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Chez Geek

Players invite people, buy things and do activities in order to be the roommate with the most Slack.
Players	2-5 (more with expansions)
Age range	18+
Setup time	5 minutes
Playing time	45 minutes
Random chance	High
Skills required	Dice rolling, Communication
requires a six-sided die and a way of recording Slack totals, not included

Chez Geek is a popular card game that has a humorous take on geek culture and cohabitation. It was created by Jon Darbro and developed by Alain H. Dawson, with additional development by Steve Jackson and Russell Godwin. The cards and rules were illustrated by John Kovalic.

In 2000 Chez Geek won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game of 1999^[1] and in 2003 the spinoff Chez Greek won Best Graphic Representation of a Card Game Product 2002.^[2]

Gameplay

Players play the role of roommates living together in a single multi-room apartment or other dwelling. At the start of the game, each player is dealt a special purple-backed Job card which lists free time, income, a special ability and a Slack goal. Players are also dealt five yellow-backed Life cards. (Note: In the first edition, the job cards were also yellow-backed.) The space in front of a player is their Room, where various cards are played during the game. Slack can be represented using any available chit or counter, but each player begins with a Slack total of zero.

Players take turns as follows:

1. Draw Life cards until they have six in hand. (NOTE: Some Jobs vary this to five or seven cards.)
2. Make "variable" rolls. Some Job cards have variable free time or income; their values for this turn are decided in this phase (rolling a 1-3 gives them the first amount; rolling a 4-6 gives them the second). If there are any "uninvited" people in a player's room, he or she may also roll to "get rid of" them (by rolling a 4, 5 or 6) and either send each such person to another room or discard them (if they cannot be played to any other room).
3. If any of the player's in-hand Life cards are green Person cards, they may roll to "call" the person to their room. A successful roll (3-6) gets them invited in; otherwise, they are discarded. Some people are "uninvited" (causing bad things to happen), and may be placed without a roll in any player's room. (See above for "getting rid of" these people.) Cats (which don't require a roll to enter a room) and Dogs (which may or may not need to be "called") can also be played in this round.
4. For each unit of free time the player's Job card gives them, they may perform one action (play a red Activity card) or go shopping (play any number of blue Thing cards). These cards may have a cost; the total cost cannot exceed the income given to them by their Job card.
5. At the end of a turn, if a player has more than five cards in hand, the player must discard cards until they have five or fewer. If desired, players can discard all the way down to one card.

Additionally, some Life cards are orange Whenever cards which can be played at any time.

Activity cards and Thing cards typically list a Slack value which is added to the player's Slack total, though some have random Slack totals and some have Slack totals which vary during the game. TV Activity cards and some Whenever cards can be used to cancel cards as they are being played, and some cause previously-played cards to be discarded. Some cards add or subtract Slack from every player's total, while others cause a player to change their Job card (and hence Slack goal). Many cards alter the effects of other cards.

The first player whose Slack total equals or exceeds their Slack goal is the winner.

Game interest

The game's main attraction is in its humor, evident in the cards' design, flavor text and illustrations. The game itself is very simple to play (although some interactions between cards can be slightly confusing), and requires virtually no setup ahead of time. It also has the advantage of being able to be played with anywhere from 2 to 5 players (or more by combining games or by playing with expansions).

The subject matter on some of the Activity and Thing cards available are unsuitable for minors (Nookie, Smokes, Booze, Weed, Shrooms), hence the game's 18+ recommended age.

Expansions

The game lends itself well to expansions, which help keep the humor fresh. In addition to the original 112 card set, the following are available:

Chez Geek 2 - Slack Attack

Adds 56 new cards (including a Dog, Beckett) and provides some clarifications of the rules.

Chez Geek 3 - Block Party

Adds 56 new cards and a large box to house the combined 224-card set.

Each set also includes a small number of blank Life and Job cards, allowing players to create their own cards to add to the game. (Additional blank cards for all the expansions/spinoffs can be purhased through SJGames' online store, Warehouse 23.)

Spinoffs

The game has also seen several stand-alone spinoffs. While these each add some new rules to the Chez Geek core, they are still (in Steve Jackson Games' words) "compatible with the original game" to some degree. (Usually, the game rules for each set have suggestions on how to combine its gameplay with the other sets.)

Chez Greek

Chez Geek set in a Fraternity house/College atmosphere; uses Majors instead of Jobs, and Campus cards instead of Life cards. Also adds special "Week" Whenever cards which affect all players when played (Homecoming, Spring Break, Finals Week, etc.).

Chez Grunt

Chez Geek set in the Army; uses MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) cards instead of Jobs, and Service cards instead of Life cards. (Notable in that cards that can ONLY be used in a straight Chez Grunt game are marked with white stars.)

Chez Goth

Chez Geek with Goths; adds Gloom points, which are earned via tragic events, but can be lost if no one is in your Room (via the "Misery Loves Company" rule) or from special card plays. Gloom points count toward your Slack Goal.

Chez Guevara

Chez Geek with revolutionaries; uses Ranks instead of Jobs. Also includes rules for Raids, Wounds/Healing, Pulling Rank and Promotion/Demotion. Due to these Rules additions, this is the LEAST compatible of the Chez games (rules suggest only using the Thing cards in/from other Chez games). This is also the only Chez game that does NOT have artwork by John Kovalic; the artist for this game is Greg Hyland.

Chez Cthulhu

Chez Geek dips into the Lovecraft Mythos, with elements of the horror genre, and adds Madness points (similar to the Gloom points in Chez Goth). [Due to be released early 2010]

Chez Dork

While it has a similar name and play mechanic to Chez Geek, this is a completely different game set in the world of the comic strip Dork Tower.

References

External links

• Chez Geek homepage
  • PDF of the official rules
  • Images of some of the cards
• Chez Geek at BoardGameGeek