Review of Trailer Park Gods

TRAILER PARK GODS
Designed by Chuck Wilhelm
Reviewed by The San Fernando Valley Gamers
April 28, 2000

Who would have "thunk" it… A card game in which players are wannabe gods competing for the honor of lording over the trailer parks of the world! Well, those twisted minds over at Placebo Press thunk it back in 1998 and published it under the not-so-surprising title: "Trailer Park Gods."

"Trailer Park Gods" retails for $5.95, and though it's production values are quite low (and we will touch on this in just a bit), it is a very enjoyable little game for 3 to 6 players. The 6"x9" white paper envelope contains a deck of 75 cards and a double-sided sheet of instructions (actually the instructions are ONLY on the front, the backside is mainly a bit of humorous flavor and the design credits).

THE BITS

The cards are black and white and are printed (read, "photo-copied") on standard, run-of-the-mill, card-stock. Most of the complaints from our group were in regards to the poor quality of the cards. I know that Placebo Press is trying to bring good games to people with minimal investment, but these cards really look as though the ink-jet printer that was responsible for the original images was running low on ink, rendering them somewhat difficult to read. Also, the use of regular ol' card-stock means a short life-span for them (unless, of course, you rush out and invest in some plastic card protectors).

The deck is made up of 30 "Attack" cards (natural disasters from "Brush Fire" to "Tsunami"), 30 "Component" cards (used to form sets), 12 special cards (unique rule-bending cards) and 3 reference cards (that detail the cards needed to form sets).

One component that is NOT included in the game is a set of chits, counters, coins (or as we prefer) poker chips, that are used to represent each wannabe god's followers.

As for the rules, they are very easy to read and understand.

THE GAME

"The object of the game is to be the last god with ANY followers or to be the first to gain a positive "High Falootinosity" rating."

All players begin the game with 50 followers (chips, coins, etc.), a –3 "High Falootinosity" rating and 5 randomly dealt cards. To get yourself out of "High Falootinosity" debt (to achieve a positive score) you must form sets of cards face-up in front of you.

The sets are things like "Monster Truck Pull", "Mega Stukkee's" and "Psychic Hotline" and each of these is made up of three different cards. For example, to create a "Monster Truck Pull" you need to place a "Billy's Got A Brand New Pickup" card, a "Mudslide" card and a "Satellite TV" card. When you do this, you discard the completed set and gain one "High Falootinosity" point. You also get two followers from each of the other players! Since you may only play one card at a time during your turn, the process of constructing a set may take three or more turns and you lose one follower from your own "flock" for each face-up card you have at the beginning of your turn. Another allowable action in your turn is to place a Component card in front of another player so that THEY lose followers on their turn.

If you are unable to build a set (or choose not to) you may also "attack" another player by sending a natural disaster their way via an "Attack" card. These cards destroy followers.

The special cards each have unique effects such as allowing you to steal Component cards, destroy followers or act as wild-cards for set building.

When a player is "killed," the victor inherits any "High Falootinosity" points, as well as any face-up cards. This is potentially good and bad, though, as the face-up cards that have been won remain face-up on the table in front of the victor and may cost him or her several followers (lose 1 follower for each face-up Component card).

THE PLUSES AND MINUSES

Overall, we found "Trailer Park Gods" to be a witty little game that made for a nice 30 to 45-minute game. The cards are all very amusing and WE play that they must be read aloud when played (e.g. "Repo Men: They came quietly in the night like ninja or sumpin'. By the time I heard the truck start, it was too late".) Oh, and did I mention that really bad, deep-southern accents are a must?

Kevin felt that once you drop below ten followers, things begin to look hopeless, but I managed to crawl back from that very same abyss to win the game. I played a set of cards that all featured the same picture which rewarded me with two points of "High Falootinosity", plus you get two more followers from each player with each additional "High Falootinosity" rating!

Dennis was pleased with the game's "balancing mechanism". In other words, no overwhelming desire to gang up on the "weakest" player.

And we all agreed that the game deserves far better quality cards.

On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the lowest), our group rated this game a slightly above-average 6.

The San Fernando Valley Gamers who contributed to this review were – Scott Alan Woodard, Kevin Reed O'Hara, Michael M. Kelly, Dennis Ugolini and Aaron Antaloczy.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)