Customer Reviews

Lunch Money

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent card game, so long as you are willing to imagine brutalising your friends. It is, of course, all in good fun.

A normal game lasts just a few minutes (two player games are exceedingly short and often one-sided, so play with a group), so it is good as a time-filler or to play a series of games with.

In play, each player can pick on anyone at the table, so one person will often be victimised for a few turns until they are ousted or a the cards make someone else a better victim. "Going with the flow" and petty revenge often dictate victims, rather than a solid strategy, so the greatest fun is had when describing the exact circumstances that lead up to your friend recieving a boot in the unmentionables.

Coupled with a group of active imaginations, this game is hilarious (if violent). Check out the expansion set also.

If you have a dark, sarcastic nature, this game's for you.

The basic premise: you're schoolkids fighting over lunch money. Eveybody has 15 points, and you have to get your opponents down to 0 ("unconscious") before they do the same to you. Half the game is trash talk, which is not only encouraged but often mandatory.

The good: Pretty simple to learn (with a few exceptions -- see "the bad") and games are really quick. Unlike Magic The Gathering and such, there's a finite number of card titles, all of which come in the box, so you won't blow a small fortune on cards trying to get the choice ones. Since there are maybe 20 card (titles) total, it makes it relatively easy to get the hang of. A key element of the game is trash talking, so if you and your friends enjoy good-natured ribbing each other, you'll definately get into it.

The bad: if you're not used to this type of game, it can be a moderately steep learning curve. A lot of the cards have exceptions-to-the-rules status, so most beginning players will probably spend some time consulting the rules each turn to verify their understanding, and that slows things down. If a card has a special bonus to it, it's not listed on the card itself but in the rules. It took my friends and I about 10 to 15 hands for all the stuff to sink in. Even then, there's some ambiguity in the rules on certain situations. Perhaps the biggest problem is that, with a finite number of card titles, the game has the potential to get stale after a while (as in a month or two.)

Over-all, this is a fun game, but its violent premise and inherent trash talking mean it definately isn't for everyone.

Lunch Money is about ten years old. It is in desperate need of an overhaul. This game is sorta fun, but it gets old a little fast. The art is gothic and pretty photography, with little witty (or silly) puns and such. Some will make players laugh and others will make them groan.

The rules can be found pretty much anywhere, but basically you're a schoolgirl (I guess you can pretend to be a ninja or whatever if ya want) beating up other schoolgirls for their.. Lunch Money. Most cards have a number value printed, and they cause that number in damage to an opponent. There are a few life gaining cards, and when attacked, a player can play dodge or block cards to avoid taking damage. Some cards combo with others for more damage or to counter damage and instead cause the attacker to slip up and get "hurt".

That's pretty much the good on this game. As old as it is, the faint colored hues (4 colors for 4 categories of cards, in antique yellow, blue, orange, and red hues basiccally) can sometimes be mistaken for another color. Why the publisher doesn't give a solid border (at the very least) around each card, I don't get.

After that, the confusion at teaching a new player this game can be frustrating. I tried teaching it to a friend, and his being colorblind lead to us putting it back in frustration. The constant consultation with the rules (for newbies and myself, as I've not played in a couple of years) wasn't fun. If you play regularly, the rules should pose no problems, but for noobs and returners, it's not fun AT ALL.

Additionally, 90% of the game's problems would be solved with rules printed somewhere (whether a text block or sort of circling the border, either mechanic would be fine) on each card. I decided to take a marker to my deck and color code the borders with a solid color for quick reference on whether its an attack defense special card or weapon, and after the marker dried, I wrote in what each card does along the border.

That's about the only way to really play this game. Not worth buying at all unless you're absolutely tired of other standalone (non collectible) card games.

Lunch Money is a card game which is quite enjoyable to play, once you become familiar with the rules. While some card games have many of the rules on the cards (see most Steve Jackson games for example), you'll need to know the rules well to play these game smoothly. Fortunately, they aren't terribly complicated and are actually quite intuitive, as the game imitates a street fight very well and the rules fit the moves perfectly. This game is also very quick to play, which is a welcome change from the full hour many card games require. In the two-player games I played, only a few minutes were needed for each game.
The problem I encountered was convincing additional people to join us. You see, this game is extremely creepy, and whether you'll find it humorous or terrifying depends on your personality. The cards consist mostly of monochrome images of little threatening girls, along with a flavorful quote. Some people will jump right in, but others will stay away. Other than this, however, the game is quite enjoyable and highly recommended.

This game is completely unfair, the rules are vague, confusing, inconsistent, incomplete and even the game developers argue about them on their website. The game is also awesome. It's not really a very complicated game, and it only takes a few minutes to start playing. Once you start playing more seriously you will immediate run into situations not covered in the one page sheet of rules. You will then turn to the internet and find the developers of the game directly contradict each other on their website. One of them even suggests you throw out complicated cards like "Choke". In actual fact what you need to do is create your own house rules for these situations. I brought this game to work, and we play it every day at lunch and after work. I've seen guys hanging around for hours after work playing it. It's held this popularity for at least six months. Don't add in the Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones pack right away, there will be too many complicated rules to learn right off the bat, but after you've learned the basic rules of the cards this add on pack adds a lot of depth to the game. The art of the cards is dark and really amazing for a game about little girls beating the crap out of each other. The cards themselves are very high quality and extremely durable.

This is a really fun time filler card game based on a street fight. We played it at camp all the time, we had a blast. Its really easy to learn. This is not one of those games where you buy a pack and it has different cards in each, its one deck. Its kind of dark and some of the pictures are really freaky though.

I've had this game for several years. It's one of the few games I can convince my wife to play. Although some of the rules can get confusing, overall it's a great game that's easy to learn and play. I definitely recommend group play at your next party.

Lunch Money is an elimination-style card game designed by C.E. Wiedman and released in 1996 by Atlas Games.

The art on the cards are dark, somewhat Gothic photographic images by Andrew Yates, usually accompanied by humorous quotes pertaining to the card's name. In the game, players control a character (originally all females) with fifteen "health" points, usually represented by pennies or whatever you can find lying around, and draw a hand of five cards. The players take turns playing cards to "attack" other players, who try to block, dodge, and counterattack the attacker. When the defender is done responding, he or she takes any applicable damage, and both players then redraw their hands to five cards, passing the turn to the next player. When a player loses her health points she passes out. The last one "conscious" wins the game.

The game's name derives from its theme, that of children involved in a schoolyard fight. There is also a small expansion set called Sticks and Stones, and a larger sequel/expansion called Beer Money.

If you want to beat up your friends via card play, try Lunch Money, its fun, its funny, and its addictive

Awesome card game to play with friends. I would suggest ages 14 and up, due to the face it does have "violent content" on the cards. But great game!

I ended up playing this in a game club a few times and it was fun. Heck, out of a team around ten, I was able to get to 4th place so it's not that difficult to learn. This type is a must for role players since it's recommended to act out the attack but this is definitely a dark game. You and your friends are playing as lost Catholic School Girls who end up fighting each other. (Think of Battle Royal with only 10 years old school girls.) There are creepy photographs covering all the cards and it can get brutal (a mix of the attacks and actually forcing yourself to be mean) but if you're fine with this, go right ahead..