The game is designed for 2-5 players with Wizards recommending at least 3 players, if possible. It is marketed in two formats: pre-built theme decks (4 different ones) and booster packs containing 11 cards each.
There are three types of cards: Characters, Scenes and Action cards. Characters are people from the cartoon series---from Apu to Krusty. Scene cards represent the various places you can go to have fun or get into trouble in Springfield. Action cards are special effects cards that can be played (often during your opponent's turn) to help you or to hinder your opponents.
Character cards have several traits written on them. For example, Marge has UPSTANDING, UPTIGHT, FAMILY, MOM. Scenes have traits listed on them, too. For example, Kamp Krusty has IDIOT and KID as its traits. The game revolves around matching or not matching character and scene traits.
The object of the game is to be the first to get 7 points. You do this by either matching character traits of your characters and scenes in hopes of "completing" the scene OR by placing characters in scenes that don't match their traits in order to "trash" the scene.
On a player's turn, he may: *Play a scene card if he doesn't have one in play already *Play up to 2 characters on any scene cards in play. *Complete a scene (if enough characters are present). *Trash a scene (if enough characters are present) *Play action cards.
Scene cards have numbers identifying how many characters (with matching traits) are needed to complete a scene or how many characters (without matching traits) are needed to trash the scene. Anyone can trash or complete a scene---as long as the minimum number of characters are present on the scene card--on their turn just by announcing it. Trashing or completing a scene is NEVER mandatory. There are times when players may want to hold off completing/trashing a scene in order to play other cards or to increase their chances for making points on other scenes.
Going back to the Marge (UPSTANDING, UPTIGHT, FAMILY, MOM) and Kamp Krusty cards (IDIOT, KID), it is obvious that they don't have anything in common. If you wanted to play Marge on the Kamp Krusty Scene, she would count toward trashing the scene since none of her traits match. If we had a Bart card, he has KID as one of his traits. So if you wanted to play Bart on Kamp Krusty, since he has a matching trait, that card would count toward completing the scene.
You get points for having played the scene card (1 point); having one or more characters used to trash or complete a scene (1 point--regardless of how many cards you had on the completed/trashed scene); having the most characters on a completed scene (1 point). Note, you don't get a point for having played the scene AND for having one or more characters on the scene (you just get the 1 point).
Ties for having the most characters produce no bonus point and there are no bonus points if a scene is trashed. While there aren't any bonus points for trashing a scene, trashing can be an effective way to prevent your opponents from getting points.
Action cards can also be key to removing your opponents cards, moving them to other scenes or giving you a leg up in some other way toward getting more points. Their effects are extremely varied but are spelled out on the cards so there's minimal confusion as to what the card means or how it affects gameplay. That pretty much wraps up gameplay. Simple and pretty fun to boot.
Looking back at the cards, the available pre-built theme decks are Mr. Burns, Homer, Lisa and Bart Simpson. Each deck contains a rules sheet and the minimum (40) cards necessary to play, in the appropriate combinations. Pre-built decks are ready to play out of the box but do not have any variation. That is, if you buy 2 pre-built Homer theme decks, both decks will have identical cards.
To add variation to the game, you can construct your own decks using boosters and/or mixing themed decks. In order to build you own deck there are some basic rules to follow. All decks must have at least 9 scenes and at least 40 cards. You also may only have 3 copies of any card (3 Kwik-E-Mart Scenes OR 3 Mayor Quimbys, for example).
You are not required to include a star but if you do, you may only have one (pre-built decks include the star card for either Burns, Homer, Lisa or Bart---depending on which deck you buy). All action cards in a deck MUST be of the same character.
If you have a "star" character in your deck, the actions must all be for that star (e.g. if you play a deck with Homer as the star, your action cards must all have Homer on them). Note, In the pre-built theme decks, the named character is the "star" of the deck and the action cards have already been selected to ensure that they match the star.
Overall, the Simpsons TCG is a pleasant little game. It doesn't seem to have that same competitive feel that Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh and I give it thumbs up for that. While the game is high quality production-wise and has decent rules, it is too expensive for the casual player and too casual for the competitive gamer. Pick it up on clearance, if possible. It's a decent game but marketed at too high a starting price for my blood.
