Stats:
No. of players: 4 – 8
Amount of time to play: 10 minutes
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: minimal

Falling Rules Description:

In the card game Falling, you are falling. In fact all the players are falling. Gravity ensures you will hit the ground. You just want to be the last player to do so. This dark game is a light, easy to learn filler that plays quickly and in real-time.

One person is the dealer and doesn’t actually play the game. The dealer’s jobs are to deal out cards and to moderate any timing disputes. The dealer shuffles the deck then places the ground cards at the bottom. Each player receives one card from the dealer in a pile in front of them at a time. You may play the top card in front of other players or yourself. Once you touch a card though you must play it and cannot play another card.

There are two types of cards: Riders and Actions. You can tell the Riders since they are printed horizontally. The four types of Riders are: Hit, Split, Skip and Extra. If a Hit card is front of your stack you’ll receive two cards instead of one. Split gives you an extra stack and a Skip gives you no cards. While Extra will double any card it is placed on (i.e. Skip twice, Spilt into three piles, etc.). There may only be one rider per stack except for Extra which must be played on another card.

Actions (printed vertically) affect Riders. There are three types: Grab, Push and Stop. Grab takes a Rider from another player and moves it in front of you. Push puts the Rider on front of you in front of another player. Stop cancels a Rider (or the Ground).

Like I said before once you reach the bottom of the deck there is only the ground. The player that is dealt the last Ground card wins the game.

A Quick Review of Falling:

Falling is definitely a filler game and can be as fun as it is chaotic. Since everything happens in real-time the chaos can be controlled a little by the dealer. The faster he/she deals the more hectic the game. Players must remember that once they pick up a card it is the only they can play. There is little strategy and some people dislike the random chaos of the game. That being said it fits the theme of falling very well.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 2 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 3 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 3 out of 6
Overall 3 out of 6