CHEZ DORK

If there's one thing about geeks, it's that they love their stuff -- often to the point of excess. The card game Chez Dork captures this silly side of the uberfan world.

The players each take on a character from John Kovalic's comic book Dork Tower -- Matt, Igor, Ken, Carson, Gilly, or Bill -- and each one has a unique advantage and disagvantage. Players start each turn by getting $30 to buy stuff, drawing up to five cards -- and then buying stuff.

Stuff is what wins the game for a player. All Stuff has a name, cost to buy, point value, flavor text, and Obsession(s). Each turn a player can buy as much Stuff as they can afford -- or buy nothing to save up for bigger Stuff later. The first player to get 25 points or more in Stuff wins.

Of course, the best dorks are the obsessed fans. Each character has a permanent Obsession, and players can play a single Temporary Obsession played on themselves, or on another player when it's not their turn. (Exceptions: Bill has two permanent Obsessions and can never get any Temporary Obsessions, while Carson has no permanent Obsession but can have up to three Temporary Obsessions.) If any Stuff matches any Obsession a player has, that Stuff is worth twice as many points. (The cards "Autographed" and "Limited Edition" also double point values, so combining them with an Obsession can be extremely helpful.)

And if $30 a turn isn't enough, players can also auction off Stuff they have in play. Bidding starts at $1 and the highest bidder wins, so auctioning off Stuff is a gamble: You could create a bidding war that gets you a lot of dough, or you could wind up losing something for next to nothing.

Chez Dork is a simple yet enjoyable game. Except for the variable outcomes of an auction, strategy consists mainly of getting as much Stuff that matches your Obesssion(s), possibly pulling a surprise win by giving yourself a Temporary Obsession that suddenly puts you at 25 points or more. This game has a great feel for the world of fandom, between the very real Obsessions (LARPs, Sci-Fi, Dice, Furries, Computer Games, etc.) and the hilarious Stuff names and flavor text. ("Final Utter Cataclysm XVIII" -- "I'm waiting for the sequel." "Kong Pong" -- "Trivial. Boring. Totally behind the times. It's a classic everyone should own.") Right now Chez Dork is out of print, but if you and yours are massive dorks with a sense of humor, it's worth finding. And you too will declare: IT MUST BE MINE!

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch