Color Flush - First Play!

21st August 2023

It's a Monday night and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming goodness.

​Flip those cards! Steal 'em or give 'em away in Color Flush, a lightweight set-collecting card game.

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Caveat: we've only ever played this game digitally.

What's in a game?
Cards: Color Flush consists of a deck of 50 cards. They are somewhat elongated and narrow compared to typical playing card proportions. All cards are double-sided and display one of several colours each side, generally they will be 2 different colours but the are cards that the same colour on both sides.

Well, that's it for components!

While there's no artwork to speak of on any of the cards, the colours used are generally bright and vibrant, they also display patterns for each colour which have no doubt been included to improve accessibility.

There are also no icons either. All the game's information is related through colours and the game is flush with those (SIC) (Sorry.).

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My starting hand and the 'backs' of my opponents' hands.

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How's it play?
Setup
Cards: Shuffle all the cards into a deck, there is no back or front, so no face-down or face-up cards.
Deal 7 cards to each player; each player should make sure NOT TO LOOK at the other side of their cards, they should only know the colours of the sides of the cards facing them.
The remaining cards become the draw pile.
First Player: Determine a starting player.

Onto to play
In Color Flush, the objective is to be the first player to have all the cards in their hand (facing them) with the same colour.
Color Flush follows a traditional turn order with the active player completing their turn before play progresses to the player on their left.

On their turn, the active player must perform the 3 actions below, however they can complete those actions in any order they see fit.
Flip: The active player flips one of the cards in their hand to the other side.
Give: Without flipping it, the active player must either give a card to another player or puts it on the draw pile.
Take: The active player must take a card, either from an opponent or from the draw pile and adds it to their hand without flipping it.
Other rules: There are some other rules that also apply.

• Black cards: If a player gains a black card into their hand by any means, then they must immediately flip their entire hand!
• White cards: If a player has any white cards in their hand, those cards are considered wild and can be of any colour,
• Hand size: All players have hand sizes limited to between 4 and 10 cards. This cannot be altered. E.g., if a player has 4 cards in their hand, then a card cannot be taken from them because it would take their hand size down to 3.

End of turn: Once the active player has completed their 3 actions, play progresses to the player on their left.

Endgame
The moment any player has cards of only 1 colour in their hand, they immediately win the game.​

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With 6 green and a white, we have a winner!

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Overall
Color Flush is obviously a very abstract game with no attempt to attach a theme to the set-collecting mechanics.
I'm fine with this but I know some people will bounce off this.

From the brevity of the write-up, it's easy to see that Color Flush is a very lightweight game which offers some straightforward if unpredictable mechanics. Players have 3 actions they must perform, the only variation is in the order in which they do so.

This is a game that mixes memory gameplay with a degree of luck: When collecting their set, players will need to remember both what cards they've given or had taken away as well as what on the other side of cards. Then use this information to try and complete a set as quickly as possible. It means paying attention to what other players are doing.
Of course players also have to deal with drawing cards they don't need and particularly, the occasional black card which will quite figuratively change everything!

I can't really fault Color Flush; it's an accessible game with a quick playtime but for my tastes it's a bit too light. Coupled with the randomness of frequently losing cards (Which may or may not be part of the set you're trying collect.) or having your entire hand switched made for a experience frustrating more than fun or satisfying.

Not one for me but perhaps a game that could be considered for younger players or as an entry level game or maybe a party game.