Jon Merchant did a fantastic job! I really like the kind of whimsical, retro, pop-art-y vibe of the whole thing, and the color work is excellent. I particularly like the card backs, though I will always complain that they’re not symmetrical (even though the fronts are).
• I also appreciate how quick and easy setup is. Granted, to change player counts you have to remove cards from a big deck, which isn’t very fun, but adding players is super easy! A particularly conscientious player might split the cards into their component sets at the end of every game, but that couldn’t be me, unfortunately. Beyond that, though, shuffle the deck, deal some cards, and go.
• I like the 1 / 2 / 3 structure of play. Place a card, draw two cards, or play three cards; it has a nice syncopation to it that seems good. Not entirely sure why; just a nice rhythm to play.
• Plays pretty quickly. I’m suspicious of that 20-minute claim with six people, but the turns are short. There are just a lot of cards with more players.
• It’s honestly just a nice quick card game that’s not asking for much. It’s not the most ambitious game I’ve played, but it’s aiming for a perfectly pleasant card game and it sticks the landing quite nicely. I’d happily play it.

Mehs

• The Flair Cards feel a bit swingy. I like some of them, particularly ones that award you points for doing things that aren’t necessarily aligned with your overall scoring, but others don’t quite land for me. I’d almost just as soon go without them for a quicker and simpler game, or structure them so each player count has one or two dedicated flair cards.

Cons

• The actual organizing of your Roost can take up a lot of table space; be prepared. I had to do some fancy coalescence to get a five-player game to fit on the table space I have for photography, which led to some organizational choices that I would never recommend under any circumstances. It’s mostly that all cards need to be visible or else it makes things frustrating, but there are a lot of cards in play regardless of player count.

Overall: 7 / 10

I talk sometimes about reviewing games when there’s a gap between the game’s ambition and its execution. Some games are shooting for the stars and they miss, and that’s sometimes rough or sometimes admirable. Flockton of Flamingos doesn’t feel like it’s shooting for the stars. It feels like it’s shooting for being a pleasant option on the shelf for the beginning or end of game night, but one that’s a bit quirkier than, say, an UNO or a Phase 10. And it hits that spot pretty nicely, in my opinion. A bit too intense on the table space front, but that’s not the worst sin a game can commit. Plus, Jon Merchant’s art really elevates the game as a whole. Flamingos are kind of synonymous with American Kitsch, and Merchant leans into that to produce a game that looks charming and retro but timeless and inviting, like going to an old-fashioned diner or something. I like that and it surprised me, because it just wasn’t what I was expecting when I opened the box. I do think from a pure gameplay perspective there’s probably a few more development cycles that the Flair cards could use before you, the reader, play the game, but that’s Kickstarter Preview life sometimes. Knowing Carla Kopp’s whole design oeuvre I’m sure she’s got ideas. Looking forward to seeing them, to be honest. Flockton does a great job slotting itself into a busy game scene (the warmup filler game) and executing well on it to be something that’s memorable and fun without overstaying its welcome or my patience. Plus, sometimes, getting the group to yell FLAMBOYANCE is charming. Leaning into the theme always helps when you’re making a game. If you love a lawn flamingo (or a real one), you’re looking for a quick game, or you just need some more color and kitsch in your life, I’d recommend Flockton of Flamingos! It’s a fun little game.

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