Jo Kelly's Molly House is a debut board game that's received seriously high praise since release. Many outlets (us included) have crowned it one of the best board games of last year, and it's seen similar success at this year's gaming awards. Now, Kelly has begun crowdfunding their next project, WENDYBUXXX.
WENDYBUXXX is a card game. Beyond that, its concept gets tough to describe. Thematically, it's about lifestyle influencers who may have been Frankenstein'd to life in order to shill a new crypto (sorry, necro) currency. That necrocurrency was created by a popstar who's also making a straight-to-VHS reality show about the influ-minions doing her necromantic bidding.
Cards in WENDYBUXXX have a numerical value (the value of your currency) and a suit (the type of lifestyle content you're making). Whether you draw, play, or discard a card says a lot about the kind of influencer you'll be.
Will you push positive charitable content, where you put ordinary people through hellish gameshows for the chance to win life-changing money? Or are you a total tradwife pushing your modest lifestyle by bolstering the Everyday content category?
Playing a card makes positive lifestyle content, while discarding sends it to a controversial offshore account. Controversy plays a unique role in WENDYBUXXX - have too much or too little of it, and your follower count suffers at the end of the game.
After several rounds of play, the 'episode' comes to an end. Players gain or lose controversy for having the highest or lowest value cards in their discard pile. Those discarded cards then become negative content for their corresponding lifestyle suit.
Next, the total audience for each lifestyle is calculated based on how much content (positive and negative) was created for it this episode. The most popular lifestyles grant the players who follow them additional followers. To figure out where on the lifestyle scale you live, you'll calculate the numerical value of the cards left in your hand.
That's a broad summary of how the game goes, but hopefully you get the picture. This is an ultra-satirical look at who we decide to be in the age where screens are constant and our every breath is surveilled - and monetized.
It's also a unique multimedia project. Kelly will package the game in recycled VHS cases, and backing the Kickstarter gives you access to an album by the renowned pop star necromancer herself, Wendy Miasma.
It's safe to say this will be no mainstream release. Kelly is self-publishing the title under Miasma Corp Games, and for now, the Kickstarter page is the only place to grab a copy. WENDYBUXXX is available for £35 ($47.31) plus shipping.
As a huge fan of Molly House, I'm keen to see if WENDYBUXXX can capture that same imaginative, impactful lightning in a bottle. However, Molly House was a collaborative work with Cole Wehrle and Wehrlegig Games. It'll be interesting to learn more about Kelly's design approach in a game where they fly solo.
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