Pyramid Pick
The Works Card Game
Published by James Ernest Games and Studio Foglio
Designed by James Ernest
Illustrated by Phil Foglio and James Ernest
112 cards, rule sheet; $14.95
Just like the mythical phoenix rising from its own ashes (if the phoenix was a card game and was not on fire and was real), The Works rises from the ashes of an older game, XXXenophile. Published in 1996 and based on a Phil Foglio comic book, XXXenophile was a nifty card game that got lost in the CCG glut. That it was for sale to adults only did not help.
The Works shares most of XXXenophile's rules, drops collectibility for a fixed deck, and is based on a new Phil Foglio comic book, Girl Genius. The story is a gaslight, steampunk (without the punk) setting where super geniuses, called Sparks, build robots, called Clanks, and watch them wreak havoc on the countryside. In The Works, two or more players manipulate the cogs of a giant machine to "pop" cards out of it and score points. These cogs are actually many of the characters from the comic. The theme may hang a little loosely, but the rules set is sound and deserves this second chance.
Play begins by dealing every player five cards and then building a latticework of twelve face-down cards on the table. Each turn, a player will flip over a face-down card then spin one card 180 degrees to see if it "pops", meaning that they place it in their score pile. If there are still face-down cards, players can spin any card they like, but if all cards are face . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: May 4, 2001
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