Details: Written by: Brian Moats; Category: Game Preview; Published: 11 October 2021

Review Copy Provided

Who doesn't like the idea of a good farting game?

Farts and Fairies
Designer(s)	Dan Matthews	Artist(s)	Gabriel Cunnett	Publisher	Farts and Fairies
	2-6		8+		20m

To some people, a fart is a magical thing. You know what else is magical? Fairies. Combine both and you get an interesting little game. Farts and Fairies is a light weight card game where players are trying to collect the lowest fart value in their fart bank by the end of the game. Players will be firing farts towards opponents left and right; your best defense is to make sure someone else is receiving the stinky attack instead. Easily taught in under five minutes and perfect for the immature child in all of us.

On an unrelated note. The thing about this game that caught my attention the most is their "One for One" label; they pledge to give one copy of this game a child in a hospital for each copy sold. For those who have explored our site, we support our local children's hospital through the Extra Life charity. So anytime there is a way to help children in hospitals, WVGamers is in full support. Let's see what is magical about this game and how it can go to help children.

Box and Components

I am reviewing a pre-Kickstarter version of Farts and Fairies; while it certainly appears to be what I would expect the final version to be like, it is possible mass production copies may vary slightly so be sure to check out the details in the Kickstarter when it goes live for what else may be included that my copy did not have. My copy came in a brown box with illustrations of various characters from the game on it. The box is a bit bigger than 2 decks of cards side-by-side and is very sturdy. It even comes with a plastic insert to keep the cards neat. While the base game doesn't have enough cards to fully fill one side, I suspect there is expansions and additional cards planned. I do have one such expansion which will be touched on near the end of the article.

The game includes the following components:

70 Cards: Players will be playing many of these cards against each other, but there are even more defensive/reaction cards. The four types of cards include 16 Fart Cards, 30 Survival Cards, 10 Fairy Cards, and 14 Action Cards.
Rules

The rules are very straight forward and extremely easy to follow; it is in a tri-fold brochure format. It is meant for people 8+, and I have no doubt anyone can easily learn this game in under five minutes.

The cards are very good and made with a linen cardstock. There is a lot of unique artwork (26 unique) in this game; each Fart Card has completely unique artwork while the other types of cards share the same artwork. Everything is very easy to read on the cards.

I have no complaints about the quality of the product itself.

Mechanics

The overall gameplay is very simple. Draw and play cards on your turn; you want to try to avoid collecting Fart Cards so play defensively while also playing aggressively dishing out the farts into other players Fart Banks.

Game Setup

Shuffled the deck of cards and deal 8 cards to each player.
The rest of the cards are placed in the center of the table.

The youngest player is the first player, or you select first player via your preferred means.

Player Turn

Players will have two actions they perform in the following order:

Draw one card from the deck.
Player one card OR draw an additional card.
- Fart Cards: These are your attack cards that have a number from one to four. If a player is unable to defend against these cards, they are placed into the target players Fart Bank and are points against them at the end of the game.
- Survival Cards: These are only played as a reaction to being targeted by a Fart Card. These will allow you to reverse the attack or direct the attack at another player.
- Action Cards: There are seven types of Action Cards that each have their own abilities that are very clearly written on the card.
- Fairy Cards: These are unique cards that are played when appropriate. The Fairy Dust card is a wild card that can be any card and the Fart Police is an absolute defense to stop a Fart Attack.

If you have more than eight cards at the end of your turn, you must discard down to eight cards.

Continue to the next player.

End Game

Once the deck runs out of cards, it is the player who drew the last cards final turn; each other player will get one last turn.

Players will add any Farts cards from their hand into their Fart Bank. Players will add up their Fart Bank values, and the player with the least points is "Survivor of the Fartest."

Expansion

There is an "Adults Only" mini-expansion...it is VERY ADULTS only. This expansion does introduce three new types of cards:

Godmother: If this card is drawn, it is immediately shown. All other players transfer a Fart Card from their Fart Bank to that players Fart Bank.
Queef: These are cards you can play to your Fart Bank, and they are negative points at the end of the game.
Shart: These are cards that can be played alongside a Fart Card and adds to the Fart Points of the Fart Card.

There are 17 cards in this mini expansion:

1 Godmother Cards
6 Queef Cards
6 Shart Cards
2 Action Cards
2 Fart Cards

This little expansion definitely changes the target audience for sure, but it is still just a fun with just a little more humor.

There is also a new Kickstarter expansion pack that was part of the Kickstarter campaign earlier this year; I ordered a copy during the campaign and will add details about it once I receive it.

Final Thoughts

As you can tell, the game is very light and easy to play. It should be perfect for children and families to enjoy together. The theme probably gears itself more towards boys, but girls fart too. I always enjoy a light weight game like this that has a bit of strategy that isn't overwhelming for new players. It will certainly be a game that will lead to a lot of laughing, jokes, and maybe the occasionally outburst when you get ganged up on by the other players just because you are winning.

For those who enjoy adult humor, definitely look into the adult expansion; while it may be a small expansion, it definitely adds in some cards that will add to the strategy while also causing you to just be a little shocked by the illustrations on the cards the first time you see them. It is a solid expansion. I hope they consider releasing those cards in a kid friendly version of the expansion because I feel the additional cards add a lot to the game that allows it to be more strategic and replayable.

Overall, I enjoyed Farts and Fairies, and I will be using this game for demos especially at events with kids who enjoy a fun game but can't stay focused for something more time consuming. Be sure to check out the Farts and Fairies.